PENSACOLA, Fla. (JMU Athletics) – James Madison built a sizable first-half lead but was outscored by 13 in the fourth quarter and overtime to fall 86-79 to Arkansas State in the 2025 Sun Belt Conference Women’s Basketball Championship on Monday afternoon at the Pensacola Bay Center.

The Red Wolves (21-10) earn the automatic bid to the NCAA Championship for the first time in their program history, while the Dukes (28-5), the conference’s regular-season champion, will await their postseason fate on Selection Sunday.

JMU used a 19-0 run between the end of the first and majority of the second to gain a 40-23 lead, but a 9-0 ASU run to end the half made it an eight-point game. JMU led by eight in the fourth before A-State went on an 11-0 run to grab its first lead since late in the first.

Teams traded buckets, and empty possessions by both teams in the closing seconds sent the game to overtime. In the extra period, the Red Wolves never trailed, leading by as many as nine, and free throws late sealed the win for A-State.

Crislyn Rose, who led A-State with 23 points and hit three of the Red Wolves’ 12 3-pointers, was named the tournament’s Most Outstanding Player. She led five players in double figures, as Mimi McCollister had 16, Anna Griffin scored 13 while Wynter Rogers and Kennedy Montue tacked on 12 and 11, respectively.

For JMU, Peyton McDaniel and Ashanti Barnes both turned in double-doubles and earned spots on the Sun Belt Championship All-Tournament Team.

McDaniel led all players with 24 points, making four treys while adding 11 rebounds and three blocks for her 14th double-double of the season. Barnes had her sixth double-double of the year with 17 points and a game-high 13 rebounds, to go with four assists. Ro Scott added 12 points while Zakiya Stephenson dished six assists to surpass 100 for the season.

Arkansas State shot 45% for the game (29/64) and 35% from beyond the arc (12/34) while JMU shot 42% from the floor (30/71) and 25% from long range (6/24). The game featured eight ties and eight lead changes.

How It Happened
First Quarter – JMU 23, A-State 23
• Both teams shot efficiently in the opening stanza, as JMU was at 60% (9/15) and A-State at 56% (9/16).
• With the game knotted at 8-8, Montue poured in six straight points off three free throws and a trey to give the Red Wolves a 14-8 lead.
• Trailing 17-12, JMU converted a trio of 3-pointers, with one by McDaniel and a pair from Scott to square the game at 21 apiece. Each team added one more field goal to round out the high-scoring first.

Second Quarter – JMU 40, A-State 32
• JMU stormed ahead in the second period, producing the first 17 points to take a commanding 40-23 lead. Adding in its final bucket from the first, Barnes’ jumper with 3:15 left capped off a 19-0 run.
• McDaniel scored seven in the period while Annalicia Goodman added six during the run.
• A-State missed its first 13 shots and shot just 19% in the frame (3/16) but managed to net its final three shots to end the half on an 9-0 run to trim JMU’s lead to 40-32.

Third Quarter – JMU 57, A-State 51
• JMU got the lead back to double digits, at 42-32 in the opening seconds of the half, but A-State’s 3-point shooting began to heat up, as it knocked down four in the first half of the period.
• JMU led 47-38 before an 8-0 run from the Red Wolves, led by a Montue three and fastbreak layup. That cut the Dukes’ advantage to a single point, at 47-46, with 4:52 to play.
• JMU quickly got it back to a seven-point game, as Bree Robinson scored four of JMU’s six straight points in transition, however, Arkansas State answered back with five in a row to climb within 53-51.
• After a pair of Kseniia Kozlova free throws, a stop and backdoor-cut layup by McDaniel pushed JMU’s lead to 57-51 entering the final 10.

Fourth Quarter – JMU 70, A-State 70
• JMU led 63-55, but A-State took its first lead since the end of the first period with an 11-0 run.
• The tandem of Rose and McCollister combined for all points, including three straight 3-pointers to give the Red Wolves a 66-63 lead with 5:14 to play.
• McDaniel ended the surge with a big triple from the wing to knot the game at 66 apiece with 3:55 remaining.
• With the game all squared at 68, Barnes secured her double-double with a tough bucket in the lane to give JMU a 70-68 lead with 1:20 to play.
• On the ensuing possession, Rose drove to the hoop and got the layup to fall high off the glass to tie the game again at 70 with 46 seconds on the clock.
• Both teams had a chance for the lead but went empty, leaving JMU with possession in the front court with 6.0 seconds remaining. In the final possession, the three-point attempt was off the mark to send the game to OT.

Overtime – A-State 86, JMU 79
• A-State took a 72-70 advantage on a second-chance layup by Rogers and never trailed the rest of the way.
• Jamia Hazell went one of two from the line to make it 72-71 with 3:41 to play, but a jumper and three by Rose stretched ASU’s lead to 77-71 with less than three minutes to play.
• JMU went just 3-for-9 in the extra session, as A-State made 9-of-10 from the charity stripe in the final 90 seconds.

Game Notes
• The loss was JMU’s first in 81 days when it fell at NC State on Dec. 19, 2024.
• It was JMU’s second overtime game of the season and first since Nov. 28, 2024, vs. Northern Arizona.
• JMU held a 44-35 rebounding advantage, including 17-10 on the offensive glass.
• JMU outscored A-State 44-24 in the paint, while the Red Wolves led 19-11 in transition.
• The teams combined for 11 blocks, as ASU had six, to JMU’s five.
• Nearly half of the combined made field goals were assisted, as A-State had 15 and JMU tallied 14.
• JMU led for 25:39, while A-State held a lead for 12:12, including the final 3:49 of OT.

— JMU Athletics —