Raise your hand if you have ever been to Cancun? Yeah, I'm not raising my hand, but the JMU women's basketball program is raising their hand. In fact, this will mark the third time JMU has participated in this tournament, the most of any team to date. As participants, they hold a .500 record at 2-2 and JMU is looking to improve on that record with hopeful victories over Wisconsin-Green Bay of the Horizon, Minnesota of the Big Ten, and Wichita State of Missouri Valley conferences.
Wisconsin-Green Bay nicknamed the Pheonix is a team that has been receiving votes in the top 25, so a win over them would be a big victory for the JMU women. They come into this contest at 2-0 with victories over Northern Iowa and Central Michigan. Their best players are Sarah Eichler (5'11" F) who is getting about 14 points a game, 6 rebounds, Adrian Ritchie (5'11" G) who gets about 20 points a game, 7 rebounds, and Stephanie Sension (6'3" F) who has averaged about 13 points a game, including 5 rebounds. The other two players that receive significant minutes are Lydia Bauer (6'0" F) and Megan Lukan (5'7" F). Thus far they have held their opponents to just 50 points a game. Game is November 22 at 6 PM. You can check out their stats here https://admin.xosn.com/pdf8/992589.pdf?DB_OEM_ID=22500&
Minnesota, nicknamed the Gophers, is going to be another tough match up for the Dukes. JMU leads the series 2-0. But this years Minnesota team looks like a descent team from the B10, but with a ton of Freshman and Sophomores. They have two players that are standouts and the rest are there to help. Rachel Banham (5'9"G) on average scores about 20 points a game and 3 rebounds, Micaella Ritchie (6'2" F) scores 18 points and 8 rebounds. Their other starters should consist of Sari Noga (5'10" G), Kionna Kellog (6'1" G/F), and Mikayla Baily (5'9" G, named B10 Freshman of the Week). Minnesota has held their teams to an average of 60 points a game. They have wins over Washington State, Villanova, Ohio, and Maine. Game is on November 23 at 3:30 PM. You can check out their stats here http://grfx.cstv.com/photos/schools/minn/sports/w-baskbl/auto_pdf/2012-13/stats/season_stats_20121118aaa.pdf
Wichita State, nicknamed the Shockers, will probably be the easier of the three opponents JMU faces, however, they did play LSU close. They do not score a lot of points, but they have kept their opponents on average to 53 points a game (LSU scored 72 points). They really do not have one player that stands out above the rest, but they do have a team that works together. Much like Minnesota, Wichita State relies on their bench heavily. So, the potential starters-Jessica Diamond (5'7" G) scores on average 12 points with 4 rebounds, Jasimen Gordon (6'2" C) 11 points with 5 rebounds, Alex Harden (5'11" G/F) 10 points with 6 rebounds, Michelle Price ( 6'1" F) with 8 points and 5 rebounds, and the other potential starter could be Jasmine Jones (5'9" G). Game is on November 24 at 1 PM. Stats https://admin.xosn.com/fls/7500/stats/wbasketball/2012-13/teamcume.htm?ATCLID=652945&SPSID=61199&SPID=2852&DB_LANG=C&DB_OEM_ID=7500
I am no Kenny Brooks, but I would start Angela Mickens at the point and Tarik at the 2 spot. Tarik seems comfortable at the 2 and plays extremely well from that position. JMU also needs to find ways to get Kirby open, in the last game she was shut down because of the focus being strictly on her, however, when that happens, JMU needs to do what they did against Murray State, hammer the inside. Hopefully Chrystal Ross, Jasmine Gill, and Toia Giggets became embolden after the last game, especially Ross. If they can have good games inside, that should open the wing for Kirby to hit her 3 point shots.
JMU has a good breakdown of each team in their game notes http://www.jmusports.com/downloads2/518002.pdf?ATCLID=205750582&SPSID=71014&SPID=8110&DB_LANG=C&DB_OEM_ID=14400 and on their sports page. They also have links to video stream if interested, but it looks like it could cost a little bit of money to watch the games. http://www.jmusports.com/ViewArticle.dbml?ATCLID=205750582&DB_OEM_ID=14400
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