James Madison Holds Off UCLA, 77-67
ESTERO, Fla. -- James Madison remained undefeated (5-0), leading wire-to-wire in a 77-67 win over UCLA in the quarterfinals of the Gulf Coast Showcase on Friday night at Germain Arena.
JMU held a 43-34 advantage at the break and led by as many as 16 points (36-20) with 8:04 to go in the first half. The Dukes came out hot, shooting 78.9 percent from the floor in the first 12 minutes.
The Bruins went on a 13-4 run to open the second half and tied the game at 47-47 (15:09). UCLA had five possessions to try and take the lead in a critical three-minute span, but the Bruins missed a jumper, a free throw, a three-pointer and three layups while James Madison engineered a 13-1 run to push the lead back to double digits (60-48) with 10:31 remaining. The Bruins pulled to within four points four different times, but JMU answered every call.
UCLA was led by sophomore Nirra Fields, who had game-highs of 21 points and eight rebounds (13 points, seven boards in the second half). Senior Atonye Nyingifa contributed 17 points (only six in the second half) and five rebounds while senior Thea Lemberger and junior Luiana Livulo (season-high) each had 11 points and three boards.
The Dukes were led by Kirby Burkholder, who had 20 points and Precious Hall, who added 16 points (3-for-7 from three-point range). Toia Giggetts rounded out a trio of JMU players to score in double figures with 10 points.
The Bruins will face Grand Canyon tomorrow at 2:30 p.m. (ET)/11:30 a.m. (PT) in the consolation bracket.
James Madison vs. UCLA
| 1 | 2 | F | |
| James Madison | 43 | 34 | 77 |
| UCLA | 34 | 33 | 67 |