WHO: Women's Basketball vs. St. Bonaventure
WHERE: EagleBank Arena, Fairfax, Va.
FINAL SCORE: Mason 52, St. Bonaventure 49
KEY PLAYERS: Kara Wright – 20 points, eight rebounds; Alexsis Grate – 11 points  

FAIRFAX, Va. – The George Mason women's basketball team capped off 2016 with a suffocating defensive performance.  

The Patriots clamped down in a 52-49 victory over St. Bonaventure in their Atlantic 10 Conference home opener in a New Year's Eve matinee on Saturday at EagleBank Arena.

Mason improved to 2-0 in A-10 play for the first time since joining the league in 2013-14 and currently sits alone atop the conference standings. The Patriots last won their first two conference games in 2003-04 when they were still members of the Colonial Athletic Association.

Senior Kara Wright scored a game-high 20 points and grabbed eight rebounds while freshman Alexis Grate added a career-high 11 points off the bench. The Patriots (9-6, 2-0 A-10) held off a furious comeback from the Bonnies, who pulled within two with 21 seconds left after trailing by 16 in the third quarter.

Wright made one of two free throws with 11 seconds left for a three-point lead. St. Bonaventure (6-8, 1-1) then missed a 3-pointer and an offensive putback on the other end. Senior Sylvia Maxwell grabbed a defensive rebound with 1.8 seconds left as the Patriots hung on for their sixth win in eight games.

The Patriots held the Bonnies to just 28.8 percent shooting from the field and only 17.4 percent (4-of-23) from 3-point range. After getting off to a slow start, Mason trailed by five points early in the second quarter. But the Patriots took the lead for good with a 19-0 run in the second quarter that stretched into the third period.

St. Bonaventure went scoreless over the final 6:14 of the first half. Mason took advantage, ending the half on a 13-0 run. Tayler Dodson's wide-open a layup on a feed from Wright gave the Patriots a 25-17 lead at halftime.

Casey Davis opened the second half with back-to-back layups and Grate drove in for a lay-in to extend the advantage to 31-17 less than three minutes into the quarter. St. Bonaventure scored on the next possession for its first basket in more than nine minutes.

Wright then scored six points in a minute to give Mason its largest lead, 37-21, with 5:25 to go in the third quarter. The Bonnies didn't give up though as Mariah Ruff, the lone returning starter from a team that reached the second of the NCAA Tournament a year ago, led the charge with 18 points.

Mason scored just nine points in the fourth quarter as St. Bonaventure went on a 12-1 run over the last four minutes of the period to cut the lead to 51-49 with 21 seconds left. Wright then drew a foul and made one free throw to set up the frantic final 11 seconds.

Wright was 12-of-14 from the free-throw line, tying a career high in made free throws, and shot 4-of-6 from the field. The Patriots got to the line 31 times, making 21 foul shots. Grate also stepped up with a career-high six made free throws (out of seven attempts).  

The Patriots hit the road to play A-10 preseason favorite Saint Louis at 8 p.m. on Wednesday in St. Louis, Mo.