Fifth-year senior Janaa Pickard put up her best numbers in conference play with 15 points and eight rebounds, but it would not be enough in the Patriots 66-60 loss at La Salle.
“Just a very disappointing, frustrating loss,” head coach Nyla Milleson said.
The Patriots led by as many as 12 points in the first half and went into the break holding a 35-28 lead. After going back-and-forth through much of the second half, the Patriots led by six with less than four minutes to play but could not hold on.
“Right now we just don't know how to win,” Milleson said. “There's still a lot of good we can take from it, but at the end of the day, it's all about winning ball games and right now we don't know how to do it.”
Both sides were held to under 40% from the field as the Patriots narrowly outshot La Salle 39%-to-38%, but it was on the glass where La Salle took the game snagging 42 rebounds to Mason's 32. Most of the difference occurred under Mason's rim where the Patriots managed just six offensive rebounds.
“We just have to continue to learn from these type of environments and hopefully we'll get over the hump one of these days,” Milleson said.
Despite the final score, the Patriots showed improvement since the first time they faced La Salle earlier in the season. In the first meeting the Explores led from start to finish in a 65-50 decision.
“We played so much better than we did the first time we faced them,” Milleson said.
Pickard led the way with 15 points and two blocks, going 7-for-7 from the free-throw line. Sophomore Taylor Brown was a close second with 14 points, four assists and two steals. Sandra Ngoie put up 10 points in the loss and senior Kyana Jacobs contributed nine points and two steals.
“The things that got us up was attacking the basket, getting layups and being aggressive,” Milleson said. “We started settling for threes, our offensive rebounds were non-existent and there were a couple of things defensively that we just didn't execute.”
The Patriots look to bounce back Saturday afternoon when they host Saint Louis in the annual Play 4 Kay Pink game at 2 P.M.
