Dec. 12, 2009

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FAIRFAX, Va. - The George Mason women's basketball team opened strong and held off Howard, 62-55, to improve to 6-0 at home, the first time in school history a Patriot team has done so. In the second game of a men's-women's doubleheader at Patriot Center on Saturday afternoon, the Patriots (6-3) topped the Bison (3-5) in a return to the win column.

Junior Ashleigh Braxton led the team with a career-high 20 points on 7-for-10 shooting and was one of three Patriots in double figures. Classmate Brittany Poindexter added 15 while freshman Amber Easter contributed 10 points. Junior Angelee LaTouche pulled down a game-best 12 rebounds. Howard's Zykia Brown led all scorers with 23 points.

Mason began the game with a 15-2 run, in which Mason missed just three shots, and the Patriots would never trail in the contest. The Patriot lead was as large as 17 when a Rashauna Hobbs 3-pointer made it 26-9 with just under four minutes to go in the first half. A 6-1 run by the Bison made is 27-15 but Brittany Eley's trey with 15 seconds on the clock set the halftime margin at 30-15.

The Patriots out-shot the Bison by a 47.6-to-19.2 margin from the field, including a 5-for-7 performance from beyond the arc by Mason.

Howard made it interesting in the second half, opening on a 8-0 run to push the deficit into single-digits. Mason swung it back to 17 points when Braxton's layup at the 11:32 mark left the score 48-31. The Bison, though, gradually whittled away at the lead until they pulled as close as six with less than a minute to go, as the second of Brown's two free throws made it 58-52. The Patriots answered with four free throws, including three from LaTouche, to ice the game.

The 6-0 start at home is the first in school history, besting a 5-0 mark set two seasons ago. Additionally, in the six home games the Patriots have yet to trail in the second half this season.

Mason will take a 10-day break for final exams and will return to the court in another doubleheader on Dec. 22, when the Patriot women host George Washington at 5 p.m. That game will be followed by the Mason-VMI men's game at Patriot Center.