WHO: Women's Basketball vs La Salle
WHERE: EagleBank Arena, Fairfax, Va.
FINAL SCORE: Mason 79, La Salle 70
KEY PLAYERS: Taylor Brown – 18 points, 5 rebounds; Tayler Dodson – 8 rebounds (team-high), 3 assists (team-high)
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1st
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2nd
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3rd
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4th
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TOTAL
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La Salle (3-12, 0-3 A-10)
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12
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16
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20
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22
|
70
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George Mason (7-9, 2-1 A-10)
|
19
|
19
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23
|
18
|
79
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Fairfax, Va. – George Mason University's women's basketball team had its 17-point fourth-quarter lead nearly erased, but regained its composure for the final minutes against Atlantic 10 Conference opponent La Salle to come away with a 79-70 victory on Sunday afternoon.
GAME NOTES
-Three Mason starters, led by redshirt senior guard Taylor Brown, finished with double digits for the win. Redshirt junior guard Kara Wright and redshirt junior forward Tiffany Padgett added 15 and 14, respectively, while redshirt senior forward Kristi Mokube added 14 off the bench on a team-best 6-for-8 shooting.
-Sophomore forward Tayler Dodson had team-high 8 rebounds and 3 assists to add to her 4 points from the free-throw line when the game was on the line.
-A-10's leading scorer Amy Griffin managed a game-high 22-point, 11-rebound performance while two additional Explorers managed double digits in the loss – Ashanti Freeland had 14 points and Micahya Owens registered 10.
-Mason recorded two runs early in the game, the second of which featured eight unanswered points that gave the Patriots a 13-5 lead going into the media timeout. Despite several turnovers later in the period, Mason continued shooting well and had a seven-point lead after 10 minutes of play, 19-12.
-Mokube's third field goal in the game and freshman forward Jewel Triggs' second 3-pointer helped the Patriots accumulate their first double-digit lead at 24-14 early in the second quarter. Another 3-pointer, this time by Wright, made it 27-16, but a shooting slump by Mason allowed La Salle to go on a significant 8-2 run and come within five at 29-24.
-Points by freshman forward Chinyere Bell on consecutive Mason possessions and a rebound of hers on La Salle's possession between them jump-started the Patriots' offense and the lead grew back to nine before a three-point play by Brown soon after regained Mason's 10-point advantage at 36-26. A jumper by the Explorers' Lisa Mintzer and two converted free throws by Brown, which kept the Patriots perfect (7-7) from the line, finalized the scoring in the first half at 38-28 Mason.
-The Explorers came out of halftime on a 8-2 run in the opening 2:22 and forced a timeout by head coach Nyla Milleson. The timeout did not immediately halt La Salle's momentum and the Explorers came within two at 40-38, but the Patriots became more aggressive on both ends and went on a 10-2 run to go into the media timeout with another 10-point lead, 50-40.
-Two successful trips to the free- throw line by Wright extended Mason's lead to a new high at 54-40 before La Salle ended a 2:43-long scoring drought with back-to-back baskets. The Patriots stayed aggressive offensively and earned a few more trips to the charity stripe to go into the fourth quarter with a 61-48 lead.
-Going into the last 8:03 in regulation, Mason led by game-high 17 points at 67-50 and looked set for its seventh win of the season, but over the next six minutes the Explorers went on an incredible 18-3 run to get back in the game. The game remained close for the minutes that followed, but Brown made a crucial steal with 24 seconds remaining on the game clock and finished with a layup to make it 74-68, giving Mason a breather.
-Despite the mounting pressure, the Patriots remained hot from the free-throw line late on and closed out the game at 79-70 for their first home win of 2016.
STAT BREAKDOWN
-Mason shot 42.1% in the contest (24-57) and had a very strong showing from behind the arc (5-7) while holding La Salle to 33.3% (27-81) and only one 3-pointer (1-7).
-The Patriots committed a season-low number of turnovers, 10, off which the Explorers managed 9 points. La Salle gave the ball away 12 times and Mason scored just as many points off the turnovers.
-The teams were all even in rebounds at 47, but the Explorers exploited Mason's paint and grabbed 27 offensive boards, 11 more than the Patriots.
-Mason had their second-best free-throw shooting performance and made 26 of their 32 attempts; La Salle went to the line 20 times and scored 15 of them.
POST-GAME QUOTE
“Every game we play is a building block in our process of becoming a better team. Today we learned some valuable lessons that will allow us to continue to grow. We had a great balanced scoring performance and did a great job getting to the free-throw line. Rebounding will definitely be an area of focus as we move forward.” – Mason's head coach Nyla Milleson
NEXT ON THE COURT
Mason has one more additional road trip before the spring semester begins, facing Fordham on Wednesday and St. Bonaventure on Saturday.
