DAYTON, Ohio – In its first conference road test of the season, the George Mason women's basketball team fell to the Dayton Flyers, 59-55, on Wednesday evening inside UD Arena. The Patriots move to 7-8 overall and 1-1 in Atlantic 10 play.
The Flyers won their fourth straight game to improve to 9-7 overall and 2-0 in the A-10.
The Patriots were led by junior Nicole Cardaño-Hillary who scored a game-high 17 points on 8-of-15 shooting (.553). Fellow junior
Camarie Gatling chipped in eight points and five rebounds while senior
Sarah Kaminski notched three three-pointers.
Entering Wednesday's contest, Mason had a perfect 6-0 record when shooting 40.0 percent or better. The Patriots shot 41.7 percent (20-48) from the floor, but their 21 turnovers proved to be the deciding factor.
It was a back-and-forth battle to start the game, with Dayton holding a slim advantage at the media timeout (8-6). The Patriots were held scoreless over the final four minutes of the quarter to trail 14-8. UD outrebounded Mason 13-9 in the frame and used a 6-0 run to claim the six-point lead.
Freshman
Jazmyn Doster scored Mason's first point since the 4:13-minute mark in the first quarter with 7:09 on the clock (16-9). The Patriots' defense then forced seven UD turnovers over the final seven minutes of the half. Senior
Alexsis Grate scored a second-chance layup with 23 seconds left to give Mason its first lead of the game (18-17). The Flyers were held without a field goal for over seven minutes until Christine Szabo hit a three-pointer at the buzzer to put UD back in front at the break (20-18).
The Patriots limited the Flyers to just 23.1 percent from the floor (6-26) and 27.3 (3-11) from deep, but were held to 28.0 percent (7-25) from the field on the other end. Mason owned the advantage on the glass 22-19, but committed 12 turnovers in the half.
Mason put its offensive woes in the past as they shot a blistering 66.7 percent (8-12 FG) from the floor in the third quarter. Kaminski hit back-to-back three pointers to tie up the game with 4:02 left in the period (36-36). The Patriots converted on six of its seven free throw attempts in the quarter (.857) as Grate knocked down a pair to give Mason the lead at the end of the third quarter (42-40).
Four early points put Dayton back in front with 8:17 left in the game (44-42). Both teams exchanged baskets as Mason trailed by four with 4:19 on the clock (53-49). Cardaño-Hillary then scored five straight points to cut the deficit to one with 3:12 remaining (55-54). As time winded down, the Patriots committed three turnovers over a span of a minute to trail by two with 1:28 to go (57-55). Mason had two chances to tie the game with less than a minute remaining but could not convert. Dayton knocked down a pair of free throws to seal the win, 59-55.
Mason continues its two-game road stretch with a Sunday contest against St. Bonaventure at 1 p.m. in Olean, N.Y.
