George Mason University Athletics

Women's Basketball Falls to James Madison, 83-54

George Mason Athletics Women's Basketball 1/16/2011 4:40:00 PM

FAIRFAX, Va. – George Mason held James Madison to two three-pointers in the second half, but could not overcome a first half deficit as the Patriots fell 83-54 to the Dukes in Colonial Athletic Association play Sunday afternoon. The Dukes used a 53.8 percent shooting effort from three-point range to seal a comfortable halftime margin and improve to 11-6 overall and 4-1 in conference play. Mason dropped to 7-9 overall and 1-4 in league action.

Brittany Poindexter led all Patriots with 10 points as Angelee LaTouche followed with nine. Evelyn Lewis led on the boards, pulling down eight. Mason limited the Dukes to a 2-of-7 effort from long range in the second half.

After scoring 21 points in the first half, the Patriots limited the Dukes' leading scorer Dawn Evans to a mere four points in the second half. Tarik Hislop pitched in 20 points to help pace the Duke's offense, while Nikki Newman finished with 10. JMU won the rebounding edge, 43-32, led by Jalissa Taylor with eight.

Behind two treys from Evans, James Madison raced out to a 10-4 lead by 15:13 in the first frame before an old-fashioned three-point play from LaTouche cut the score to 10-7 at 14:10. The Patriots kept it a two-point ballgame until JMU's fourth three-pointer in the half broke open a five-point contest, 20-15, with 8:59 to play. Pulling down the offensive board, LaTouche tipped in a layup for a 23-21 JMU lead, but Evans responded with a pair of triples for a 29-24 JMU advantage with 5:42 on the clock. The Dukes closed the half using an 11-2 run to take a 40-26 halftime score into the locker room.

Mason outscored James Madison in the paint, 16-to-8, but JMU erupted from three-point range in the first half, connecting on 7-of-13 to shoot 53.8 percent from long range. Evans collected 21 points within the first half using 5-of-7 shooting from beyond the three-point arc.

JMU used the second half to open a 20-point lead within the first four minutes, but the Patriots guarded the three-point line to open the final 20 minutes as the Dukes were limited to a 1-of-6 effort through the second media timeout at 11:15. A Taleia Moton layup at 7:43 moved the score to a 64-45 margin which would be the closest the Patriots came the remainder of the contest.

Mason closes out this three-game homestand welcoming CAA foe Drexel to the Patriot Center on Thursday, January 20. Tip is slated for 7 p.m. between the conference rivals.

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