WHEN: Saturday, Noon
WHERE: EagleBank Arena, Fairfax, Va.
RECORDS: Mason (5-5, 0-0 A-10), Howard (7-4, 0-0 MEAC)
SERIES RECORD: Mason leads, 14-9
LAST MEETING: Howard defeated Mason 73-59, on Nov. 28, 2018 in Washington, D.C.
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FAIRFAX, Va. – The George Mason women's basketball team wraps up the home slate of its non-conference schedule on Saturday against Howard. 
 
Tip-off is scheduled for noon at EagleBank Arena. Saturday's game will be broadcast nationally on ESPN+, with commentary by Steve Kolbe. In addition, Shawn Ouellette will call the game on the GoMason Digital Network, with pre-game coverage beginning at 11:50 a.m.
 
PATRIOT POINTS
* Mason snapped its four-game losing streak with a commanding win over Navy, 67-58, on Thursday night in Annapolis, Md.
 
* The Patriots shot 72.7 percent from the field (8-11) in the fourth quarter to hand the Mids their first home loss of the season.
 
* Junior Nicole Cardaño-Hillary led the Patriots with a team-high 18 points, career-high eight assists and season-high eight rebounds.
 
* Junior Camarie Gatling scored 10 of her season-high 16 points in the fourth quarter, going 5-of-5 from the field in the period. Overall, she shot 66.7 percent from the field (8-12).
 
* Senior Sarah Kaminski added a season-high 16 points – one shy of her career-high. She sunk three three-pointers while going a career-best 5-of-6 from the free throw line.
 
* The Patriots shot 49.0 percent from the field (24-49) – their second highest mark of the season. Mason improves to 4-0 when shooting 40 percent or better in a contest.
 
* Cardaño-Hillary began the season 14th all-time in Mason program history in scoring with 1,218 points. With a career-high 41 points at Penn State (Nov. 24), the junior guard cracked the top-10. Cardaño-Hillary is four points shy of a tie with Krista Jay (1994-98) for eighth place (1,400).
 
* Cardaño-Hillary leads the Atlantic 10 in scoring (17.8 ppg) and is fifth in steals per game (2.0). 
 
* Senior Jacy Bolton surpassed 600 career rebounds with six boards against Bradley (Nov. 29). She now sits 12th all-time with 615 rebounds. Bolton is 14 boards away from 11th place (629) held by Laura Teter (1989-93).
 
* Gatling ranks fourth in the A-10 in field goal percentage (.535) and 15th in rebounds per game (6.3).
 
* Senior Alexsis Grate leads the team in assists per game (3.4) - good for ninth in the A-10. Her assist/turnover ratio (1.4) ranks seventh in the league.
 
* Mason is 4-0 when leading with 5:00 minutes to go in a contest. The Patriots are also 3-1 when leading at the half. 
 
* Bolton is 32 points away from 1,000 career points. She'll become just the 20th player in program history to achieve that mark.
 
* The Patriots have three players among the top-15 in program history in career all-time three-point field goals made. With 20 3-point FGs this season, Kaminski is locked into third place with 159 total treys. Cardaño-Hillary (126) is 10th and Bolton (109) is 13th.
 
SERIES HISTORY
Mason has a 14-9 all-time series lead on Howard that dates back to 1973. The Bison won last year's match-up 73-59, breaking the Patriots' 12-game series winning streak. Prior to last season, the two teams hadn't met since 2009.
 
SCOUTING HOWARD
Howard overcame a 13-point deficit to defeat East Carolina (ECU), 67-51, on Dec. 16 in Greenville, N.C., thanks to a 42-point second half outburst. The Bison have won three straight games and six of their last eight.
 
Howard finished the 2018-19 season with a 18-13 (10-6 MEAC) mark and fifth in the MEAC standings. This year's Bison consist of 13 returners and three newcomers. Seniors Imani Bryant (Berkeley, Calif.), Sarah Edmond (Freeport, N.Y.) and Ayonna Williams (Washington) and junior Jayla Thornton (Newark, N.J.) spearhead the league's top offense from a year ago.
 
UP NEXT
Mason takes a week-long holiday break before wrapping up non-conference play on the road at Delaware (Dec. 29) and at SMU (Dec. 31).