HARRISONBURG — About the time Jackie Benitez nailed her fourth 3-pointer of the game, one that put James Madison up by 16 midway through the fourth quarter Thursday night at the Convocation Center, officials from JMU and the Colonial Athletic Association decided it was time to get ready.

So when the Dukes had finished off the 58-47 victory against Drexel, the trophy was awaiting the newly-minted regular-season CAA champs. With one game to go, the second-place Dragons (21-7, 13-4) can’t catch James Madison, who controlled the game the entire way despite an off night from Kamiah Smalls.

While the Dukes (24-4, 16-1) graciously accepted a new piece of hardware, JMU coach Sean O’Regan’s team declined to cut down the nets. The regular-season crown is nice, but there are bigger goals in mind for a program that has been a consistent winner, but hasn’t advanced to the NCAA Tournament since 2016.

“That’s just one milestone in our big goal,” Smalls said. “Obviously, it’s great and everything, but honestly, it doesn’t give us a boost in the tournament. I think it’s something that gives you good momentum going in, but to be the No. 1 seed riding into the tournament, it gives us momentum. It doesn’t really do anything in the tournament.”

Benitez finished with a game-high 18 points while Smalls had eight, the first time in 29 games she’s failed to reach double figures. No matter, Devon Merritt finished with 10 points and six rebounds while senior point guard Logan Reynolds had eight points, eight assists and four rebounds without a turnover.

“I think that’s the best thing about our team,” Smalls said. “You can face guard or double me, well now you have to worry about the other four people on the floor. You have to worry about Logan penetrating and kicking it to Jackie, or penetrating and dropping down to Devon or Lexie [Barrier]. I think that’s the biggest threat that comes from us.”

Reynolds, who averaged just three field goal attempts per game coming in, took advantage of the focus on Smalls and nailed three mid-range jumpers in the game’s first five minutes as the Dukes raced out to a 12-point first-quarter lead.

Even struggling to get anything going for most of the second quarter with Smalls off to her slowest start of the season — JMU’s leading scorer and preseason CAA Player of the Year went the first 16 minutes without a basket — the Dukes held onto a comfortable lead throughout the first half and went into the locker room at the break with a 25-16 advantage.

But after the Dragons opened the second half with a 5-0 run, Smalls went to work, knocking down a 3-pointer then drawing the defense in the paint before dishing a no-look wrap-around pass to Kayla Cooper-Williams for a layup. It was the start of a 12-2 run for JMU, which didn’t let Drexel get within nine again.

Cooper-Williams had just two points, but nine rebounds and five blocked shots as the Dukes held Drexel to just 33 percent shooting despite 18 points and nine rebounds from the conference’s leading scorer, Bailey Greenberg.

JMU still has one regular-season game to play, Saturday at home against Delaware, then it’s up to Newark, Del., for the CAA Tournament, which is where the Dukes hope to really celebrate.

“For me,” O’Regan said, “I think there is one day you cut down the net. It doesn’t mean I don’t want them to celebrate the win and the regular-season championship. I think there is a lot of value in that. But, they are focused. They know what we are aspiring to be.”