James Madison is a very experienced team.
The last time the Massachusetts women’s basketball team played a squad with more experience than itself, it was blown out by Holy Cross on opening day by a 68-42 score.
It was a contest in which the Minutewomen (1-3, 0-0 Atlantic 10) were outplayed in almost all facets of the game, and looked young compared to the veteran Crusaders.
This inexperience is something that worries coach Joanie O’Brien, going into tonight’s 7 p.m. matchup with the Dukes in Virginia.
“Their strength is in their interior players and they have one excellent shooter (Allyson Keener),” said O’Brien about JMU. “They play a similar style to Holy Cross and we obviously struggled with that our first game of the year.”
However, that is not to say that O’Brien is intimidated by the Dukes.
“We need to quit turning the ball over unforced,” the eleventh year coach said. “And we need people making better decisions.
“I think we’ll be ready to play, though,” she added.
Thus far on the year, James Madison has posted a 3-1 record, with convincing wins over Stony Brook, East Tennessee State and Gardner-Webb. These three wins, along with a run to the WNIT semifinals a season ago, has kept the Dukes flying high despite the fact that the Dukes were destroyed by 40 points against Illinois in their one loss.
It is basically the same team returning for the 2001-02 campaign, as James Madison only lost a single player to graduation in the offseason.
“The team was very excited about the WNIT experience last year,” JMU Head Coach Bud Childers said. “It was a very surprising ending for most of us and no one could have predicted the run we made through the WNIT. But when it was all over, every player indicated to us ‘that was great, but we want to do this in the NCAA tournament next year.'”
In its four games, Keener has been the main spoke in the Duke’s offensive wheel. The veteran guard has posted 16.3 points per game, and has been the only significant outside threat for JMU.
Joining her in the backcourt is Jess Cichowicz, who has run the offense with great fluidity. The junior point guard has dished out an amazing 8.3 assists to go along with 7.3 points per contest. In addition, Cichowicz was taken good care of the ball, with a mere 12 turnovers on the season.
Despite its good guard play, though, the real strength of JMU lies in its frontcourt. Nadine Morgan is the leader of an impressive group, as she has totaled 10.8 points to go along with a team-leading 6.0 rebounds per game.
“The key to our practice [yesterday] was making sure that we took care of the post players, and playing good solid defense,” O’Brien said.
Despite its 1-3 record, defense is something that the Maroon and White has done well, and will need to continue doing well if it plans on knocking off the Dukes. So far on the year, UMass has held its opponents to a mere 60 points a contest, including the Clemson game in which the ACC powerhouse was held to just 51 in the Maroon and White’s momentum building victory last Sunday.
On the other hand, JMU has totaled an impressive 73.2 ppg, so shutting down the potent Duke attack could prove to be a challenge for the Minutewomen.
Offensively for the UMass, Jen Butler is leading the team with 14.5 points and 11 boards per contest, while Amber Sneed is also in double figures with 10.0 ppg.
