Today is the first of two Duke Dog Reading Days for JMU women's basketball this season. Large crowds are expected, and fans are encouraged to arrive early. Doors will open at 11:30 a.m for the game presented by VA529.
QUICK HITS- Sunday's contest is the first Duke Dog Reading game of the season, so large crowds are expected and fans are encouraged to arrive early. For parking information, click here. For more information on the Duke Dog Reading program, please visit DukeDogReading.com.
- Heading into the match-up, the Dukes are riding a 10-game win streak that began on Jan. 8 and remain undefeated at the Convo this season, stretching their home win streak to 12 games.
- Hofstra travels to Harrisonburg riding a two-game win streak and recently coming off a 61-53 win over William & Mary on Friday night. The Pride was led by sophomore forward Ashunae Durant with a team-high 21 points.
- The Dukes are coming off a 59-55 road win over Drexel Friday night in the program's largest ever comeback win under Head Coach Kenny Brooks after JMU erased an 18-point deficit.
- Senior guard Angela Mickens has 599 career assists, just seven away from taking second place from Andrea Benvenuto (606). Mickens is currently averaging 7.1 dishes per game.
- One week ago, the Dukes defeated the Pride 71-54 in Hempstead, N.Y. on Feb. 5. Redshirt senior guard Jazmon Gwathmey drained a career-high 34 points while Mickens tied her career-high 20 points for the third time.
- JMU holds a 18-9 advantage in the all-time series against Hofstra, winning eight of the last nine meetings. The Dukes' lone loss in CAA play a season ago came at the hands of the Pride at the Convo, which is the only home CAA loss for the Dukes in the last 24 events.
- Today's game will be broadcast on the American Sports Network. Availability can be found here.
RULES CHANGES- FORMAT: Instead of two 20-minute halves, women's basketball games will now have four 10-minute periods with an intermission between the first and second periods and the third and fourth periods as well as a 15-minute halftime intermission.
- FOULS: A player will be awarded two free throws for each common foul committed by a team starting with the fifth team foul in each period - there are no more 1-and-1 situations. Team foul counts will reset at the beginning of each period.
- TEAM-CALLED TIMEOUTS: Each team will have four timeouts to be used during the course of the game (three 30-second timeouts and one full 60-second timeout). Three timeouts carry over to the second half; if no timeout is taken in the first half, a team loses one 30-second timeout. If the game goes past regulation, one 30-second timeout is awarded for each extra period, plus the remaining second-half timeouts.
- MEDIA TIMEOUTS (2:45 in length): There will be seven media timeouts during regulation time: three prior to halftime and four after halftime. The intermission between the first and second periods as well as the intermission between the third and fourth periods will count as media timeouts. Each period will have one media timeout at either the first team-called timeout of the period OR the first dead ball at or below the five-minute mark. A floating media timeout will take place during either the third or fourth period at the first team-called timeout. This will not eliminate the set media timeout of that period.