Jan. 8, 2004

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Fairfax, VA--George Mason women's basketball team (6-2, 1-0) will face-off against Drexel (3-6, 1-0) at 7 p.m. on Friday evening at the Patriot Center. Mason has won three-straight games, while Drexel heads into the match-up on a two-game win streak.

Last Time on the Court Three Patriots scored in double figures to help lead George Mason University's women's basketball team (6-2, 1-0 CAA) to a 65-51 win over Towson (8-2, 0-1) on Jan. 4 at the Patriot Center in the Colonial Athletic Association opener for both teams.

Senior guard Jen Derevjanik drained a game-high 18 points for Mason after shooting 5-of-11 from the field and 78 percent (7-of-9) from the charity stripe. Derevjanik also added four assists, along with one block and one steal in 33 minutes of play. Junior guard Laura Kooij went 3-of-7 from the 3-point line and added six rebounds, along with two steals and two assists for the Patriots. Junior guard Lauren Hediger came off the bench to match her career-high of 11 points after banking 3-of-4 from beyond the arc, while senior guard Lynette Clark collected a season-high nine points after shooting 75 percent from the field (3-of-4).

As a team, George Mason shot 40 percent on the night (19-of-48), while Towson went 18-of-53 from the field (34 percent). The Patriots grabbed 36 boards to the Tigers 34, while both teams registered 17 turnovers each. Mason earned seven fastbreak points to Towson's zero and the Patriots scored 22 points off the bench, while the Tigers had three.

Against Drexel The Patriots are 3-1 all-time against Drexel since the Dragons entered the CAA (2001-02). Mason swept Drexel last season with the first win on Jan. 16 at home by a score of 74-42 and the Patriots walked away with a 64-46 victory at Philadelphia, PA, on Feb. 13. The lone win for the Dragons came on Feb. 3, 2002, when the Dragons clinched a 57-52 victory on their home turf.

Mirror Image The Patriots are off to a 6-2 start, which is the best record in their first eight games since the 2000-01 season when Mason paralleled this effort and was this year's six seniors freshman year.

Scouting the Dragons Drexel heads into tonight's match-up on a two-game win streak with its last game on Jan. 4 where Drexel defeated James Madison at home by a score of 61-59. Katrina Martin shot 7-of-9 from the field for a game-high 19 points, while Ola Snytsina netted a game second-best 14 points. Sophomore Catherine Scanlon grabbed a team-high 10 boards and added eight points in the win. Scanlon leads the Dragons in points average (13.2 ppg) and rebounds per game with 8.8. Scanlon is tied for sixth in steals with 2.00 in the Colonial Athletic Association and she is also second in the conference in rebounding. Drexel is currently 3-6 overall, including a 1-4 away mark and a four-game losing streak from Dec. 5-18.

Battle of the Three's The top-two players in the conference with 3-point field goals made will face-off against one another as Kooij leads with 2.50 per game and Drexel's Ola Snystina is second (2.38).

Familiar Foe George Mason and Drexel both faced a similar non-conference foe this season in St. Joseph's. The Dragons opened up their season with a 62-44 loss at the SJU Fieldhouse (Nov. 22), while the Patriots claimed the championship title at the Hawk Classic with a 68-59 overtime win in Philadelphia, PA, against St. Joe's on Dec. 29.

CAA Player of the Week Jen Derevjanik was named CAA Player of the Week on Jan. 5 for her efforts against St. Joe's (Dec. 29) and Towson (Jan. 4). On the week, Derevjanik connected on 14-of-29 (48.3%) field goal attempts, including 5-of-10 from behind the arc, for a total of 44 points (22.0 ppg), to go along with eight rebounds, seven assists, three blocks and three steals.

Home Cookin' Mason's women's basketball team started playing all of its home games at the Patriot Center during the 1994-95 season. Since this time, the Patriots have posted a regular season record of 73-44 (.640) when competing at the PC.

Clark in Control Senior guard Lynette Clark shot 75 percent from the field, including 1-of-2 from long range against Towson on Jan. 4. Clark tallied six new season-highs in this contest in field goals (3), points (9), 3-point FG (1), made free throws (2), steals (1) and minutes (17).

Beyond the Arc As a team, the Patriots are averaging a conference second-best .346 from the 3-point line and are holding their opponents to just .228 from long range.

Becoming a Trend George Mason has been relentless in the past three games as the Patriots have not let any of their opponents reach 60 points. Mason held Charlotte to 52 points, St. Joe's to 59 and Towson to 51.

Taneyhill's Second Head coach Debbie Taneyhill became second in Mason's record books in victories on Dec. 29 with a 68-59 win over St. Joseph's in the championship game of the Hawk Classic. Taneyhill has notched 91 wins while at the helm of the Patriots program and passed Pat Layne (1977-84) who now stands at third after ending her tenure with the Mason program with an overall record of 89-85.

Featured in USA Today Derevjanik was the first athlete to be featured in the "Spotlight: A Player Worth Noting" section of the USA Today in the Jan. 7 issue. This is a brand new section in the USA Today which will highlight an outstanding women's basketball player from a mid-major conference every week.

Neamo Reaches 1,000 At the 5:03 mark in the first half against Monmouth on Dec. 20, Vernessa Neamo netted a trey to become just the 13th player in George Mason women's basketball history to amass 1,000 career points. Neamo closed the game with a season-high 23 points.

Mason Signs Five Head coach Debbie Taneyhill recently announced that five student-athletes have signed National Letters of Intent to play for the Patriots in the 2004-05 season. The signees include Casey Quigley (G, 5-10, Burke, VA/Lake Braddock), Keyhana Wakefield (5-8, G, Albany, NY/Colonie), Whitney Ward (G/F, 6-0, Columbia, MD/Long Reach), Jessica Smith (F, 6-1, Dartmouth, MA/Dartmouth) and Erika Hussa (C, 6-3, Fairfax, VA/Robinson).