UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. – The George Mason women's basketball team overcame a 15-point deficit to earn its first-ever win over Penn State, 78-68, on Sunday afternoon in University Park, Pa. It also marked the Patriots' first win over a Power Five school since Nov. 14, 2014 when Mason knocked off Virginia Tech.

Junior Nicole Cardaño-Hillary proved once again why she is the reigning Atlantic 10 Player of the Year and a Nancy Lieberman Award watch list candidate. The point guard dropped a career-high 41 points, shooting 50.0 percent from the field (13-26 FG) and 92.8 percent from the free throw line (13-14 FT). She added a season-high seven rebounds in 40 minutes of play.

With her 41 points against the Lady Lions, Cardaño-Hillary cracked the top-10 in Mason's all-time scoring, passing Toni Battle (1987-91). She now has 1,331 career points to sit 10th all-time.

"The character of our women was put on display today," said head coach Nyla Milleson. "The resilience, gut and grit of this team played its part today. I'm really proud of this team."

Without two of its starters, Jacy Bolton and Camarie Gatling, the Patriots received valuable minutes from senior Allie McCool, sophomore Devyn Wilson and freshmen Tamia Lawhorne and Jazmyn Doster. The four combined for 16 points and 16 rebounds. Senior Sarah Kaminski added 12 points on 4-of-9 shooting from deep while senior Alexsis Grate contributed six of her seven points in the fourth quarter.

Entering Sunday's contest, Mason had outscored its opponents 88-55 in the second half over the last two games. Once again, the Patriots used their second-half magic to pull off a come-from-behind win. Mason (4-1) outscored Penn State (3-3) 49-28 in the final two quarters of play to earn its third consecutive win.

Mason saw early success from the behind the arc, hitting three of its first four three pointers to lead 9-8 with 5:59 remaining in the first quarter. Penn State then held the Patriots without a field goal over five minutes, with Mason shooting just 1-of-12 from the field. After one quarter of play, Mason trailed 15-14, with 12 of its 14 points coming from deep.

Penn State opened the second quarter on a 12-0 spurt to force a Mason timeout with 7:17 on the clock (27-14). Cardaño-Hillary single-handedly stopped PSU's run with all of Mason's eight points during a stretch of two minutes (22-32). She finished with 10 points in the period on 4-of-6 shooting. At the break, Mason trailed Penn State 40-29.

After Penn State took its largest lead of the game with 8:29 remaining in the third quarter (48-33), Mason slowly began to chip away at PSU's advantage. The Patriots' defense held Penn State scoreless over five minutes and forced five turnovers during the stretch – cutting the lead to seven (48-41). Mason took its first lead since the 5:59-minute mark in the first quarter after a buzzer-beating layup by Cardaño-Hillary (51-50) ended the third period.

It was a back-and-forth battle in the early stages of the fourth period, finding the score tied 59-59 with 4:35 to go. Sharp-shooting from the charity stripe allowed Mason to go on an 8-0 spurt to lead 63-74 with 27 seconds left in the quarter. Cardaño-Hillary sealed the victory, hitting 8-of-8 from the free throw line. Mason outscored Penn State 27-18 in final quarter to secure its first-ever win over Lady Lions, 78-68.

Mason returns home to host UMKC on Tuesday at 7 p.m. at EagleBank Arena.