WHAT: George Mason women's basketball at Massachusetts
WHEN: Sunday, 1 p.m.
WHERE: William D. Mullins Memorial Center, Amherst, Mass.
RECORDS: Mason (4-4, 0-0 Atlantic 10), Massachusetts (4-3, 0-0 Atlantic 10)
SERIES RECORD: Mason leads 4-2
LAST MEETING: Mason defeated UMass 64-59 on Jan. 30, 2016
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FAIRFAX, Va. – The George Mason women's basketball team takes a brief departure from non-conference play to make one of its earliest conference starts in program history.
The Patriots open Atlantic 10 Conference play at Massachusetts at 1 p.m. on Sunday. The Dec. 4 start is the team's earliest A-10 opener since joining the league in 2013. Mason has twice opened conference play on Dec. 4 – both times coming when still in the Colonial Athletic Association in 2005 and 2011.
Mason (4-4) has won its last two A-10 openers, both coming against Saint Louis. The Patriots are 1-2 in conference road openers under head coach
Nyla Milleson. Last year, Mason started conference season 1-0 with a 73-63 road win in overtime at SLU on Jan. 2, 2016.
The Patriots finished ninth in the Atlantic 10 last year with a 6-10 mark. Mason reached the quarterfinals of the A-10 Tournament for the first time in program history after a win over Dayton in the first round. The Atlantic 10 coaches projected the Patriots to finish 11th in the conference in the preseason poll released in October.
UMass (4-3) was projected to finish 14th as the Minutewomen are led by first-year coach Tory Verdi, who spent the last four years as head coach at Eastern Michigan. Last season, UMass finished 12-18 overall and 5-11 in A-10 action to tie for 11th.
Freshman guard/forward Hailey Leidel (17.0 ppg) and junior Maggie Mulligan (16.0 ppg) rank fourth and fifth, respectively, in the A-10 in scoring. Mulligan is averaging a double-double with 16 points and 12.4 rebounds a game. Freshman Ryan Holder also averages 12.4 points and junior point guard Lea McDerment ranks fourth in the conference with 4.0 assists a game.
The Patriots are 4-2 all-time against UMass. Mason won the teams' most recent matchup last year, picking up a 64-59 victory on Jan. 30, 2016 in Fairfax.
