The lead changed hands 14 times Sunday afternoon before a layup from Taylor Brown gave George Mason women's basketball the lead for good as the Patriots (12-11, 4-6 A-10) outlasted Davidson (5-19, 1-10 A-10) for a 63-60 win at the Patriot Center in Mason's annual Play For Kay Pink game.
“It's a special day for me; it's a special day for our team,” Head Coach Nyla Milleson said. “I told them that if they were having a bad game or things aren't going right to look at that pink and find their survivor buddy in the stands because it was for a good cause.”
The Patriots led by as much as seven late in the first half and would hold a narrow 33-31 lead at the break, however the Wildcats would quickly take over in the second half courtesy of a 16-3 run that extended from the two minute mark in the first half until the 15:20 mark in the second half. The Patriots would trail by as much as six with 5:16 to play when Qierra Murray snagged two of her career-high five steals in less than a minute of play. The freshman found Jasmine Jackson following both swipes, first for a three then for a layup to bring Mason within one.
“I thought Qierra was really, really good today,” Milleson said. “Defensively I thought she was really locked in, I thought she kind of ignited us in the second half with great post-entry passes and ball movement.”
The Wildcats Dakota Dukes would hit one of two from the line to give Davidson a 60-59 lead with less than a minute to play, but Brown's layup in traffic shortly after would return the lead to Mason for good. Jackson followed with two free throws to make it a three point game with six seconds on the clock.
“It wasn't the prettiest thing, but I thought we really stayed together,” Milleson said. “We found a way. Today was all about our Pink today and survival. We survived through a tough 0-5 stretch and we managed today. Now we just have to stay focused and take care of business.”
Brown would end the day with a game-high 21 points, three assists and three steals while Jackson added 16 points to the effort. As a team, the Patriots hit 10 threes including three each from Brown, Jackson and senior Sandra Ngoie.
