Jan. 23, 2005

Box Score

Fairfax, Va.--Four Patriots scored in double figures to help lead George Mason University's women's basketball team (8-8, 4-3 CAA) to a 79-64 win in a Colonial Athletic Association match-up over Virginia Commonwealth (5-11, 1-6) Sunday afternoon at the Patriot Center.

Freshman forward Casey Quigley (Springfield, Va.) netted a career-high 18 points after shooting 7-9 from the field and 4-6 from 3-point range in 29 minutes of play. Senior guard Lauren Hediger (Pittsburgh, Pa.) helped with Mason's 3-point total of 11 as she made only treys on the afternoon (5-8) for 18 points. Guard Jen Daniels (Jr.; Brigantine, N.J.) amassed 17 points and dished out a game-high eight assists, while freshman guard Keyhana Wakefield (Albany, N.Y.) was nearly perfect from the free throw line (6-8) as she came off the bench to net 10 points for the Patriots.

Senior forward Lauren Hogan collected a double-double for VCU as she scored 10 points and led all players with 10 rebounds in 35 minutes of play. Senior forward Maria Giovannetti led the Rams with 12 points after shooting 50 percent from the field (4-8), while senior guard Meagan Evans scored a team second-best 11 points on the afternoon. Freshman guard LaKea Jones also scored in double figures for VCU as she added 10.

Senior center Julie Flanders (St. Thomas, V.I.) opened up the scoring for the Patriots with a lay-up and Hediger tied the game at five three minutes into the game with one of her five treys on the afternoon. Mason then went on a 21-2 scoring run and allowed VCU to score only two field goals in 11 and a half minutes which put the score at 33-13 with just under four minutes remaining in the half. Freshman forward Moni Akintunde (Laurel, Md.) was the last to score in the first stanza as she made a fastbreak lay-up off of a pass from Daniels at the 47 second mark and the Patriots went into the break with a 39-19 lead.

Mason had its largest lead of the game of 24 after a Wakefield made jumper at the 11:56 mark to put the score at 57-33. VCU responded with a 5-0 scoring run, which was halted by a made free throw from Hediger as she was sent to the line after the Rams' head coach Beth Cunningham was charged with a technical foul. VCU cut the deficit to 12 points (60-48) after Giovannetti made a lay-up, but that was the closest the Rams would get to the Patriots on the afternoon. In the last four minutes of the game, there were 13 total free throw attempts for both teams as Mason shot 7-8 and the Rams were 4-5 from the charity stripe.

The Patriots shot their best field goal percentage of the season at 50 percent (25-50), while the Rams went 22-66 from the field (33 percent). VCU outrebounded Mason, 45-35, while the Patriots dished out 18 assists to the Rams' nine. Mason shot 55 percent from beyond the arc (11-20), while VCU shot 4-10 (29 percent) from long range.

Mason will return to action when the Patriots travel to Norfolk, Va. to face Old Dominion in a rematch of the 2004 CAA Championship game. Tip-off is slated for 7 p.m.