Jan. 23, 2008

The George Mason women's basketball team will try to halt a four-game losing streak on Thursday when it hosts William & Mary. The two teams last met in the 2007 CAA Championship, a 79-69 Tribe victory at Newark, Del. Thursday's game can be followed live via Mason All-Access.

William and Mary comes to Fairfax seeking to even its season record at .500, both overall and conference. In their last action, W&M dropped a 63-55 decision in Williamsburg to nationally-ranked Old Dominion. Kyra Kaylor earned CAA Player of the Week accolades after averaging 20.5 ppg last week. She leads the team in scoring (15.1 ppg) and rebounding (8.5 rpg). Courtney Portell leads the CAA and ranks seventh in the country with 3.12 three-pointers per game.

In the Patriots' last contest, despite the third-straight game in double figures for freshman Brittany Eley, the Towson Tigers pulled away with a 13-2 run as they handed Mason its fourth-straight defeat by a 65-38 score at Towson Center on Sunday afternoon. Mason fell to 7-9 and 1-4 in the Colonial Athletic Association. Eley led the Patriots with 12 points on 6-for-11 shooting (.545), while Haliena Snowden paced the Tigers' offense with 15 points, including 7-for-7 field goal shooting. In the game, the Tigers held a 46.0-to-29.4 field goal percentage advantage, while holding the Patriots without a 3-pointer for the first time this season.

Among all opponents in the 34-year history of the Mason women's basketball program, the Patriots have faced William & Mary more often than any other school. Thursday's game is the 55th meeting between the two in-state rivals.

Lateisha Wade is the Patriots' leading scorer, averaging 14 points per game, while Moni Akintunde is the top rebounder, pulling down 6.3 rebounds per game. Eley has been the hottest shooter for Mason recently, averaging 13.7 points in her last three games. Eley is the first Mason freshman since Moni Akintunde in the 2004-05 season to reach double-figure scoring in three straight games.