March 7, 2007

Game #29 CAA Women's Basketball Championship #12 George Mason (8-20) vs. #5 William & Mary (18-11) March 8, 2007; 2:30 p.m. Bob Carpenter Center (5,000) Newark, Del.

Series Record... The Patriots lead the overall series with William & Mary, 46-17, including a 4-2 advantage when playing on neutral ground. Mason has won 13 of the past 15 meetings against the Tribe, including a 58-55 victory at William & Mary Hall on Feb. 5, 2006. Earlier this year, the Tribe claimed a 47-46 victory over the Patriots on a buzzer-beater shot in Williamsburg on Jan. 7 and a 65-56 win in Fairfax on Feb. 25. The last time these two teams met on neutral ground was on March 8, 2000 and Mason won by a score of 84-75.

Twice as Nice... Senior forward Tracy Ann Holness collected her second double-double of the season at Drexel as she led all players with 12 rebounds for a new career-high, and netted a team second-best 15 points.

Double or Nothing... Junior guard Lateisha Wade poured in double figure points for the 20th time this season against Drexel on March 1. The New Jersey native led all scorers with 19 points and her 20 double figure scoring games leads the Patriots thus far this season.

Extra Time... Three Patriots played career minutes against the Dragons on March 1 in Wade (40), Casey Quigley (40) and Whitney Ward (35).

Last Time Out...

With six seconds remaining in regulation against Drexel, Mason junior guard Lateisha Wade (Willingboro, N.J.) netted her second free throw attempt to tie the score at 62, which sent the game into overtime Thursday evening in Philadelphia. But the Patriots came up short in the extra session and fell to the Dragons by a score of 70-67.

Junior guard Casey Quigley (Springfield, Va.) took a desperation shot from long range as time expired, but the ball bounced off the rim to end the contest after one overtime.

Mason was down by nine (47-38) at the 13:21 mark in the second half, but the Patriots responded with a 20-1 run to put the score at 48-57 for their largest lead of the game. In that run, Wade scored six of her game-high 19 points, while junior forward Moni Akintunde (Laurel, Md.) added four for Mason. The Patriots held Drexel scoreless for eight minutes, but the Dragons snapped the scoring drought with one of Narissa Suber's seven 3-pointers of the night with just over six minutes remaining in regulation.

Mason led almost the rest of the half, including an eight-point advantage after sophomore center Jessica Smith (Dartmouth, Mass.) netted a lay-up at the 4:11 mark. Drexel pulled ahead with just over a minute remaining as Andrea Peterson made a trifecta, but Wade's free throw sent the game into overtime.

The first half saw 11 lead changes between the Dragons and the Patriots, while the score was tied five times.

Senior forward Tracy Ann Holness (Brooklyn, N.Y.) collected her second double-double of the season as she grabbed a game-best 12 boards, nine of which were on the defensive end and added a team second-best 15 points for her 16th double figure point total showing of the season. Akintunde came off the bench to add a team third-best 14 points after shooting 5-of-7 on the night.

Suber scored a team-high 18 points for Drexel, while Gabriela Marginean tallied a double-double with 14 points and a team-best 11 boards.

Mason shot 39 percent on the night (23-of-59), while Drexel made 25 of its 66 attempts from the field. The Patriots had a slight advantage on the boards, 44-40, but Drexel netted 11 treys and Mason ended the game with five from long range.

This marks Mason's first overtime game of the 2006-07 season and the fifth time this season in which the Patriots have lost a game by three or less points.

About William & Mary... William & Mary, the fifth seed of the CAA Championship, heads into Thursday's contest with an overall record of 18-11 and have won the past three games. The Tribe's last win came against VCU in Williamsburg by a score of 75-53 on March 1. Kyra Kaylor leads W&M in points with 14.8 ppg and in rebounds (9.0 rpg). Three players on the Tribe's roster has started all 29 games this year in Kaylor, Devin James and Sarah Stroh.

