SEATTLE – A four-game road trip ended with a tough loss for the George Mason women's basketball team in the Pacific Northwest.
Mason dropped an 81-52 decision to Pac-12 foe Washington on Sunday at Alaska Airlines Arena. Sophomore
Nicole Cardaño-Hillary scored 14 points and junior
Jacy Bolton added 12 points and seven rebounds but the Patriots couldn't overcome an off-shooting night, a multitude of turnovers and a bevy of second-chance points by the Huskies.
The Patriots (4-4) led after the first quarter but a four-minute scoring drought allowed Washington to take the lead and the Huskies never looked back. Mason shot a season-low 29.7 percent from the field and scored its fewest points since last season. The Patriots also committed 22 turnovers, which UW turned into 21 points, and allowed the Huskies to grab 22 offensive rebounds for 24 second-chance points.
The Patriots started off strong, leading most of the first quarter. Sophomore
Camarie Gatling banked in a jumper from the free-throw line with three seconds left to give Mason a 16-13 lead heading into the second period.
But a scoring drought by the Patriots allowed Washington (5-3) to take the lead for the first time – and for good. The Huskies rattled off a 14-2 run to jump in front 29-25. Mason struggled to score for nearly four minutes and shot just 20 percent (4-of-20) in the second period.
The Patriots pulled within six, 31-25, with 1:18 left in the first half when Bolton made one of her game-high four 3-pointers. But Washington delivered two tough blows right before the half, draining back-to-back treys after the Huskies had missed 15 of its first 18 3-point attempts. The long-range shots gave UW a 37-25 lead at halftime and Mason wasn't able to get any closer than 11 points after that.
The Patriots did force 16 turnovers and scored 18 points off turnovers. They also grabbed 17 offensive rebounds but were beat overall on the boards, 50-40.
Sophomore
Camarie Gatling scored seven points and fellow sophomore
Marika Korpinen added six. Junior
Allie McCool, making her first career start, grabbed a career-high eight rebounds. Freshman
Livija Kaktaite came off the bench to score a career-high five points.
Mason has lost consecutive games for the first time in nearly two seasons, last suffering back-to-back losses to end the 2016-17 season.
The Patriots return home to play former Colonial Athletic Association foe Delaware at 7 p.m. on Thursday at EagleBank Arena.
