PENSACOLA, Fla. – James Madison had 12 three-pointers and finished 75 percent from beyond the arc as Texas State lost, 81-51, in the 2023 Hercules Tires Sun Belt Basketball Championship Game on Monday at the Pensacola Bay Center.
 
The Bobcats (23-9, 13-5 Sun Belt) reached the conference tournament championship game for the first time in five years, but they never led against the Dukes (26-7, 13-5 Sun Belt) and allowed their most three-pointers in a game since 2019.
 
Despite the loss, the Bobcats' season will continue with the WNIT (First Round: March 15-17). Texas State earned the Sun Belt's auto-bid to the tournament due to it being the highest finishing team in the conference standings that will not qualify for the NCAA Tournament. The Bobcats claimed a share of the conference title with JMU and Southern Miss, but earned the tiebreaker in seeding over the Lady Eagles.
 
Da'Nasia Hood, Taelour Pruitt and Kennedy Taylor reached double-figures in scoring. Hood had a team-high 15 while Pruitt contributed 12 off the bench and Taylor added 10.
 
JMU's Peyton McDaniel led the way by scoring 30 points on 10-of-11 shooting, including 7-of-7 from three-point range. She had three consecutive threes over a 53-second span midway through the second quarter that broke a 19-19 tie and gave JMU a 28-19 advantage.
 
The Bobcats were only able to close it within seven after that point and trailed by double-digits for all of the second half.
 
JMU's Kiki Jefferson added 22 points on 8-of-13 shooting and 4-of-5 from three-point range.
 
Texas State had it tied at 14-14 after the first quarter and used a three-pointer by Pruitt to make it 19-19 at the 6:28 mark in the second. The Dukes, though, closed out the first half by scoring 19 of the final 28 points, 15 of which came on three-pointers.
 
In the second half, Texas State shot 24.2 percent (8-of-33) and was outscored 43-23.
 
 
STAT LEADERS

• Points – Da'Nasia Hood (15)
• Rebounds – Da'Nasia Hood, Jaeda Reed (4)
• Assists – Kennedy Taylor (3)
• Steals – Taelour Pruitt, Chelsea Johnson, Da'Nasia Hood, Tianna Eaton (1)
• Blocks – Tianna Eaton (2)

 
SCORES BY QUARTER
1st | Texas State 14, JMU 14
2nd | JMU 38, Texas State 28
3rd | JMU 60, Texas State 37
4th | JMU 81, Texas State 51
 
GAME NOTES

• Texas State's Da'Nasia Hood and Taelour Pruitt were named All-Tournament Team. Hood averaged 21.7 points and 9.0 rebounds in the tournament while also shooting 52.2 percent (24-of-46). Pruitt averaged 10.3 points on 55.6 percent shooting (10-of-18) coming off the bench in all three games.
• Texas State last played in the WNIT in 2018 when it also lost in the Sun Belt championship game.
• The Bobcats were outrebounded, 46-31.
• JMU scored 28 points in the paint to Texas State's 14.
• Both sides combined for only 20 turnovers (Texas State had 11; JMU, 9).
• Texas State shot 33.3 percent for the game, its lowest since Feb. 16 vs. JMU (29.7 percent).
• The 12 three-pointers allowed by Texas State were its most surrendered since February 28, 2019 against Troy (13).

 
UP NEXT
Texas State will learn its WNIT fate on Sunday, March 12 after the NCAA Tournament field is announced that evening.