Nov. 30, 2004

Box Score

Fairfax, Va.--Three Patriots scored in double figures and senior center Julie Flanders (St. Thomas, V.I.) pulled down a career-high 14 rebounds to help lead George Mason to a 60-35 win over the University of Miami Tuesday evening at the Patriot Center in a non-conference match-up. With this victory, Mason improves to 1-2 on the year, while the Hurricanes fall to 3-3 overall.

The last time the Patriots held their opponent to just 35 points was on Feb. 11, 1994 when Mason claimed a 66-35 victory over UNC Wilmington in Fairfax.

The Patriots were on fire the first half as Mason held Miami scoreless for the first nine and a half minutes of play and only allowed the Hurricanes to score eight points in the entire first stanza. Flanders pulled down 10 boards in the first 20 minutes of play, while junior guard Jen Daniels (Brigantine, N.J.) led the Patriots with eight points after shooting 2-4 from beyond the arc. Mason went into the break ahead, 27-8.

Miami opened up the second half on a 5-0 run to pull within 14 points of Mason, but that was the closest the Hurricanes would get to the Patriots the entire game. Freshman Casey Quigley (Springfield, Va.) collected her first points as a Patriot as she drained a trey at the 12:55 mark. Mason's largest lead of the contest came with about four minutes remaining as sophomore guard Tracy Ann Holness (Brooklyn, N.Y.) made a lay-up after Daniels grabbed one of her four rebounds of the evening to feed it to Holness to put the score at 48-22. The Patriots made 11 of 13 free throws down the stretch to solidify Mason's first win of the season.

Holness led her teammates with 16 points and was perfect from the line (6-6), while Daniels netted a team second-best 12 points and also did not miss from the charity stripe (4-4). Freshman guard Keyhana Wakefield (Albany, N.Y.) came off the bench to pour in 11 points and added two helpers, along with two steals, while sophomore forward Kristin Higy (Akron, Ohio) grabbed a team second-best eight boards.

Miami junior forward Tamara James went into tonight's contest averaging 22 points per game, and the Patriots held her to just one 3-pointer in the first half and she finished the game with 16 points. Junior guard Katie Hayek came off the bench to score 13 for the Hurricanes, nine of which were scored in the final three minutes.

The Patriots outrebounded its opponent for the first time this season as Mason pulled down 44 to Miami's 37 and the Patriots were almost perfect from the line as they shot 90 percent (18-20) on the night. Mason shot 18-57 from the field (32 percent), while Miami was held to just 13 field goals (13-52).

The Patriots will return to action on Thurs., Dec. 2 against Penn State in State College, Pa. at 7 p.m.