Jan. 27, 2010

The George Mason women's basketball team finishes up its January homestand with a game against Georgia State on Thursday, just the fifth time the two teams have met. Tip time is set for 7 p.m.

Mason is looking for a return to the win column following back-to-back losses, with the Patriots' record now standing at 8-10 and 1-6 in conference play.

Georgia State is 11-7 overall and 2-5 in Colonial Athletic Association play, coming off a pair of losses at Old Dominion and at home to James Madison, with each game against the CAA co-leaders coming down to a single-digit margin of defeat. Danyiell McKeller leads the Panther offense as she is scoring nearly 20 points per game, fourth-highest in the CAA and 18th nationally.

The Patriots and Panthers have split each of their prior four matchups, with each team winning once and losing once on their respective home courts. This season is the first time that Mason will square off against GSU twice in a season.

Last time they met, the 3,073 fans that packed Patriot Center on Feb. 8,2009 nearly set a school record, and the George Mason women's basketball team provided quite a show as the Patriots defeated Georgia State, 63-59, for their first Colonial Athletic Association victory of the season. Mason improved to 3-19 (1-10 CAA) with the win, while the Panthers fell to 11-11 and 3-8 in conference play. On Pack the House Day, the Patriots' crowd was the second-largest in school history, just 79 fans behind the school record of 3,152.

The George Mason women's basketball team will take the court Thursday night at Patriot Center for the 250th time since the 10,000-seat arena opened in 1985. Mason has amassed a 140-109 (.562) record in the building, which twice hosted the CAA Championship.