Jan. 21, 2010

Box Score
Watch Coach Porter's Postgame Comments

PHILADELPHIA - The George Mason women's basketball team came to the Daskalakis Center to face the defending Colonial Athletic Association champions, and Drexel could not shake off the Patriots until the final 90 seconds, earning a 59-51 win over Mason on Thursday evening.

Mason (8-9, 1-5 CAA) was led by 13 points and nine rebounds from Brittany Poindexter, as the junior fell one board short of back-to-back double-doubles. Classmate Ashleigh Braxton also reached double digits, chipping in 10 points. Gabriela Marginean led the way for Drexel (11-6, 5-1) with 26 points.

The teams played a tightly-contested first half, as neither could gain a lead larger than one possession before an 8-0 run by the Dragons made it 22-17 with 3:39 remaining in the half. Mason cut the gap to one point with a pair of baskets by Janaa Pickard and Brittany Eley, but Drexel closed out the half with three unanswered buckets in the final 82 seconds to take a 28-21 lead into the locker room.

Poindexter led the Patriots with eight points while Marginean paced the Dragons with 11 in the first half, a period in which Drexel out-shot Mason by a 46-to-35 percent margin as the lead changed hands four times with five ties.

Mason made quick work of the deficit, outscoring the Dragons 9-2 in the opening 4:02 minutes to tie the score at 30. A 9-2 Drexel run matched the Dragons' largest lead of the game to that point at seven points. Mason worked back to get within three points, but an 8-2 run pushed the Drexel lead to nine at 47-38 with 6:05 left in the game. Again the Patriots worked the gap, drawing as close as three within the final minute and a half but Marginean scored eight in a row, including six from the free throw line, to put the game out of reach and spoil the Patriots' upset bid.

The Patriots will look to return to the win column when they open up a two-game CAA homestand on Sunday, hosting William & Mary at 2 p.m.