Nov. 30, 2009
Postgame Video Extra
Box Score
FAIRFAX, Va. - The George Mason women's basketball team grabbed the lead early and held off the Fairfield Stags, earning a 70-65 victory on Monday evening at the Patriot Center. The win marks Mason's fourth-straight at home and their third in as many games.
Mason improved to 4-2 on the season as they held down the Stags, who suffered their first loss of the season as they fell to 3-1.
Juniors Brittany Poindexter and Ashleigh Braxton each chipped in 12 points to lead the Mason offense, which overcame a 45-to-31 disadvantage off the glass and registered 10 blocks, including four from freshman Janaa Pickard. CAA Rookie of the Week Amber Easter led the Patriots with eight rebounds, while Stephanie Geehan put up 33 points and 17 rebounds to pace Fairfield.
Fairfield opened with a 6-2 run in the early going, but Mason answered with a pair of baskets to tie it at 6-6. The Stags made it a four-point game again at 10-6, but again the Patriots knotted it up. Mason's first lead of the game came at the 10:56 minute mark on a 3-pointer from Braxton, and the Patriots led by as many as four before an 8-0 run pushed the Mason advantage to 28-19.
The Patriot lead grew as large as 12 as the teams headed to the half with Mason leading, 37-22, ultimately closing on a 17-3 scoring run. The 15-point spread was the largest halftime lead for the Patriots this season, and Mason won the first-half turnover battle by six, committing just four while Fairfield gave the ball up 10 times.
Fairfield cut the gap to 10 points out of the halftime break, but Mason responded with eight unanswered points to take its largest lead of the game up to that point. It was an advantage that swelled to 23 points. The Stags cut it to 12 at the 5:06 mark after a three-point play by Tara Flaherty and a trey by Geehan made it a single-digit Patriot lead for the first time in the second half.
Hobbs pushed it back to double digits with a free throw, making it 67-57 with 3:05 left on the clock. Geehan hit a pair of jumpers to make it 67-61 with less than two minutes to go and connected on two free throws at the 1:24 mark leaving a four-point game. Braxton hit the back-end of a pair of free throw attempts to make it 68-63, but Joelle Nawrocki's layup slid through the basket to cut the deficit to 68-65.
Braxton drained a pair of free throws with 29.9 seconds remaining to once again make it a two-possession game. Fairfield scrambled to get a shot off on its next possession, but stout defense by the Patriots caused the Stags to burn their final timeout with 2.5 seconds showing on the clock. On the inbound pass, Pickard knocked it away and held on to the ball for Mason's third-straight win.
The Patriots will look to make it four in a row when they close out their four-game homestand this Friday, hosting High Point at 7 p.m.
