George Mason (6-7) closed out non-conference play and 2013 in style rolling Georgia Southern 85-64 Monday night in the Patriots sixth straight road game. Monday's victory marks Mason's first win in the month of December and then end of a five game losing streak.

“Really big win for the team and a really tough month of the December” head coach Nyla Milleson said. “I think we showed tonight that even though we lost games, we've been learning. We handled a lot of situations well tonight.”

Many of those situations came in the post where the Patriots put up 47 points behind the performances of forwards Janaa Pickard and Talisha Watts who each registered double-doubles and Sandra Ngoie who scored 13 points in limited minutes. Pickard secured her eighth of the season with 19 points and 13 rebounds in addition to seven blocked shots. Watts went 7-for-9 in her third double-double of the season with 15 points and 10 rebounds.

While much of the scoring occurred in the post, Mason's guards put up solid numbers as well. Point guard Taylor Brown added 19 points and nine assists on the night, with just three turnovers on the night. Senior Cierra Strickland added four assists and nine rebounds while fellow captain Kyana Jacobs put up seven points while grabbing eight rebounds.

“I thought every player who stepped on the floor really played their role well,” Milleson said.

As a team the Patriots outrebounded the Eagles 56-39 and connected on over 46% of their shots from the field while holding Georgia Southern 31.6%.

Mason took the lead two minutes into the game off a layup from  Watts and would hold off several Eagle runs, taking a 34-33 lead at the half.

The Patriots came out of the break strong, scoring four points in less than a minute to take a 38-34 lead. Georgia Southern called a timeout to regroup before tying the game with 18:05 to play. However, it would be short-lived. Sophomore Reana Mohamed drove to the rim giving Mason back the lead for good.