Nov. 10, 2006

Next up for the Patriots:
George Mason (0-0) vs. #1 Maryland
November 12 at 2 p.m.
Comcast Center (17,950)
College Park, Md.
Televised on Comcast SportsNet
Joe Beninati (Play-by-Play)/Christy Winters-Scott (Analyst)

Complete Release in PDF Format
Download Free Acrobat Reader

Series Record Maryland owns a 3-0 advantage over Mason in the overall series. The last time these two teams met was last season and the Terrapins claimed a 70-33 victory at the Patriot Center on Dec. 22. Mason's lone loss to Maryland in College Park, Md. was on Nov. 29, 1989 and the Terps won by a score of 75-63.

About Maryland Maryland returns all five starters from the 2006 National Championship squad, including Marissa Coleman, Shay Doron, Laura Harper, Crystal Langhorne and Kristi Toliver. The Terps open up their regular season at Middle Tennessee State on Nov. 10 and play their first home season of the 2006-07 campaign against Mason. Maryland ended the 2005-06 season with an overall record of 34-4 and closed out the season tied for second in the ACC with a 12-2 league mark. Prior to the start of this season, the Terps were voted #1 in preseason AP Poll.

Exhibition Match-Up George Mason's women's basketball team defeated Columbia Union by a score of 82-44 in an exhibition match-up on Nov. 7 at the Patriot Center. Mason had four players score in double figures with Nikikia Slade leading all scorers with 19 points and also pulled down 12 rebounds. Junior Whitney Ward came off the bench to pour in 14 after shooting 50 percent from the field, while both junior guard Casey Quigley and junior forward Moni Akintunde added 11 each for the Patriots.

Last Time These Two Squads Met

Mason's women's basketball team fell by a score of 70-33 to #6 Maryland on Dec. 22, 2005. The Patriots' leading scorer was forward Moni Akintunde with nine points, who also led Mason in rebounds with 10. Forward Tracy Ann Holness added seven points for the Patriots, while guard Nikkia Slade came off the bench to grab five caroms.

Ashleigh Newman poured in a game-high 21 points for Maryland, while Marissa Coleman collected a double-double with 20 points and 10 boards. Crystal Langhorne pulled down 10 caroms and Shay Doron was the third Terp to score in double figures with 10 points and also added seven assists in Maryland's win.

They're BAAACK... Mason returns four starters from last year's squad in junior guard Lateisha Wade, senior forward Tracy Ann Holness, junior forward Moni Akintunde and redshirt-sophomore center Jessica Smith. Wade closed out the 2005-06 campaign as the Patriots' leading scorer with an average of 10.1 points per game and Holness finished second with 9.3 ppg. Akintunde averaged a team fourth-best 8.8 ppg and led the Patriots in rebound average with 7.2 rpg and Holness was second among teammates with 4.8 caroms per contest.

Lone Freshman... Guard Raushana Hobbs is Mason's lone freshman this season. Hobbs is from Bowie, Md. and graduated from Riverdale Baptist. Hobbs' dad is Carl Hobbs, the head coach of George Washington's men's team.

TV Talent Has Ties to Both Teams Today's color analyst for Comcast SportsNet is Christy Winters-Scott who has ties to both Maryland and George Mason. Winters-Scott graduated from Maryland where she played all four years and then went on to serve as an assistant coach for the Patriots during the 1992-93 season and then from 1994-97.

RPI Rankings The CAA was the eighth-ranked Division I conference in the final RPI rankings compiled by the NCAA at the close of the 2005-06 season. The ranking was the best for the conference since 1997-98 and four of the league's 12 teams were in the top 76 (Old Dominion-20, JMU-55, Delaware-69 and Hofstra-76).

Strong Returning Numbers CAA teams return 75% (45-of-60) of their starting line-ups from a season ago. JMU, UNC Wilmington and Virginia Commonwealth have all five starters back, while Delaware, Mason, Hofstra, ODU and William & Mary have four starters returning.

Televised Games Today's game against Maryland is the first of two Mason games that will be televised on Comcast SportsNet this season. The second is when the Patriots travel to Virginia Commonwealth on Feb. 18.

Happy (early) Birthday! Redshirt-sophomore center Jessica Smith will celebrate her 21st birthday on Nov. 14.

In the Professional Ranks Former Mason standout Jen Derevjanik became just the second Patriot to play in the WNBA. Derevjanik played the 2006 season with the Phoenix Mercury and was on the Connecticut Sun's roster for both the 2004 & 2005 seasons. Both years the Sun made it to the WNBA Finals.