RICHMOND, Va. – Senior guard Kita Waller led all scorers with 18 points but Virginia Commonwealth University couldn't overcome a difficult shooting performance and fell out of first place in the Colonial Athletic Association with a  71-56 setback against James Madison University Thursday at the Verizon Wireless Arena at the Stuart C. Siegel Center.

VCU, which had won 10 of its last 11 games entering Thursday, falls to 15-7 overall and 8-2 in the CAA, while James Madison improves to 17-4, 7-3 in conference action.

Senior forward D'Andra Moss contributed 14 points with a team-high four assists and six steals for VCU, while sophomore forward Courtney Hurt chipped in nine points and nine rebounds.

Sophomore guard Kiara Francisco led James Madison with 16 points and 11 rebounds off the bench.  Freshman guard Tarik Hislop contributed 15 points and seven boards, while senior guard Sarah Williams added 10 points and grabbed six caroms for the Dukes.

James Madison junior guard Dawn Evans, who entered the night second in the nation averaging 25.7 points per game, suffered an ankle injury midway through the first half and did not return.  She finished with five points and two assists.

VCU took a 16-12 advantage, which proved to be its largest of the game, on a free throw by Waller with 10:06 to go in the opening period before James Madison used an 11-0 run spanning three minutes to take a 23-16 lead.

The Rams cut it to three twice over the next two minutes but it was as close as VCU would get the remainder of the night as James Madison took a 32-24 lead into the locker room.

The Dukes scored 11 of the first 13 points in the second half and went on top 43-26 on a 3-pointer by Williams with 15:44 to go.  James Madison never looked back and extended its lead to as many as 20 the rest of the way.

VCU, which shot a season-low 26.5 percent (18-of-68) from the field, committed just 10 turnovers and forced James Madison into 24 miscues.  However, the Rams could only score 19 points off of those turnovers after scoring 30 or more points off turnovers in five of their previous nine games.

VCU returns to action on Sunday with a 2 p.m. matchup at Old Dominion University.