Feb. 27, 2003
Box Score
WILLIAMSBURG, Va. - George Mason forward Khalilah Smith recorded a career-high with 25 points on 11-19 shooting from the floor, and Jen Derevjanik added 11 as the Patriots defeated William and Mary 66-53 tonight in women's basketball action. The Patriots improve to 11-11, 8-7 in the CAA, while the College falls to 7-17, 3-12 CAA.
Jami Lange and Kia Butts paced the Tribe offense, as each scored 12 points. Butts was 4-6 from the floor and 4-5 from the free throw line to record a season-high.
The Patriots dominated the game from the opening tap, as they raced out to an 11-3 lead with just under six minutes gone by. The Tribe, meanwhile, did not score a basket until the 15:15 mark when Megan Baier drilled her only three points of the game. While the Tribe went cold from the floor, Mason ran out to its biggest lead of the game, 27-9, with 6:40 left.
But the Tribe answered, exploding on a 12-2 run to close the lead to just six at 29-23. The flurry, which lasted 2:30, was engineered by six-straight free throws, two each from Christin Gethers, Lizzie Schiel, and capped off by two from Butts with 2:10 left in the half.
Mason responded, as it sank two free throws and a Smith hit a jumper to stretch the lead back to 10, and Shelbylynn McBride canned a 12-foot jumper with seven seconds left to widen the lead to 12 at 35-23 at the break.
The Patriots pushed their lead to 14 to open the second half, but the College again answered. Down 40-30 with 13:08 left, two free throws from Colleen McCaffrey closed the lead to eight, and after a Mason basket, Butts banked home a running layup, followed by a short jumper from Lindsey Brizendine to pull the Tribe within six at 42-36 with 10:08 left.
A Mason jumper from Smith stretched the lead back to eight, and another short jumper from Brizendine closed the lead back to six, which would be the closest the College would get to the Patriot advantage.
Two free throws from Smith, followed by a jumper from Derevjanik and a three-pointer from Jen Daniels widened the lead back to 13 at 51-38, and from there, the College would get no closer than seven points at 53-46 on two Lange free throws, and the Patriots went on to win, 66-53.
Despite the loss, the College held the advantage in rebounds, holding a 39-37 tally, but the Patriots shot 45% from the floor, and held the Tribe to just 32% shooting.
