DALLAS, Texas – Trailing late in Dallas, junior
Camarie Gatling made the game-winning layup to lift the George Mason women's basketball team past SMU, 59-58, on New Year's Eve.
With under three minutes remaining in the contest, Mason overcame an eight-point deficit to ring in 2020 with a victory. Junior Nicole Cardaño-Hillary accounted for seven of Mason's nine points in the final two minutes of play. Gatling then made the go-ahead layup with 13 seconds remaining as the Patriots' defense held strong as time expired.
Playing in her home state of Texas, Cardaño-Hillary ignited for a game-high 25 points and team-high eight rebounds and five assists.
Senior
Jacy Bolton surpassed 1,000 career points to become just the 20th player in program history to achieve that mark. She finished with eight points, five rebounds and two assists.
Debuting a new lineup, featuring sophomore
Livija Kaktaite and freshmen
Jazmyn Doster and
Tamia Lawhorne, the Patriots jumped out a blistering start. Lawhorne, Cardaño-Hillary and Bolton hit back-to-back-to-back three-pointers to open the game (9-0). Four points from Lawhorne and a layup from Cardaño-Hillary pushed Mason to a 15-3 lead at the media timeout. The Patriots led by eight after one quarter of play (19-11).
In the second period, the Patriots pieced together a 5-0 run to extend their advantage back out to nine at the media timeout (26-17). But, the Mustangs hit their final six shots of the half to make it a one-point game at the break (30-29). The Patriots committed nine turnovers in the period, and 12 in the half, to result in 10 points for SMU.
Mason shot an impressive 46.4 percent (13-28) from the floor and 50.0 percent (4-8) from deep in the first half. Lawhorne was a perfect 5-of-5 from the field to tally a game-high 11 points while Cardaño-Hillary chipped in 10 points and five rebounds.
Another Bolton three-pointer pushed Mason's lead back out to seven in the third quarter (42-35). But, the Mustangs slowly chipped away at the advantage to make it a three-point game with one quarter left to play (42-59).
SMU took its first lead of the game with six minutes remaining in the fourth quarter (50-48). The Mustangs went on a 9-0 run to extend their advantage to six with under five minutes to go (54-48). After a Cardaño-Hillary steal, senior
Alexsis Grate scored a layup to kick start the comeback with 3:08 on the clock (55-50).
Cardaño-Hillary scored seven straight points in the final two minutes to cut the deficit to one with 27.8 seconds remaining (58-57). The Patriots forced a Mustang turnover out of the timeout to gain possession with 24.3 seconds to go. Gatling then hit the game-winning layup with 13 seconds on the clock. The Mustangs final shot attempt was no good as the Patriots earned the win in their non-conference finale (59-58).
Mason returns home for their conference opener against George Washington on Saturday, Jan. 4 at 2 p.m. at EagleBank Arena.
