Comeback Dukes-WNIT

When the Dukes weren't playing well in the first half, as a fan you were thinking, oh no, not good. It sort of reminded me of this past Saturday when the Dukes played one of their worst games ever. It was almost like deja vu, but this time, the team actually scored 31 points in the half. The NC A&T Aggies were up 7 at the half with 38 points.

Obviously this wasn't going to be an easy game. If you looked at their schedule you would know that they beaten Liberty, W&M, UNCW, and like JMU lost to Richmond. This was a good team and they showed it. Not only did they show it, but for a full 28 minutes held the lead. At one point they were up by as many as 13 points. But the Lady Dukes wouldn't go away and they kept fighting.

In the second half, the Dukes would get within 1 point, but then Amber Calvin (25 points, 7-9 from 3-pt) of NC A&T would help the Aggies go back up 8 points. But that would be the last run the Aggies would make, at least one that would give them such a large lead. Over the course of the next 14 minutes, the Lady Dukes would put on a comeback that would spark them to win by 13 points. It was something to behold.

Every player for the Dukes contributed. I give a lot of props to Kanita Shepherd, she was wonderful under the basket tonight and on defense. Kirby came to her own tonight and scored yet another double-double. Tarik Hislop while having somewhat of a rough night shooting, still managed to score 17 points. But the one player that deserves a lot of credit is Angela "Muff" Mickens. Wow, what can I say. She came up big in the second half. When Amber Calvin was hitting threes, Mickens was able to get a shot block and score on the other end. When Amber Calvin came back into the game with about 2 minutes to play, Mickens stole the ball from her. If you want to know if Mickens was doing something and getting into the minds of the players, look no further than Amber Calvin. After Mickens stole the ball, Calvin looked down to the floor dejected, then she just jogged to get on defense. This was when I knew that JMU had won the game.

Never stop fighting Ladies and good job tonight!

Next game will be against North Carolina State and will be at the Convocation center at JMU. The time of the game will be at 2 PM. Pack the convo again, Go Dukes!!

Box Notes http://www.jmusports.com/newLiveStats/Basketball/index.dbml?GAME_STAT_ID=1100033&db_oem_id=14400