St. Bonaventure SBUW (8-22, A-10)

George Mason MASON (23-8, A-10)

St. Bonaventure SBUW

(8-22, A-10)

Final

Feb. 27, 2018

George Mason MASON

(23-8, A-10)

Score By Periods
Team	1	2	3	4	F
St. Bonaventure SBUW	20	15	19	25	79
George Mason MASON	24	20	20	25	89

Box Score

Patriots Shoot Past St. Bonaventure to Advance to A-10 Quarterfinals

Game Recap: Women's Basketball | 2/27/2018 10:31:00 PM

FAIRFAX, Va. - The George Mason women's basketball team is headed to Richmond.

Sophomore Jacy Bolton scored a career-high 24 points and the Patriots shared the wealth as four players scored in double figures in a 89-79 victory over No. 13 seed St. Bonaventure in the first round of the Atlantic 10 Women's Basketball Championship on Tuesday night at EagleBank Arena.

No. 4 seed Mason (23-8) advances to the quarterfinals for the second time in three years. The Patriots will play No. 5 seed George Washington (16-13) at 2 p.m. on Friday at the Richmond Coliseum in Richmond, Va. The Colonials swept the season series against the Patriots.

Graduate student Natalie Butler scored 20 points and grabbed 19 rebounds for NCAA-leading 30th straight double-double. Her string of 30 consecutive double-doubles is the third longest streak in Division I women's basketball history. She also eclipsed 500 rebounds for the season during the game, becoming just the eighth player in Division I history to do so.

Freshman guard Nicole Cardaño-Hillary added 18 points and fellow freshman Marika Korpinen came off the bench to score a career-high 12 points while dishing out three assists. Senior Tayler Dodson nearly had a triple-double, registering eight points and eight rebounds and tying a career high with eight assists.

Bolton, a 6-foot shooting guard from Drexel, Mo., made a career-high five 3-pointers and eclipsed her previous career-high of 21 points against Drake on Nov. 24. Bolton entered averaging 9.2 points a game but had scored in double figures in just one of her last six games. She provided a boost on Tuesday, shooting 9 of 12 from the field, nabbing a career-high five steals and dishing out three assists.

St. Bonaventure senior Mariah Ruff ended her career with 30 points but it wasn't enough as the Bonnies lost to Mason for the third time in a month.

The Bonnies (8-23) came out on fire, jumping out to a seven-point lead within three minutes. But Mason answered by shooting 58.8 percent in the opening quarter. The Patriots grabbed the lead for good midway through the second quarter. Mason ended the half on a 15-5 run, sparked by a 3-pointer by Cardano-Hillary.

The point guard from Madrid, Spain, then perhaps had the play of the game. She forced a steal and went down the court, dribbled the ball behind her back to elude defender and banked in a layup off the glass while drawing a foul. She hit the free throw to cover the 3-point play. Camden Musgrave sunk a pair of free throws to cap off the run and give Mason a 44-35 lead heading into halftime.

The lead dwindled to five early in the third quarter but the Patriots again answered, taking a 10-point lead into the final quarter on a buzzer-beating jumper by sophomore Alexsis Grate. Mason stayed up by double digits for most of the fourth period to seal the victory.

Eight players scored for the Patriots. They received 19 points from their bench and outrebounded the Bonnies 43-21.

Both teams shot the ball well, with St. Bonaventure shooting at a 50 percent clip and Mason not far behind at 49.3 percent.

Print Friendly Version