Feb. 1, 2004
Fairfax, VA--Mason's women's basketball team lit the 3-point line on fire as the Patriots drained a new school record of 15 made treys in a single game in a 92-64 defeat over Hofstra Sunday afternoon at the Patriot Center. With this win, Mason improves to 11-5 overall and 6-3 in the CAA, while Hofstra, who was tied for first in the conference heading into today's game, drops to 10-8 overall and 7-2 in league play.
All five starters scored in double figures for the Patriots to help lead Mason to its largest margin of victory thus far this season. Junior Laura Kooij (Den Helder, Holland) was unconscious from beyond the arc as she made a career-high seven threes and shot 10-of-15 from the field for a season-high 29 points for the Patriots. The 10 field goals was one shy of matching Kooij's career-best of 11 and the seven treys matches Mason's single game record and it is also tied for fourth in the conference record books. Senior forward Vernessa Neamo (Forestville, MD) mirrored her career-highs in steals and assists with seven and six, respectively, and also added two blocks in 29 minutes of play for Mason. Guard Jen Derevjanik (Sr.; Staten Island, NY) shot 50 percent on the night for 13 points and added a team second-best five assists, while senior forward Susan Otim (Fairfax, VA) netted 12 and freshman Kristin Higy (C; Akron, OH) poured in 11 points and grabbed a game-high seven boards for the Patriots.
Cigi McCollin came off the bench for Hofstra to lead the Pride with 14 points and Amaka Agugua added to Hofstra's bench points with a team second-best 12 points. Vanessa Gidden grabbed a team-high six boards for the Pride and shot 5-of-9 from the charity stripe for seven points in 17 minutes of play.
Hofstra started the opening half on a 9-0 run, which was the Pride's largest lead of the game. Neamo stopped the scoring run with a made 3-pointer at 17:22 and after another trifecta by Derevjanik (11:58) it put the Patriots up by one, 12-11. A made free throw by Neamo tied the game at 21 (4:58) and Hofstra had its last lead of the contest at 4:02 after a layup by Tara Dilworth. The Patriots ended the first half on a 10-2 run to be ahead, 37-30, at the break.
Otim opened up the scoring for the Patriots in the second stanza with a layup in the opening minute to put Mason ahead, 39-30. After a made trey by Hofstra's Urszula Smolarek, Mason went on an 11-2 run to put the score at 53-40 at the 14:25 mark. The Patriots went on another scoring spurt of 16-4, which included a trey by junior forward Lauren Hediger (Pittsburgh, PA) at 3:25 and a 2-pointer by Higy to put the score at 84-60 with just under three minutes remaining. Mason closed out the game with its largest lead of the afternoon at 28.
Mason shot 29-of-64 from the field (45 percent) and garnered 91 percent shooting from the charity stripe (19-of-21), along with 15-of-33 from long range. Hofstra shot 42 percent on the night and went 10-of-18 from the free throw line and registered 44 percent shooting from beyond the arc (8-of-18). The Pride won the battle of the boards, 37-34, but Mason had only 14 turnovers to Hofstra's 26 and the Patriots amassed 18 steals to the Pride's six.
The Patriots will return to action on Thursday, Feb. 5 when they travel to Philadelphia, PA, to take on Drexel at 7 p.m.
