WHO: Women's Basketball at VCU
WHERE: Siegel Center - Richmond, Va.
FINAL SCORE: VCU 65, Mason 34
RECORDS: Mason (11-17, 6-9 A-10); VCU (20-8, 9-6 A-10)
KEY PLAYERS: Taylor Brown 13 points; Chinyere Bell 11 points, nine rebounds

BOX SCORE (HTML)

RICHMOND, Va. – The ominous skies turned out to be a dubious sign for the George Mason women's basketball team.

Playing their last road game of the season, the Patriots suffered one of their worst losses of the season, struggling all night offensively in a 65-34 loss to VCU on Wednesday at the Siegel Center.

It marked Mason's most lopsided conference loss of the season. The Patriots set season lows in numerous categories, most notably scoring just 34 points and shooting only 26 percent from the field.

Before the game even started, a tornado warning set off sirens in the area as coaches, players and fans headed to the locker rooms and hallways in the basement of the arena. After about 20 minutes, the teams returned to the court for warmups and the fans headed back to the stands. The start of the game was delayed just five minutes.

However, despite scoring just 14 points in the first half, the Patriots (11-17, 6-9 Atlantic 10) hung around midway through the third quarter.

With her team down 24-14 at halftime, freshman Chinyere Bell breathed life into a comeback attempt. The freshman, making her fourth career start, scored six straight points. Kristi Mokube closed the 8-2 spurt with a driving layup with 5:19 left to cut the deficit to four points.

Mason wouldn't get any closer, though, coming up empty on its next two possessions. VCU (20-8, 9-6) converted on the other end, beginning a long run that shut down the Patriots' comeback. The Rams scored 10 straight points, the first half of a 23-2 run. Mason scored just two points the next nine minutes, falling behind 49-24 with more than six minutes remaining.

Taylor Brown led the Patriots with 13 points and Bell added 11 points and nine rebounds. Mason made a season-low 13 field goals and turned the ball over 17 times.

Typically a good free-throw shooting team, the Patriots also struggled at the line. They missed their first nine free throws and finished 5-for-14, shooting a season-low 35.7 percent. They entered the game shooting 74 percent for the third-best mark in the Atlantic 10 Conference.

The outcome was a far cry from just a month ago when the Patriots defeated VCU 70-54 on Jan. 20 at EagleBank Arena as the team shot a season-best 53.3 percent from the field.

Mason closes out the regular season against George Washington at 2 p.m. on Saturday at EagleBank Arena on Senior Day. The Patriots will recognize three seniors – Brown, Mokube and Reana Mohamed – before the game.

Heading into the final game, Mason is tied with Dayton for eighth in the conference. The Flyers hold the head-to-head tiebreaker, though, as they defeated the Patriots on Feb. 10. Thus, currently, Mason would be the No. 9 seed in next week's A-10 Tournament, which runs from March 2-6 in Richmond. The top 10 teams receive a first-round bye. With a win against George Washington, the Patriots wouldn't open the tournament until Thursday, March 3.