Two seasons ago, JMU guard Lesley Dickinson suffered a season-ending injury four days before the start of the Colonial Athletic Association tournament and the Dukes were forced to play without one of their most dynamic players.
But Madison advanced to the CAA women’s basketball final for the first time since 2001 with a buzzer-beater shot by Jasmin Lawrence with 1.9 seconds left for a 61-59 win over Delaware on March 10, 2006.
The senior guard is being asked to step up for a depleted roster once again, and what the women’s basketball team does in the absence of game-changing freshman point guard Dawn Evans will determine the direction its season goes throughout conference play.
“We don’t want to totally get away from what we are,” JMU coach Kenny Brooks said Monday at his weekly press conference. “What we are is a fast breaking team where we get a lot of easy transition baskets in the fast break, so we don’t have to go toe-to-toe so to speak against someone’s set defense.”
James Madison (10-6 overall, 3-2 CAA) responded to the loss of four starters from last season’s team by establishing a potent offense run by a freshman point guard. But Evans is out indefinitely with a stress fracture in her left foot, and Brooks now has to rely on natural shooting guards to step into a point guard role at times.
In addition to Lawrence and freshman guard Courtney Hamner, Brooks said that Young will also bring the ball up the court at times, something she did in spot duty against VCU.
“I thought she did a great job [Sunday] of taking some of the pressure off of [Lawrence] and Courtney, and Tamera has a small forward guarding her — she can bring the ball up very effectively.”
With Young on the verge of breaking Meredith Alexis' school record for points scored — she needs six points to surpass Alexis' total of 1760 — how dominant a performance will the Dukes turn in after a disappointing loss to Virginia Commonwealth?
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