ATLANTA (Jan. 24) – The nation's leading scorer and three-point shooter, Dawn Evans, put on a second-half scoring show to finish with 30 points and 9-of-14 three-point baskets in leading James Madison to a 67-61 decision over Georgia State in Colonial Athletic Association game Sunday afternoon.
Host Georgia State (11-7, 2-5) was holding a slim 30-27 halftime advantage over James Madison (15-3, 5-2) with Evans having just nine points on 3-of-9 shooting.
But, Evans knocked down three three-pointers in the first two minutes of the second half in which she scored 21 points with six treys. Evans' 30-point game was the 14th of her career as she hit 10-of-19 shots overall today.
After Evans helped give JMU a 43-32 lead five minutes into the half, the Panthers clawed back to 47-42 with 11:54 on the clock. However, Evans quickly hit a trey, a driving floater down the lane and another trey at 9:40 to put JMU back up 55-44.
When State answered back to close within five again at 62-57 at 1:18, the visiting Dukes made the free throws down the stretch to earn the win.
The Panthers were led by Danyiell McKeller's 18 points, while Shay Rawls added 12 rebounds and 10 points for her double-double game. Guard Brittany Graham, the CAA's best three-point shooter at 45.8 percent, hit four of her six three-pointers today for 12 more points.
James Madison, who hit 12-of-21 outside the arc (57%), also got 16 points from Sarah Williams and 10 points inside from center Lauren Jiminez to support Evans. Evans' performance of nine treys was a school record and one shy of the CAA record. The Dukes 12 three-pointers tied their school record. The only other player known to have made nine treys in the GSU Sports Arena is Panthers' former star Kevin Morris with his nine-trey game.
In the first half, JMU went on a 10-0 run to open a 22-13 lead at 7:50 and led 24-18 with 6:44 when the momentum shifted to Georgia State. The host Panthers went on their 11-0 run and turned 24-18 deficit into a 29-24 lead with 2:45 left in the first half and took the 30-27 lead into the locker.
This 67-61 win gives JMU the series sweep after posting a 68-60 in Harrisonburg 17 days ago.
The rough game saw leading scorer McKeller have two head injuries in the first half and leave the game at 5:40 for the rest of the half. The team doctor evaluated her condition at halftime and allowed her to return in the second half.
"We played hard and with itensity today, but we gave them too many easy looks," Coach Lea Henry said postgame. "We were not aggressive like we have been in defending the outside shot today and am disappointed in that."
"James Madison is the highest-ranked RPI team in our league and we have got to learn to step up a little more to win these kind of games," Henry added. "I give JMU credit for a great game and know our kids have got to learn from a game like this so we can stay positive and win the next game on Thusday."
Georgia State travels to Fairfax, Va., on Thursday for a game at George Mason (8-10, 1-6).
NOTEBOOK: The Panthers are now 9-2 this year when leading at halftime and both of those losses have come to 15-3 JMU...GSU falls to 7-4 at home and 2-1 in the CAA, but all four losses have been to teams in the top 100 RPI (Florida State 18, Georgia Tech 31, James Madison 40 and VCU 90)....Brittany Graham's 4-of-6 outside the arc makes her one of the hottest shooters in the country with 27 of her last 45 three-point shots (60%) going in. She was 15th in the NCAA entering the game for the season and improved her season totals to 37-of-78 (47.4%)...Shay Rawls had her third-straight double-figure rebounding game and has 33 in the last 3 games. Rawls leads the team with 135 (7.5 average) on the season. She now has 22 double-figure rebound games and 20 double-figure scoring games as well as 11 double-double games...Rawls needs 27 more rebounds to move into 10th place in school history as she has 671 so far...Danyiell McKeller moved into 12th place in school history with her 1,165 career points and her 54th double-figure scoring game. She needs 45 points to catch "Legend" Joyce Harrel in 11th at 1,210 points...With the Panthers among the top teams in the nation in steals per game (11), they had only six today and are 0-3 this year with six or fewer steals.
