HARRISONBURG, Va. (2/11/23) – Anna Griffin recorded her fourth double-double of the season, but it was not enough for the Arkansas State women’s basketball team in a hard-fought 70-57 loss at James Madison Saturday inside the Atlantic Union Bank Center.

Griffin led all players with a career-high 24 points and 10 rebounds in the final regular-season road test for A-State (8-17, 3-11 SBC), which returns home for four straight to close league play. The Dukes (20-6, 10-4) won the rebounding battle 49-36 and had three players score 10 or more points.

The Aurora, Ill., native’s output came on 10-of-22 from the field and 4-of-8 from 3-point range, matching her career high in makes from the perimeter. Izzy Higginbottom added 13 points while handing out seven assists and grabbing five boards.

A-State limited the Dukes to just 20.0 percent (4-20) from deep, but JMU managed 36 paint points. Kiki Jefferson led the way with 22 points on 5-of-15 from the field and 11-of-13 from the free-throw line with eight rebounds. Kseniia Kozlova added 17 points and eight boards while Caroline Germond dropped 11 points with seven rebounds.

The sides traded leads early in the contest, with the first quarter seeing for ties. JMU held the Red Wolves scoreless for the final six minutes of the period and led 18-11 after one. That scoring drought continued until Higginbottom’s layup at the 7:07 mark of the second quarter broke the 14-0 run.

A trey by Jade Upshaw midway through the quarter pulled A-State within eight, a deficit that would stand at the half with the hosts holding a 33-25 lead at intermission.

Griffin opened the second half with a short jumper to cut the margin to six, but James Madison expanded its lead back out to 13 on a trey by Peyton McDaniel. Griffin later answered with a three to make it an eight-point game, but that margin would not dwindle as JMU held a 55-44 lead after three.

James Madison’s largest lead of the day came when a pair of Jefferson free throws made in a 14-point game, but A-State continued to claw back and pull within seven on Griffin’s fourth trey with 1:27 left. JMU connected on six free throws in the final minute to work its lead back out to 13 and close out the contest.

NEXT UP

A-State returns home for its final four games of the regular season, beginning Thursday against South Alabama (6-19, 2-12). Tip-off against the Jaguars inside First National Bank Arena is set for 5 p.m. on ESPN+ and marks the first game of a doubleheader. The radio broadcast can be heard live via the EAB Red Wolves Sports Network station 95.3 and 96.9 The Ticket Radio Network.

SOCIAL MEDIA

For the latest on the A-State women’s basketball program, follow @AStateWB on Twitter and @astatewbb on Instagram, while also liking the team’s Facebook page at Facebook.com/RedWolvesWBB.