FAIRFAX, Va. – The George Mason women's basketball team dominated (RV) Davidson at home on Wednesday evening, 79-41, to move to 3-1 in conference play and 12-3 overall.
 
Senior Sonia Smith once again led the Patriots (12-3, 3-1) on offense with 17 points while adding five rebounds and two assists. The guard is averaging 22.3 points per game over the last three contests to lead Mason.
 
The Wildcats (12-3, 2-2) won the opening jump ball, but graduate student Jazmyn Doster recorded her first block of the night on the ensuing defensive possession, leading to the opening points on the opposite end. Leading 9-5 at the media timeout, Mason came out of the break swinging, going on a 10-0 run, including five points from freshman Kennedy Harris off the bench. Smith hit a last second jumper to push the Patriots ahead 23-11 at the end of the first.
 
Leading 34-20 at the 6:30 mark, Mason strung together a 12-2 run over the next five minutes to stretch its' lead to 24. Five Patriots contributed 2+ points, led by 11 from Smith as the defense held Davidson without a three-pointer during the stanza. The Wildcats tallied the last points of the quarter, but Mason held a solid 46-24 lead at the half after shooting 69% from the field, including 4-4 from deep.
 
Mason kept the energy to begin the third quarter, opening the frame on a 7-2 run, including an emphatic three-point fast break play by sophomore Nekhu Mitchell. Despite cooling off from the field in the third quarter, the Patriots converted 8-8 free throw attempts, including five in the last 80 seconds, to balloon the lead to 28 (64-36) with one quarter to go.
 
The Patriot defense highlighted the fourth quarter, limiting Davidson to 1-8 shooting and just five points, a season low by an opponent this season. Mason held the visitors scoreless for over five minutes in the middle of the quarter, and for the final three minutes, en route to the second-largest Atlantic 10 margin of victory in program history.
 
PATRIOT POINTS

• The rookie duo of Zahirah Walton and Kennedy Harris filled the stat sheet, combining for 23 points, eight rebounds and four steals. Walton also tallied two blocks and Harris tallied two assists
• Ta'Viyanna Habib grabbed a game and season-best seven rebounds to go with eight points, two assists and a steal
• The Patriots converted over half their shots for the second-straight game, shooting 52.9% (27-51) from the field, including going 7-15 from beyond the arc
• Mason outrebounded Davidson 37-23 en route to 14 second chance points compared to just four from the 'Cats
• Compared to its' seven, Davidson tallied just one three-pointer on 15 attempts, a season-low by a Mason oppoenet
• The Patriots outscored the Wildcats in fastbreak points (9-0) and off the bench (35-14)

 
UP NEXT
After a break over the weekend, Mason will return to EagleBank Arena next Wednesday, Jan. 17, to welcome the defending Atlantic 10 champions, Saint Louis. Tip-off with the Billikens is set for 7 p.m.