FAIRFAX, Va. - The George Mason women's basketball team opened its' Atlantic 10 schedule with a big win over La Salle, 74-37, on Saturday evening. La Salle's point total set a program record for lowest score by an Atlantic 10 opponent since the Patriots joined the league in 2013, and fell just short of the program record for the largest margin of victory against an Atlantic 10 opponent (39). 
 
In the 2022-23 season, the Patriots and La Salle split, with George Mason dropping the regular season game 62-69, but getting their revenge in the 2023 Atlantic 10 Second Round. The ninth-seeded Patriots beat the eighth-seeded Explorers 64-58 to advance to the quarterfinals. 
 
In just her third season with George Mason, head coach Vanessa Blair-Lewis has transformed the Patriots. She took the reins of team that went 3-19 (0-14 A-10) in 2020-21. But in her first season, Coach Blair-Lewis lead her team to 10-19 (3-12 A-10), and only improved in her second year, going 16-15 (8-8 A-10). Now, starting her third conference season, Coach Lewis is looking for more.
 
"The future is bright for this team," said Coach Blair-Lewis. "[But] this team has really been good at just one game at a time. You know, we're really blue collar. We put our hat on every single day in practice and it's just the next game up. We don't look too far and we don't get too down on what was. So I'm excited about [the win against La Salle], but you know, tomorrow comes we gotta turn the page and we gotta get ready for another formidable opponent in the A-10."
 
After an exit in the A-10 quarterfinals last year, Coach Blair Lewis and her staff took the time to pinpoint what they needed to improve on. 
 
"We addressed three issues when the season was over last year: We wanted to be able to score more; we knew we had to be a team that scored out of the 50s and 60s to be able to win in such a formidable conference like this. We also wanted to have a deep team to be able to provide depth because we know covid hasn't gone anywhere. There were a lot of games last year when one player, then the other player had to be quarantined. So, we wanted to have bodies that were available. Then the third thing was for players to play with passion, and I think you got all of those three things tonight."
 
Coach Blair-Lewis knows the A-10 season will not be easy, but believes the Patriots have the scoring, depth, and passion to make noise in the conference this year.
 
"If you've had a chance to watch the A-10 non-conference, any given night, any team is so formidable, especially [the teams ranked] one through ten," said Coach Blair-Lewis. "You can't take any breaks. […] And so, it is really important for us, and that's what we said at the end of the season, that we had to have depth in the A-10 Conference, because it's a long season, and every single night is a challenge."
 
The Patriots continue their Atlantic 10 conference schedule in the new year on Tuesday, Jan. 2^nd at Rhode Island at 6 p.m.