By MADI ALLEY The Breeze

At first, JMU struggled to knock down shots against Georgia State on Jan. 14. It put up just four first quarter points and shot 2-for-12 from the field, trailing by two at the end of the frame. The Dukes were in need of someone who could break the scoring drought and get shots to fall.

Then came four 3s in three minutes.

JMU junior forward Steph Ouderkirk owned the second quarter in the Dukes’ 62-57 win against Georgia State, the 13th consecutive win for the Dukes at the time. She hit her first of four made 3-pointers just 15 seconds after coming off the bench toward the end of the second quarter — pulling the Dukes within two points, down 16-14, with 3:59 left before halftime.

Ouderkirk wasn’t finished yet. Senior guard Kiki Jefferson found the junior forward for her third and fourth 3s in the span of 29 seconds to help put JMU ahead 28-21 at halftime.

Ouderkirk ended the afternoon with a season-high 13 points, six rebounds and, as junior forward Claire Neff said, her 3-pointers “really got the energy moving for our whole team.”

“Let’s just say that I thought it was, like, it was one of my favorite Steph moments,” JMU head coach Sean O’Regan said after the Georgia State win, talking about Ouderkirk’s second quarter outpouring. “And without that, I don’t know where we are right now. It relaxed us.”

Ouderkirk said seeing the ball go through the net got her going after making just five of 30 attempts from behind the arc in the Dukes’ first 10 games of the season. O’Regan said her start to the year was “just unfair,” praising her shot and work ethic are great.

“I knew I could do it. But like I hadn’t seen it yet,” Ouderkirk said. “So it definitely felt good to see the ball go through the net. That confidence definitely carried over.”

The Georgia State game stands in a vacuum shooting-wise for Ouderkirk, who hasn’t made more than two 3-pointers in a game before or after it, and she’s shot 4-for-17 from 3 in the eight games since. But racking up 12 points in three minutes is small in scale to how she adds to the Dukes .

“On and off the court she is a goofball,” Neff said. “She is really fun to be around and she brings a different kind of energy.”

Jokester may be her title, but Ouderkirk said she works hard to fill whatever role is needed of her to push the Dukes forward.

Whether it’s finding her teammates for three assists against Troy on Jan. 21, putting up 10 points against Coastal Carolina on Jan. 26 or grabbing nine rebounds off the bench Feb. 11 versus Arkansas State, Ouderkirk’s versatility has been vital for the Duke’s this season.

“I try to get good shots and get rebounds when I can,” Ouderkirk said. “My role is just being where I’m needed and doing what I can to help us win.”

Fifteen minutes down the road from JMU at Spotswood High School, Ouderkirk did the same. The 6-foot-1-inch forward garnered a series of accolades before joining the Dukes. While in high school, Ouderkirk was named 3A State Player of the Year twice, was a two-time state champion and a McDonald’s AllAmerican nominee.

While her drive home is only a matter of minutes, the Harrisonburg community continues to make Ouderkirk feel at home, she said.

“It’s really special cause even around here I’ll go to the store and people will ask me — even my professors — like how the game went,” Ouderkirk said. “It’s pretty cool to be a part of a community like that.”

As the Dukes finish up their final four regular season games in Sun Belt play over the next week, Ouderkirk and JMU first travel to San Marcos, Texas, on Thursday to face Texas State.

No matter if she’s hitting shots or not, Ouderkirk has one goal.