HARRISONBURG — James Madison senior point guard Logan Reynolds never lacks for passion on the basketball court. Even so, there was a little something extra behind the fist pumps Thursday night at the Convocation Center when the Dukes knocked off Virginia Tech to advance to the quarterfinals of the WNIT.

It would be hard to blame Reynolds and her teammates, particularly fellow senior Aneah Young and redshirt junior Kayla Cooper-Williams, who looked down to the visitors’ bench and saw Kenny Brooks coaching the Hokies. Brooks was the Dukes head coach for 14 seasons before leaving for Virginia Tech and the trio played for Brooks their freshman seasons.

Following JMU’s 70-66 triumph, Brooks tearfully recalled his individual meetings with players before heading to Blacksburg, saying sitting down with Reynolds was toughest of all. His three former players had some of their best games of the season, combining to score 24 points when JMU usually doesn’t rely of them for much offensive production.

“Obviously it’s an innate extra umph in there,” Reynolds said. “But we wanted to come in with a game plan and we didn’t want to get to high or too low and let it distract us from our main goal.”

That goal now is to continue advancing and play for a WNIT title. The Dukes are getting close, advancing to the round of eight where they will play host to Georgetown Sunday at 2 p.m.

But it was obvious Thursday night as a crowd of about 5,000 filed into the Convocation Center that playing the Hokies meant a little bit more.

“I was excited,” Young said. “We always love the VT-JMU rivalry. That’s always something that gets everybody up, no matter what sport it is, honestly. The crowd the people, everything, it had me pumped up and I was just ready to go.”

Young came off the bench to score eight points and grab six rebounds and she also came up with a game-saving blocked shot with four seconds left. Reynolds finished with nine points and four assists without a turnover and Cooper-Williams added seven points, 11 rebounds and three steals.

Now the Dukes have to quickly get ready for Georgetown, a team they beat by 12 points at the Convo back in November. JMU coach Sean O’Regan, who bested his mentor in their first meeting after serving as an assistant under Brooks for nine years, admitted an emotional letdown against the Hoyas will be unavoidable.

“I’m going to fight that as much as I can, but I do think that’s a natural thing,” O’Regan said. “Especially because we did play them earlier and beat them. We start one senior and four juniors and bring a senior off the bench. It should be a mature group. When it comes time for game time, you need to be pumped up and enjoy this journey, but honestly, I don’t think it’s possible as you are for Virginia Tech at home.”