BOSTON, Mass. - The George Mason women's basketball team erased a 17-point deficit in the second half, but could not complete the comeback win, falling in the Colonial Athletic Association opener at Northeastern, 69-63, Sunday afternoon. Mason dipped to 5-7 overall and 0-1 in conference action, while the Huskies improved to 7-4, 1-0.

For the game, Rahneeka Saunders and Shavonne Duckett reached double figures with 11 and 10 points, respectively. Mason won the battle on the boards for the first time in five games, 42-32, led by Duckett's seven rebounds. Both teams hit 20 field goals as A'lece Mark led Northeastern with a game-high 17 points. Kashaia Cannon followed adding 15 as Jewel Tunstull completed a trio of Huskies in double-figures with 14 points. NU scored 20 second chance points off 10 offensive rebounds as Tunstull and Christine Huber each pulled down a team-high nine rebounds.

After Northeastern erased a 12-point halftime deficit, the Huskies scored their final field goal of the game with 4:53 left to play, allowing the Patriots to storm back with a 14-6 run and cut the score to four points. The late rally fell short, however, as the home squad pulled out the conference win and remained undefeated at home this season.

In the first half, Mason held Northeastern without a field goal for nearly four minutes to erase an early deficit and take a double-digit halftime lead.  Out of the gate, NU used a 9-2 run to take their largest lead of the period of five points, 9-4, with 16:30 remaining. The teams traded baskets until a bucket from Kyana Jacobs knotted the score at 13-13 at the 11:28 mark.

Amber Easter tied the game for the sixth time with just over seven minutes to play, sparking Mason's 15-0 run that spanned 3:48 minutes of action as Mason claimed a 32-19 lead with 3:27 left to play. The Huskies would cut the score to seven, 34-27, on a Cannon jumper with 38 seconds remaining, but the Patriots closed out the half with five unanswered points for a 39-27 halftime lead.

Northeastern held Mason to one field goal and a trio of free throws over the first 11 minutes of the second half, outscoring the Patriots 29-5 to take a 58-44 lead. The Huskies continued their dominant play over Mason, keeping the visiting squad at the free throw line until an Annie Lawler three-pointer at 4:26 set the score at 63-49.

Lawler trimmed the score to single digits with a jumper just inside the three-point arc for a 65-57 score with just under two minutes to play. Saunders made it a two possession game before Duckett drained two free throws to make it a 65-61 contest with 46 seconds remaining. The Huskies held on for the 69-63 victory going 4-6 at the free throw line to close out the game.