Dec. 3, 2008

The George Mason women's basketball team continues its road trip with a Thursday night matchup at Longwood, in the Patriots' first trip to Farmville in 27 years. The contest is set to tip off at 7 p.m. at Willett Hall.

Longwood faces the Patriots on Thursday night with a 2-4 season record, and has lost its last three matchups, including a 72-40 loss at Syracuse on Sunday. While no Lancer is currently averaging in double figures for scoring, Becky Fernandes leads the team with 7.7 points per game while Anna Steg leads Longwood with 4.5 rebounds per game.

Through six games this season, the Patriots have done an excellent job of finding offense across their lineup, as six different players have led the team in scoring in each game. All have been double-digit performances, with the highest single-game total thus far coming from Brittany Poindexter, who chipped in 20 points in the season opener.

Last time the two teams met, the Patriots held on for their third-straight win on Nov. 23, 2007 with a 58-53 victory against Longwood at the Patriot Center. Mason (3-2) held off the Lancers (2-4) down the stretch by scoring five unanswered points within the final 63 seconds to seal the victory. Senior Lateisha Wade, in her first start of the season, led all scorers with 17 points, while sophomore Rashauna Hobbs added 12, including four three-pointers, to pace the Patriot offense. Longwood was held to 6-of-25 shooting (24 percent) in the second half and led by Keiva Small's 14 points.

Monday's game at High Point showed many signs of improvement for the Patriots despite the loss, and one of those was in the rebounding category. The Patriots out-rebounded the Panthers by a 48-to-41 margin, including a 19-10 advantage off the offensive glass. It was the first time in 23 games that Mason had better than 45 rebounds, and five Patriot players tied or set career highs in rebounds in the game.