March 2, 2010
The George Mason women's basketball team closes up the 2009-10 regular season looking for a three-game Colonial Athletic Association winning streak when it hosts James Madison in a televised matchup Wednesday night. Verizon FiOS1 will run the game on tape delay, with tip off scheduled for 7 p.m. at Patriot Center.
James Madison visits the Patriot Center with a first-round bye in the CAA Tournament already in hand, as the Dukes can finish no worse than fourth in the regular season standings. JMU has won four straight games, including a 71-59 win over William & Mary on Thursday. Dawn Evans continues to lead the offense, as her 25.8 points-per-game scoring average ranks third nationally.
The Patriots are riding a two-game win streak after CAA wins over UNC Wilmington on Thursday night and a 47-43 victory over Georgia State Sunday afternoon.
In knocking off Georgia State in Atlanta on Sunday, Mason accomplished a number of milestones. It was the Patriots' first road win of the season and first CAA road victory since Feb. 10, 2008 at Delaware. The win also represented back-to-back conference wins for the first time since 2006, also the last time a Patriots team won 10 games.
When the two teams last met, junior Brittany Poindexter and freshman Amber Easter scored in double figures for the ninth time each, but Mason's first-half offensive struggles led James Madison to a 62-50 victory on Jan. 10 before 2,298 at the JMU Convocation Center. Poindexter led Mason with a game-high 18 points on 8-for-12 field goal shooting (75 percent) while Easter contributed 12 points. Leading the way for the Dukes was Dawn Evans who had 16, one of three JMU players to reach double-figure scoring. Poindexter also had a team-high eight rebounds.
JMU continues to control the all-time series as they lead 46-20.
Mason will find out its opponent for the opening round of the CAA Tournament following Wednesday night's slate of games. The Patriots have assured themselves of the No. 12 seed in next week's tournament, and will face off against the No. 5 seed in a 2:30 p.m. matchup next Thursday in Harrisonburg.
