RICHMOND, Va. – The George Mason women's basketball team dropped its final road contest of the regular season, falling to VCU 48-36 on Wednesday evening inside the Siegel Center.

Mason scored a season-low 36 points, including a season-low three points in the first quarter. The first-quarter hole proved too large to overcome as the Patriots move to 9-19 overall and 3-12 in Atlantic 10 play.

Junior Nicole Cardaño-Hillary scored 22 of Mason's 36 points. It marked her 10th 20-point performance of the season. She finished with six rebounds and two steals.

Making her second career start, freshman Jordan Wakefield added six points and six rebounds in the loss.

The Patriots finished with a season-low 22.6 percent (12-53) mark from the floor and made just one 3-point field goal (.059).

VCU shot 33.3 percent (15-45) from the floor and made 14-of-19 free throw attempts (.737).

VCU jumped out to an early 7-0 advantage in the first quarter, forcing a Patriot timeout with 6:45 on the clock. VCU's offensive attack continued as the Rams extended their lead to 18-0 with two minutes remaining. Wakefield ended the scoring drought with an and-1 with 1:32 left in the quarter. The Patriots made just 1-of-15 field goal attempts (.067) in the stanza, scoring a season-low three points (18-3).

The Patriots used a 7-0 run in the second quarter to pull within eight (25-17). Cardaño-Hillary scored 10 points in the period as Mason trailed by 10 at the break, 27-17.

At the half, Mason shot just 21.9 percent (7-32) from the floor and 10.0 percent (1-10) from three-point range. The Patriots owned a +2 advantage on the glass (20-18) and +7 advantage in offensive boards (7-0).

Mason pulled within eight after a drive by Cardaño-Hillary with 6:32 to go in the third quarter (29-21). Cardaño-Hillary scored five straight points to end the period as Mason trailed by six (34-28). The Patriots' defense held the Rams without a field goal for the final 3:45 minutes of the third quarter.

Both teams exchanged free throws to begin a low-scoring start to the fourth quarter. A pair of free throws by Tamia Lawhorne made it a six-point game with five minutes remaining (37-31). But, that would be as close as the Patriots would come, falling to the Rams 48-36.

Up next, Mason concludes the regular season with Senior Day at 2 p.m. on Saturday against La Salle. Seniors Jacy Bolton, Sarah Kaminski, Alexsis Grate and Allie McCool will be honored with a pregame ceremony.