Feb. 3, 2007

Game #21
George Mason (8-12. 2-8) vs. VCU (10-10, 3-7)
February 4, 2007: 2 p.m.
Patriot Center (10,000)
Fairfax, Va.

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Series Record... Mason leads the overall series with Virginia Commonwealth, 26-21, including a 13-9 advantage when playing at the Patriot Center. Last season these teams met three times and the Rams won both meeting during the regular season: Jan. 8 (57-55) in Richmond and Feb. 19 (58-54) in Fairfax. The final time these two squads met in 2006 was in the first round of the CAA Championship and the Patriots prevailed with a 74-60 victory over VCU on March 8 at the Patriot Center.

Doubling Up, Again... Senior forward Tracy Ann Holness had another double figure point total showing on Thursday to push her season total to 11. Holness tied for a game-high 19 points, which matched a season-high for the New York native, against UNC Wilmington on Feb. 1.

Last Time Out...

George Mason University's women's basketball squad (8-12, 2-8 CAA) was edged by UNC Wilmington (7-13, 3-6) by a score of 59-58 in a Colonial Athletic Association match-up on Feb. 1 at Trask Coliseum.

Mason was ahead by two points with three seconds remaining, but UNCW's Denise Lawrence made the first attempt at the line, missed the second and grabbed her own rebound. Lawrence then threw it up and the ball circled the rim for a second, but it went through as time expired to give the Seahawks the win.

The Patriots took their first lead of the contest at the 15 minute mark after senior forward Tracy Ann Holness (Brooklyn, N.Y.) drained a trifecta to give Mason a 3-point advantage (7-4). Holness then gave the Patriots their largest lead of the first stanza 11 minutes later (25-20) after she netted a lay-up, which was also the last field goal for Mason in the opening half. The score was knotted at 25 at the break, which was the sixth tie in the first 20 minutes of play.

Junior guard Casey Quigley (Springfield, Va.) tied the game at 42 about seven minutes into the second half. Seconds later, Quigley was served with a technical foul, which gave UNCW the lead again after Casey Sawhook made both of her attempts at the charity stripe. The game was tied again after Holness sank one from beyond the arc with the clock reading 2:51 to put the score at 53 a piece. Holness, who tied for a game-high 19 points, then made another trey at 1:11 to knot the game at 56. Sophomore forward Colleen Shumaker (Haymarket, Va.) made the last field goal for Mason to give the Patriots a 58-56 lead with 21 seconds remaining, but the Patriots could not hold on in the closing seconds.

Mason shot 35 percent from the field (19-of-55), while the Seahawks shot 43 percent. UNCW attempted 30 free throws, while Mason only had 19 chances, but the Patriots did outshoot the Seahawks at the line, 74 to 57 percent.

Free Your Mind... Junior guard Lateisha Wade was nearly perfect from the line as she made 10 of her 13 attempts at UNCW on Feb. 1. Wade's 10 made free throws marks a new career-high for the New Jersey native.

In the Rankings... The CAA is ranked 10th among the nations 32 Division I conferences in women's basketball according to the RPI report compiled by Collegiate Basketball News through games of Jan. 28. The CAA finished ranked eighth in last season's final RPI report and the league ranked as high as sixth this season in the first RPI report.

Long Range... Tracy Ann Holness is three away from tying Jill Bartley (1996-2000) at the tenth spot in Mason's all-time record books in 3-point field goals made. Holness currently owns 83 career treys and Bartley ended with 85.

Shumaker's Stats... Sophomore forward Colleen Shumaker made a key field goal late in the game against UNC Wilmington and ended with four points after shooting 50 percent from the field in a season-high 16 minutes of action.

Longing To Be Home... Mason plays the next three games at the Patriot Center, which includes match-ups against VCU (Feb. 4), Delaware (Feb. 8) and Hofstra (Feb. 11).

About VCU... Virginia Commonwealth owns an overall record of 10-10 and a 3-7 mark in CAA action. The Rams head into Sunday's match-up having lost three-straight, including a 82-51 setback against Delaware on Feb. 1 in Richmond, Va. VCU's three league victories are against UNCW (56-55), Northeastern (80-74) and a 75-64 overtime win at Georgia State. Krystal Vaughn leads the Rams in points average with 15.8 ppg, while Quanitra Hollingsworth averages a team-best 9.3 rebounds per game.

Not Since 2004... Mason won four-straight games as the Patriots claimed victories over Howard (80-77), Siena (61-44), Northeastern (67-61) and American (60-53). The last time the Patriots won four consecutive contests was during the 2003-04 season when Mason won five in a row during the month of February.

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.

New Signees... George Mason University's head women's basketball coach Debbie Taneyhill has announced that four student-athletes have signed National Letters of Intent to play for the Patriot basketball squad, beginning with the 2007-08 season. The signees include: Eugenia Broadus (F, 6-1, Washington, D.C./Archbishop Carroll), Brittany Eley (G, 5-11, Waldorf, Md./West Lake), Tayler Wejnert (G, 5-11, Ramsey, N.J./Academy of Holy Angels) and Brittney Wilkins (F/C, 6-3, Cincinnati, Ohio/Montrose Christian/Louisburg JC).

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.