James Madison women's basketball coach Kenny Brooks spoke at length at Tuesday's CAA media day about the importance of staying healthy as a team this season.

On Wednesday, Brooks and his team, picked second in the conference's preseason poll, returned to practice and proceeded to lose junior guard Dawn Evans.

Evans, a preseason All-CAA first-team selection, tweaked her back when she ran into the support beneath the basketball hoop, Brooks explained after practice.

"She'll be fine," he said. "We may keep her out of practice tomorrow as a precaution, but she'll be back very soon."

But with Evans forced to watch practice, and fellow juniors Courtney Hamner and Lauren Jimenez already limited as they recover from knee surgery, Brooks admitted to being a little frustrated.

"When players go down, it really dictates how you're going to run practice. And right now, with limited bodies, it's just very hard," he said. "But we're lucky we have a veteran group who understands what we're trying to do, and hopefully they'll be able to implement it very easily."