FAIRFAX, Va. – George Mason remained undefeated in this five-game homestand and opened its Colonial Athletic Association slate with a 71-47 victory over Georgia State Sunday afternoon in the Patriot Center. Ashleigh Braxton scored a game-high 19 points and helped force 28 Georgia State turnovers. The Patriots moved to 7-5 overall this season and 1-0 in CAA play, while the Panthers dropped to 5-7, 0-1.
Mason converted GSU's 28 turnovers into 28 points and recorded 20 assists to the Panthers' six. Braxton was 7-for-11 from the floor, including a 5-of-7 three-point effort to set a career-high, as the Patriots shot 44.4 percent for the game. GSU was held to a 27.5 percent shooting efficiency with a 25.8 percent second half effort.
Braxton led the Patriot offense with 19 points and was followed by Brittany Poindexter with 10. Poindexter also posted a game-high seven assists, five steals and six rebounds. Georgia State held the edge on glass 43-29 led by 11 from Chan Harris, who also posted 11 points for a double-double.
Georgia State kept the second half close to open the final frame, cutting the score to nine points with the first basket of the half. The Panthers kept within striking distance as Mason held a 10 point lead, 37-27, at 18:26, but a Poindexter jumper that followed sparked a 17-3 run that culminated into a 54-30 Mason lead with 9:12 remaining. GSU would cut the score to 19 points with 4:09 to play, but that would be the closest the Panthers came as the Patriots closed out the 71-47 conference win on two free throws from Christine Weithman.
Mason climbed out to a double-digit lead within the first seven minutes, claiming a 15-2 advantage off a Braxton three-pointer at 13:21. The lead was compounded using a trey from Brittany Eley, a pair of free throws from Angelee LaTouche and a bucket from Rahneeka Saunders as the Patriots took a commanding 22-5 lead. But the Panthers crawled back, cutting the score to 10 points, 31-21, with 3:09 to play following consecutive baskets from Jerlisa Taylor. Taleia Moton put Mason up by 13 with a trey at 1:04 as Harris connected on a pair of free throws to close out the opening half with Mason leading 34-32.
Braxton paced Mason in the first half, draining 11 points to lead all scorers. GSU held the rebounding edge at the break, 18-12, led by Harris with seven, but the Patriots outshot the Panthers 42.9-to-30.0 percent to claim the lead.
The win marked the first conference-opening win for Mason since December 5, 2006 at Northeastern. In addition, the win marked the first time in program history the Patriots closed a five-game homestand undefeated.
The Patriots hit the road for a pair of conference contests, traveling to Old Dominion (Jan. 6) and VCU (Jan. 9).
