BLACKSBURG, Va. — Nearly a year ago, James Madison brought Virginia Tech's undefeated start to a screeching halt, dominating the Hokies on the glass with a plus-20 effort.
On Sunday night, Virginia Tech returned the favor.
Behind a suffocating defensive effort and a decisive second-quarter surge, the Hokies overcame a subpar shooting performance to defeat James Madison 59-43 at Cassell Coliseum. The two teams shot a combined 37-of-119 (31.1%), but Virginia Tech outrebounded JMU by 15 and held the Dukes to a 25.9% effort from the field on 15-of-58 shooting. It was Virginia Tech's first victory against JMU since Dec. 14, 2008, following a three-game skid against the Dukes.
"Just really excited about the effort our team showed tonight," said Virginia Tech head coach Megan Duffy. "We knew it was going to be probably a lower scoring game and just a gritty, hard-nosed defensive battle, and boy, was it at times. So just overall, really proud of our team. Obviously, JMU is a very, very good program. [JMU head coach Sean O'Regan] does an awesome job, just the way his kids fight and claw. And I know they're going to have a pretty successful season when it's all said and done."
Virginia Tech appeared poised to take control early, opening the contest on an 8-2 run behind four points from guard Leila Wells and two apiece from forward Alyssa Latham and guard Samyha Suffren. But the Hokies went scoreless over the final 3:48 of the opening quarter, allowing James Madison to rattle off nine unanswered points and take an 11-8 lead into the second.
But the defining run came in the middle of the second quarter. Saddled with a 13-11 deficit with 7:46 remaining before halftime, Virginia Tech (3-0) held the Dukes (1-2) to only one made field goal before intermission. Over that stretch, the Hokies outscored James Madison 15-3, including a 9-0 run to close the half, entering intermission with a 26-16 advantage.
Sophomore guard Kate Sears, who didn’t play in the 2025-26 season due to injury, kickstarted the run with a jumper to knot the game at 13-13. A minute and 32 seconds later, she was fouled and hit the front end of a one-and-one. After JMU guard Trinity Moore’s 3-point attempt was blocked by Tech forward Alyssa Latham, the ball found its way into Sears’ hands.
The 5-foot-9 guard let loose from long range, splashing the trey to give Virginia Tech a 17-13 lead. JMU countered with a Ja’Quoia Jones-Brown triple with 4:11 left in the half, but Hokies freshman Kaleo Anderson answered with a backdoor layup and a 3-pointer, forward Jessica Dimaro knocked down a fast-break jumper and guard Carleigh Wenzel added a pair of free throws for the 9-0 run.
While that stretch wasn't indicative of Virginia Tech's shooting performance as a whole, it highlighted something that defined the Hokies' victory: contributions from across the roster.
“That’s kind of the strength of our team,” Wells said of having multiple players step up throughout the game. “We have so many different weapons on both the offensive and defensive side, so I think it was really good to have everybody contribute on both ends of the floor.”
Virginia Tech was 22 for 61 (36.1%) on Sunday, and it buried just four of its 17 looks (23.5%) from 3-point range.
But the Hokies were better down low – they outscored James Madison 30-12 in the paint – and kept the Dukes at bay after the second-quarter surge. James Madison never came closer than nine points in the second half, and it couldn’t recover from a second quarter where it converted 2 of 13 shots from the field.
The Hokies also flipped the script on the glass after being outrebounded by 20 in last season's meeting. Virginia Tech held a 47-32 rebounding advantage, including a 15-8 edge on the offensive boards.
“[The Dukes] do a great job of creating space to garb the ball, and as soon as you take a possession off of boxing out, they’re going to grab it, so we had to work to even get some of our offensive rebounds,” Duffy said. “They were trying to box us out, and I thought we had to have that second and third effort to try and get a few more.”
Center Jessica Dimaro led the charge with a game-high 14 rebounds, 11 of which came on the defensive end. She, Latham and Aniya Trent combined for 27 of Tech’s 45 rebounds.
"Jessie's going to keep getting more confident as we go," Duffy said. "She fits us so well, being able to play fast and run the ball. We get on her probably the most if she doesn't have a rebound, right? So we want her to get a potential double-double every night."
With James Madison trailing 34-23 midway through the third quarter, Latham thwarted the Dukes' comeback efforts by continually exploiting their 2-3 zone defense. She scored Tech’s next six points, accruing all of them in the paint with two layups and a jumper.
“Getting to that money spot in the zone,” Latham said. “Once that ball gets right there, it’s over with, so making sure I stay available for my teammates and just making the right play off of it.”
The third quarter proved to be Virginia Tech's most efficient offensive period, as the Hokies shot 8 for 15 (53.3%) from the field. It was the only quarter in which Tech converted more than 35.3% of its field-goal attempts.
Virginia Tech blanketed JMU's leading scorer, Zakiya Stephenson, holding her to 1-for-6 shooting in the final quarter. Stephenson finished with 10 points on 2 for 14 shooting, missing all seven of her attempts inside the arc.
Wenzel made only four of her 14 field goals and was 1 for 4 from 3-point range, also committing a game-high seven turnovers. But thanks to a 6 for 7 mark from the free-throw line via 10 drawn fouls, Wenzel clawed her way to a team-high 15 points, adding five rebounds, four assists and three steals for good measure.
In addition to her 14 rebounds, Dimaro tacked on seven points and two blocks, though she coughed up the ball four times. Though Suffren struggled from the field — she went 2 for 9 from the field for eight total points, including a 1 for 4 mark from 3-point land — she logged three steals. Forward Alyssa Latham, playing in her second game for Tech, finished with eight points and seven rebounds, while Sears also ended the day with eight points.
Fellow guard Leila Wells, who went 0 for 5 from beyond the arc but 3 for 5 inside it, finished with six points, three assists and four rebounds, while true freshman Kaleo Anderson chipped in five points across eight minutes. Trent went 1 for 3 from the field, finishing with two points and six boards.
Virginia Tech opted for a shorter rotation, playing nine total players, with seven seeing the floor for more than eight minutes.
The Hokies travel on the road next to play Atlantic 10 opponent VCU on Thursday, Nov. 12, at 6 p.m. ET in Richmond, Va., before they host La Salle in Blacksburg on Sunday, Nov. 15 at 2 p.m. ET. The game against VCU will be broadcast on ESPN+, while coverage for the La Salle contest will be on ACC Network Extra.
