A strong second half was not enough for George Mason (6-9., 0-2 A-10) women's basketball team  Saturday as the Patriots fell 65-50 to La Salle (7-7, 2-0 A-10) in Mason's first home loss of the season.

Mason trailed 21-8 with just under 11 minutes remaining in the first half and would go down by as much as 16 before heading into the break, down 36-21.

“From the get-go we just weren't very good tonight. The same story different chapter,” said head coach Nyla Milleson. “ I'm not making excuses, but I think at this point we're just mentally and physically drained.”

The Patriots would fight back in the second half, going blow for blow with the Explorers with both teams registering 29 points after intermission. However, La Salle would outrebound the Patriots 48-37 leading to 18 second chance points compared to six for Mason.  The Explorers also capitalized on Mason's 20 turnovers, registering 22 points off turnovers.

La Salle stretched its lead out to as much as 20 twice during the second half. However sophomore Reana Mohamed and George Mason refused to back down, narrowing the gap to as little eight off a layup from Mohamed with just over 90 seconds remaining. Mohamed finished the night with 10 points , two seals, two assists and just one turnover.

“Without question Reana brings a lot of our energy right now, but we have to have some people feed off of the,” Milleson said.

No time for the Patriots to hang their heads as Mason welcomes Dayton Wednesday January 8 at 7:00 P.M.

“We're struggling a little bit with leadership right now,” Milleson said. “But we're going to continue to battle and grow and get back to the practice floor because we have a very good Dayton team coming to play Wednesday night.”

Fifth year senior Janaa Pickard registered her ninth double-double of the season with 10 points and 13 rebounds while sophomore Taylor Brown contributed 13 points in the losing effort.