Aleksandravicius’ 25 Not Enough, ‘Cats Season Ends at James Madison in WNIT

Thursday, March 15

Harrisonburg, Va.

7:00 p.m.

Davidson College

22-10

James Madison

25-7

Davidson

James Madison

Photo by: Tim Cowie - DavidsonPhotos.com

Aleksandravicius’ 25 Not Enough, ‘Cats Season Ends at James Madison in WNIT

3/15/2012 10:13:00 PM | Women's Basketball

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Gavin McFarlin - Assistant SID

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HARRISONBURG, Va. – Junior Sophia Aleksandravicius (Pound Ridge, N.Y.) scored a season-best 25 points and Davidson forced 22 turnovers, but was unable to overcome a 19-7 second-half run by James Madison in falling 64-49 in the first round of the Women's NIT on Thursday evening at the JMU Convocation Center in women's basketball.

Davidson concludes it season at 22-10, one win away from the school-record, as it made its second-ever postseason appearance. James Madison (25-7) moves on and will play Wake Forest in the second round.

Aleksandravicius finished with 25 points, 17 of them in the second-half when she kept the Wildcats in the game. She added nine rebounds, two assists and two blocks.

Down 24-20 at the break, the junior got Davidson's offense rolling by scoring seven straight points to open the new stanza, and a fastbreak bucket by Jasmine Calin (Miami, Fla.) after she leaked out on the break gave the 'Cats a 29-28 advantage with 14:13 to go. It would be the only lead Davidson had for the game.

JMU would score a quick six points and then continue their run to 10-2 for a 38-31 advantage. The spurt continued all the way out to 19-7 giving the Dukes the lead for good at 47-36 with under five minutes to go.

Lauren Whitehurst led the rally with eight of her 14 total points in the run. The Dukes overall had three reach double figures with Tarik Hislop scoring 15 points and Kirby Burkholder 11, nine of them on treys.

The lead was cut to nine at 49-40 on a layup by Aleksandravicius with 4:23 remaining, but four straight free throws by Hislop pushed the lead back to double digits and the Wildcats got no closer than 10 the rest of the way.

Despite starting the game just 3-for-16 from the field, Davidson stayed within striking distance thanks to its solid defense. The Wildcats forced nine turnovers early and trailed just 7-6 after a driving layin by Sarah Davis (St. Clair, Mich.).

It became 12-6 after the Dukes' Hislop hit a short jumper, forcing Davidson to call a timeout. The Wildcats though, came right back with two quick buckets from Laura Murray (Harrisburg, Pa.) and Aleksandravicius. The 'Cats leading scorer Murray, who came in averaging just under 15 points, was held to seven points for the game.

Aleksandravicius sparked a mini 8-2 run when she rattled off six straight points and Davidson cut a seven-point Duke lead down to one, 21-20, on a Barbara Sitton (Richmond, Va.) fastbreak layup off a Murray steal. Davidson ended up causing 14 first-half turnovers and pocketing three steals.

JMU hit its third three-ball of the half for a 24-20 score at the break.

Davidson, the Southern Conference regular season co-champions with its school-record 17-3 mark, return 12 of its 14 players next year, including SoCon Player of the Year Aleksandravicius and first-team member Murray.

Game Notes: This is Davidson's second trip to the WNIT, playing in its first one during the 2006-07 campaign ... tonight's game was the first between both schools.