Photo courtesy of Michigan Athletics

ANN ARBOR, Mich. – If Nicole Cardano-Hillary had any nerves in her first collegiate game, they sure didn't show.

The freshman point guard scored a career-high 22 points against a Top 25 foe to open her collegiate career on Friday night. The George Mason women's basketball team put up a fight in a 75-61 loss to No. 24/23 Michigan in the first round of the Preseason WNIT in the season opener for both teams in front of 3,442 at the Crisler Center.

The Patriots will play in the consolation bracket of the Preseason WNIT next weekend. Dates, times, locations and opponents will be announced by the WNIT on Saturday.

Mason (0-1) stayed within a couple possessions of the Wolverines (1-0) for most of the night. The Patriots were within four with less than eight minutes to go before Michigan senior Katelynn Flaherty went off, scoring 19 of her game-high 29 points in the second half to lead the Wolverines to victory.

Cardano-Hillary scored 15 of her 22 points in the first half and made a game-high five 3-pointers. Center Natalie Butler, a graduate transfer from Connecticut, added 13 points, nine rebounds and three blocked shots and sophomore Jacy Bolton scored 12 points.

"Extremely pleased with our efforts," Mason head coach Nyla Milleson said. "I thought we played very hard, really played together. We're still a pretty youthful team – throw in a couple of transfers there that haven't played. I thought we did a lot of really, really good things. Probably the biggest difference in the game was on the boards. They are just so physical and big and strong. We really got taken to the woodshed on the boards. To me, that was the difference in the game. They just had so many more possessions than we did."

The Patriots lost the rebounding battle 54-26 as three Michigan players had at least 10 rebounds. Preseason All-Big Ten selection Hallie Thome led the way in the paint with 15 points and 12 rebounds. The Wolverines grabbed 23 offensive rebounds and capitalized with 18 second-chance points.

Even so, Mason battled throughout the game.

Butler sunk a 15-foot turnaround jumper with 3:34 left in the third period to pull the Patriots within two, 48-46. That would be as close as the Patriots would get. Flaherty, a two-time WBCA All-America Honorable Mention selection, responded with a 3-pointer on the next possession to spark a 9-2 Michigan run for a 57-48 lead early in the fourth quarter.

Sophomore Sarah Kaminski followed with a trey, though, and Jacy Bolton off an assist by Cardano-Hillary after a steal by Kaminski. That pulled the Patriots within 57-53 with 7:54 remaining.

But the Patriots missed their next three shots as Michigan made a pair of free throws and Flaherty hit a 3-pointer to extend the advantage back to nine points with just over six minutes to go.

Mason wouldn't get closer than six from there on as Michigan ended the game on an 11-3 run and the Patriots failed to make a basket from the field over the last 4:43. Flaherty sandwiched 3-pointers around a layup by Nicole Munger to push the Wolverines' lead to an insurmountable 14 points with just more than two minutes remaining. 

The Patriots jumped ahead in the second quarter for their only lead of the game thanks to a 12-2 run. Cardano-Hillary made two of her four straight 3-pointers to spark the spurt. Kaminski hit a layup with 25 seconds left in the quarter to cut the deficit to 21-19 after on period.

The momentum carried over as Bolton sunk a go-ahead 3-pointer and Butler followed with two layups for a 26-21 lead to force a Michigan timeout early in the second quarter. The Wolverines, the reigning postseason WNIT champs, responded with 11 straight points and held the lead the rest of the way.

In addition to her 22 points, Cardano-Hillary also recorded three steals and two assists and was 7-of-8 from the free-throw line. The 5-foot-7 guard from Georgetown, Texas was playing in front a contingency of more than 30 family and friends as many family members on her mom's side live in Michigan.

Kaminski added eight points and three steals while senior captain Tayler Dodson set a career high with eight assists. As a team, the Patriots had 17 assists on 21 made baskets. They also forced Michigan into 18 turnovers, scoring 10 points off the miscues.

Seven players made their Mason debuts – Butler (Connecticut), transfers Taylor Byrne (Seton Hall) and Camden Musgrave (Central Connecticut State) and freshmen Cardano-Hillary, Danielle Deoul, Camarie Gatling and Marika Korpinen.

Last year, the Wolverines won a school-record 28 games, finished third in the Big Ten and captured the postseason WNIT championship for their first postseason title. Michigan raised the 2017 WNIT championship banner prior to tip-off Friday.

Mason will step away from the Preseason WNIT when it heads to Baltimore to play Loyola at 7 p.m. on Tuesday.