Carleigh Wenzel and the Hokies made a late surge but couldn't hold off James Madison late on Sunday afternoon. (Virginia Tech athletics)

HARRISONBURG — In its first road game of the season, Virginia Tech lost 65-56 at James Madison in the Atlantic Union Bank Center.

“It was a pretty disappointed locker room,” Hokies head coach Megan Duffy said. “I thought our effort for 40 minutes was a little bit inconsistent, and you could see when we made our run, we were playing at an intense pace, physical and tough, and we just didn’t do it for 40 minutes.”

The Dukes (4-3) fought off a late surge from the Hokies (5-1) and outscored them 14-4 in the final four minutes, which included seven free throws. That came after Tech rallied from an 11-point deficit to snatch back the lead with 5:01 remaining.

It was an up-and-down contest that saw JMU take control in the second quarter and lead 28-26 at halftime. It was impressive out of the gates in the third, pushing the lead to seven and then using a quick 6-0 run over two minutes to make it an 11-point game, which forced Duffy to call timeout.

The Hokies responded well after that and got back in the game, eventually taking a 52-51 lead, but they couldn’t close things out. After Carys Baker’s 3-pointer from the top of the key with 3:36 remaining put them up 55-53, they sputtered, missing their next five shots and turning it over twice, including one via shot clock violation after Duffy’s timeout with 1:25 left. Their only point the rest of the way was on a Wenzel free throw with five seconds remaining.

“That was our kind of mentality, like, ‘Yeah, it’s time to turn up,’” James Madison head coach Sean O’Regan said. “‘They just turned up, so let’s go,’ and I thought our defense really turned up.”

“I thought we ran a couple of really nice, quick hits and got open shots and didn’t make them,” Duffy said, “and then it led to them getting a couple easy baskets on the other side. Late-game stuff, you just have to get good, quality shots. I thought for the most part, we did that. The one I would love to have back is [the shot clock violation].

“Other than that, it was good experience getting in that late-game situation for this team, but I think before that, we’ve got to look back at that second quarter, that third quarter and some ways they were up pretty big on us for a short amount of time.”

JMU crushed Tech on the glass by 20, 47-27, and capitalized on numerous offensive rebounds. The Dukes finished with 21 second-chance points to the Hokies’ three.

Rebounding was at the top of Tech’s scouting report coming in, but it didn’t execute well. Though it frequently forced an initial miss, another player swooped in, grabbed the offensive board and put it back up.

“Got crushed on the boards, and it was probably our biggest key to the game, making sure we blocked out and did some small things,” Duffy said. “I thought that really, really hurt us. They didn’t necessarily score always off of it, but it gave them confidence and extra possessions, which ultimately hurt us a little bit.”

Kilah Freelon and the Hokies didn't fare well on the boards against the Dukes. (Virginia Tech athletics)

The Dukes also provided some trouble with their pick-and-roll actions. Tech defended some of their initial sets well, but when they countered with Peyton McDaniel and Ashanti Barnes in screening actions, the Hokies were behind the play.

That included JMU’s crucial basket from Brianna McLeod with 1:39, which made it a three-point game. Barnes, who finished with a 14-point, 16-rebound double-double, used a screen and had a smooth dish to a cutting McLeod for a wide-open layup, and Tech wasn’t in position to defend it.

“That was a little bit of their counter,” Duffy said of the Dukes’ screen-and-roll game. “I thought we guarded their other stuff really well and then they went to their pick-and-roll game, and it’s hard when Peyton McDaniel is handling the ball because she can shoot it so well, you want to put a lot of pressure on her, but then that opens up the paint a little bit more.

“I thought we were very slow on our rotations, and then even when they threw it in and missed an easy basket, then someone was there to clean up the rebound off a scramble, so that was the key to the game, just our pick-and-roll defense when they went to that.”

McDaniel also had a double-double with 19 points and 10 rebounds for the Dukes. She and Barnes combined for a 13-for-14 mark from the foul line, too. JMU finished 40.4 percent from the field (23-for-57), had 21 turnovers and only made four treys, but they were crucial ones, including McDaniel’s go-ahead three with 2:30 remaining.

On the other side, Wenzel led a Hokies’ offense that shot just 32.8 percent from the floor (19-for-58) and 26.3 percent from behind the arc (5-for-19). The redshirt junior had 20 points, which included two triples and six free throws.

It was the fewest made field goals in a game for Tech since it had 17 in a loss at Duke in January 2024.

Baker and Mackenzie Nelson joined Wenzel in double figures with 11 and 10 points, respectively. Nelson also had six rebounds, four assists and four steals. Kilah Freelon chipped in eight points and seven boards on the interior, too.

Still, the group missed too many open looks and never got into a flow, like Baker’s wide-open 3-point miss from the wing in the first quarter off an extra pass from Nelson.

“I thought we got great shots and missed a lot of layups, missed a lot of open jump shots,” Duffy said. “We have to continue to keep shooting and work on our finishing.”

It’s a learning opportunity for Virginia Tech against a James Madison team that finished 60th in last season’s NET rankings and just missed out on the NCAA Tournament. The Hokies will host the Dukes next year in Blacksburg, too — the second leg of the home-and-home series.

“I give [Duffy] a lot of credit because I’ve been up here before and I’ve sat here and said, ‘Virginia, Virginia Tech won’t play,’ O’Regan said. “She’s not afraid of that, and I give Coach Duffy a ton of credit and respect for that. That’s the reason I want to play the game, win or lose.”

The Hokies are back on the road again this week at Paradise Jam in the U.S. Virgin Islands, where they’ll play BYU on Thursday (5:30 p.m. ET) and then Oregon State or Vanderbilt on Saturday.

“It’ll be a quick turnaround,” Duffy said. “We’ll get a little bit of rest tomorrow and then we’ll leave Tuesday, and just a great opportunity, these non-conference games. … JMU is going to win a ton of games and then you get a chance to beat a team on a neutral site, so we’ll quickly get ready for BYU and bring that road warrior mentality and see if we can get one back.”

Box Score: James Madison 65, Virginia Tech 56