FAIRFAX, Va. – The George Mason women's basketball team once again got off to a hot start en route to their third-straight Atlantic 10 win over Saint Joseph's, 65-60.
 
The Patriots (15-14, 8-8) finish the regular season with a winning record for the first time in four years, when they ended the 2018-19 season at 16-13. That season, Mason also wrapped up Atlantic 10 play at 8-8 before falling in the First Round of the Atlantic 10 tournament.
 
Graduate student J-Naya Ephraim left a lasting impression in her final game in EagleBank Arena, posting a career-high 14 points and 6-6 free throws to lead a balanced Mason offense. She also pulled down seven rebounds, including one in the waning seconds of the game to force a SJU foul, and tallied two steals in a comprehensive outing.
 
It was all Mason from the get-go, as senior Nalani Kaysia won the tip-off and freshman Nekhu Mitchell scored just five seconds into the game to spark an 8-2 run. Ephraim scored on a jumper to push the lead to four and the Patriots led 10-7 at the media timeout. After Saint Joseph's hit their first three-point shot of the night to cut the lead to 14-10, Mason finished the quarter on a 9-4 run with four baskets from four different Patriots to lead 23-14 after the first.
 
The Hawks (18-9, 8-7) found their offensive groove in the second, shooting a game-high 64.3% from the field to cut into the lead and trail by just two, 35-33, at the halftime break.
 
Mason and Saint Joseph's traded points to start the third and were knotted at 41 at the media timeout before a three-point play put the Hawks up with 4:51 remaining. However, junior Taylor Jameson responded immediately with her lone three-pointer of the evening to tie the game back up at 44. Kaysia then scored her 10^th points of the night and the Patriots allowed just four more points and led 49-46 with one quarter remaining.
 
Saint Joseph's opened the fourth quarter on a 10-3 run to take their largest lead of the game, 56-52, with 5:49 remaining. However, senior Jazmyn Doster scored the Patriots' first seven points of the stanza to tie the game back at 56-all. Two Ephraim free throws gave Mason back the lead and an incredible hook shot by senior Tamia Lawhorne pushed the lead back to four with 2:05 remaining.
 
Ephraim pulled down one of her biggest rebounds of the season with just seconds remaining to force the Hawks to foul and she and sophomore Paula Suárez combined for 5-6 free throws in the final 22 seconds to push the lead to five and hold off Saint Joseph's for the victory.
 
PATRIOT POINTS

• Doster finished nine points and eight rebounds, all of which were offensive, with seven of those points coming in the decisive fourth quarter
• Kaysia was the second Patriot in double-figures with 10 points and matched Doster's team-high eight rebounds. She also registered a steal and a game-high two blocks
• Suárez once again paced the Mason offense with a team-high four assists to go along with nine points, a steal and a block
• In a well-balanced offense, eight different Patriots scored at least four points with five scoring nine or more
• Mason limited Saint Joseph's to just 25% from three-point range (3-12), their second lowest percentage of the season
• For the second-straight game, Mason knocked down a season-best 80% of their free throw attempts (12-15)
• The Patriots bench was crucial to the offense, out-scoring SJU's bench 19-2

 
UP NEXT
Mason will travel to Wilmington, Del. for the Atlantic 10 Tournament beginning on March 1. Seeding and opening game date and time is yet to be determined. More information on the tournament can be found HERE.