Senior Day... Prior to tip-off with William & Mary on the 25th, Mason honored seniors Tracy Ann Holness and Nikkia Slade for all of their hard work and dedication with Mason's women's basketball program.

Taking From Charity... As a team, Mason shot 92 percent (22-of-24) from the free throw line against UD on Feb. 4 for a new season-high.

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.

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.

Double Time... Junior forward Moni Akintunde collected her 11th career double-double on Jan. 9. Akintunde tallied game-highs in both points and rebounds with 20 and 12, respectively, in Mason's 23-point win over Brown at the Patriot Center.

Breakfast at Tiffany's... Sophomore forward walk-on Tiffany Burroughs scored her first career point at the line on Jan. 9 and finished the contest with four points after playing a total of three minutes.

All or Nothing... Every single player on Mason's roster saw playing time against Brown on Jan. 9.

All-Tournament Team... Junior guard Lateisha Wade was named to the Florida International Fun in the Sun All-Tournament team at the conclusion of the two-day competition. Wade led all scorers in both games, including a new career-high of 24 points against FIU on Dec. 29. Wade netted 19 the next day after shooting 5-of-13 from the field and 8-of-11 from the charity stripe.

Moni, Moni... Junior forward Moni Akintunde shot 55 percent in Mason's 59-42 win at Fordham to score 15 points, which matched a game-best.

Conference Season-High... Sophomore center Jessica Smith's 18 rebound showing against Rice on Dec. 30, was not only a new career-high and a game-best, but it was a then season-high among conference peers. The previous season-best among CAA performers at the time was 16, which was accomplished seven times thus far this season.

Pulling 'em Down... As a team, Mason collected a season-high 55 rebounds on Dec. 30 to Rice's 44. The Patriots' previous season-best was against #11 Georgia (Dec. 20) with 37.

What a Week for Ward... Junior forward Whitney Ward set six then-new career-highs at the Florida International Fun in the Sun Classic. Against FIU (Dec. 29), Ward poured in seven points, which included one field goal from long range and a team-high six rebounds. The proceeding day against Rice, Ward made four attempts at the line, tallied two steals and saw action for 30 minutes.

Seeing Double... Senior forward Tracy Ann Holness collected a double-double against Rice (Dec. 30) as she scored 14 points and matched her personal-best of 10 caroms. This marks just the second time this season in which a Patriot has had a double-double as junior forward Moni Akintunde accomplished this feat at Howard on Nov. 28.

All Boarded Up... Senior forward Nikkia Slade grabbed a game-high eight rebounds against #11 Georgia (Dec. 20) to mimic her career-best.

Not Since 2004... Mason has now 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.

Leader of the Pack... Junior guard Casey Quigley led the Patriots in scoring on Dec. 5 as the Virginia native poured in 14 points after shooting 50 percent from the field in 25 minutes of play.

Making `em from Long Range... Mason shot 7-of-12 from beyond the arc against Siena (Dec. 2). The last time Mason poured in seven or more treys in a game was on Feb. 24, 2006 when the Patriots netted 10 in a 83-70 win at Georgia State.

Doublin' Up... Four players netted double figures against the Bison on Nov. 28 in Lateisha Wade (22), Moni Akintunde (19), Casey Quigley (14) and Jessica Smith (10).

Watching Wade... Lateisha Wade shot 70 percent from the field against Howard and did not miss one 3-point attempt (3-of-3) and was also perfect from the line (5-of-5) to tally 22 points.

Double Time... Junior forward Moni Akintunde collected her first double-double of the season as she pulled down a game-high 13 boards and also added a team second-best 19 points at Howard on Nov. 28.

Giving to Charity... Junior guard Casey Quigley also shot perfection from the charity stripe in Mason's 3-point win over Howard as she went 4-of-4 Tuesday evening.

They're Baaaack... 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.

Traveling Locally... Three of Mason's non-conference away contests are in the Washington D.C. Metropolitan area as the Patriots competed at Maryland (Nov. 12) and will face both Howard (Nov. 28) and American (Dec. 8) on each of those school's home courts.

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.