FAIRFAX, Va. – After trailing by as many as 17, the George Mason women's basketball team pulled within five with under two minutes remaining in the fourth quarter (68-63), before eventually falling to Davidson 76-69 on Wednesday night inside EagleBank Arena.
Mason drops to 1-3 in Atlantic 10 play, 7-10 overall, while Davidson improves to 4-0 in the conference.
Earning her first start since Dec. 21, junior
Marika Korpinen ignited for a career-high 20 points. She notched personal bests in field goals made (6) and three-point field goals made (4), while also going 4-of-5 from the free throw line.
With a team-high 22 points, junior Nicole Cardaño-Hillary became just the sixth player in program history to surpass 1,500 points in their career. She added seven rebounds, five assists and four steals in the loss. Junior
Camarie Gatling chipped in 12 points (6-9 FG) off the bench.
The Patriots shot a season-high 50.9 percent (28-55) from the floor, but the Wildcats scored 26 points off Mason's 16 turnovers. The Wildcats finished with a 43.1 percent (28-65) mark from the field and only committed nine giveaways.
At the first quarter media timeout, Mason trailed by one (10-9). The Patriots' defense then held the Wildcats without a field goal for over three minutes to reclaim the lead (16-11). Davidson responded with back-to-back three-pointers (17-16). Senior
Sarah Kaminski scored a layup with 22 seconds on the clock to push Mason back in front after one quarter (18-17). The Patriots shot 46.7 percent (7-15) from the floor and outrebounded Davidson 11-8 in the opening frame. Korpinen added seven points on 3-of-4 shooting.
Davidson went on an 11-0 spurt to open the second quarter to lead 28-18 with 7:14 remaining. The Patriots committed five turnovers during the stretch. On her first touch of the game, freshman
Vita Stam made a layup to cut the deficit to six (30-24). As Davidson went on a scoring drought of 2:30 minutes, Mason went 5-of-7 from the field to trail 35-28 with 1:47 left in the half. The Wildcats scored four straight points to end the half with an 11-point advantage (39-28).
The Wildcats scored 18 points off Mason's nine first-half turnovers. The Patriots shot 48.0 percent (12-25) from the floor, but the Wildcats made 16-of-38 field goal attempts (.421).
The Patriots opened the second half on a 7-0 spurt, including back-to-back baskets by Cardaño-Hillary, to cut the deficit to four (41-37). Mason went 5-of-5 from the field during the opening three minutes (45-39). Davidson responded with two three-pointers to extend its advantage to 10 at the media timeout (51-41). Back-to-back baskets from Gatling made it a 14-point game with 1:47 remaining (60-46). Cardaño-Hillary sunk a three-pointer with 33 seconds as Mason trailed 62-49 with one quarter left.
After taking its largest lead with 9:08 left in the game (68-51), Davidson went on a scoring drought of over seven minutes. During that stretch, the Patriots went on a 12-0 run to cut the deficit to five with 1:47 to go (68-63). But, back-to-back Patriot turnovers allowed the Wildcats to push their advantage back out to nine with 47 seconds remaining (71-63). The comeback fell just short as the Wildcats escaped with a 76-69 win.
The Patriots remain at home with a Sunday contest against Fordham at 4 p.m. inside EBA. Sunday's game will be televised on CBS Sports Network.
