Jan. 24, 2009

Two teams searching for their first conference wins of the year will meet on Sunday afternoon when the George Mason women's basketball team faces the University of Delaware. The game is set to tip at 1 p.m. at the Bob Carpenter Center in Newark.

Delaware sports a 8-9 record and has dropped all six of its CAA games, including a 59-53 decision at UNC Wilmington on Thursday. Tesia Harris leads the team offensively with an average of 11.9 points per game.

Mason (2-15, 0-6 CAA) is coming off one of its best performances of the year, facing James Madison on the road and nearly upending the Dukes before three free throws in the final 22 seconds staved off the Patriots.

The Fightin' Blue Hens lead the all-time series by a 12-10 margin.

Last time they met, Mason held Delaware to 19.6 percent field goal shooting (11-56) as the Patriots defeated the Fightin' Blue Hens, 52-42. Mason snapped a four-game losing skid with the victory and improved to 9-13, 3-8 in the CAA, while Delaware (6-17, 5-6) was unable to complete the season sweep with a win on their home court. Senior Lateisha Wade led the Mason offense with 15 points, her 16th time reaching double figures in the season, while junior Jessica Smith chipped in nine points. Senior Moni Akintunde pulled down eight boards to lead the Patriots off the glass, as they out-rebounded the Blue Hens by a 43 to 31 margin.

At JMU on Thursday, a big reason for the Patriots' solid play was its field goal shooting. Mason's 13-for-26 performance (50 percent) was its best first-half outing of the season. Mason shot 43.1 percent from the field (25-58) for the game, its second-best performance of the season.