The Patriots knew coming into this huge CAA matchup there was one name they had to focus on: Elena Delle Donne. Delle Donne, the nation's leading scorer at 30 points per game, had to be contained if George Mason had a chance to pull off the upset. Delle Donne had other plans however as she came out of the gate on fire. After a putback layup by Danielle Parker to start things off for Deleware, Delle Donne scored 15 straight points for the Blue Hens, including 3 three-pointers in a row.
The Patriots meanwhile struggled from the floor early, only converting on 2 of their first 12 shots. They were dominated on the boards in the first half as well, with the Blue Hens grabbing 24, and George Mason only 8. A Moton three-ball helped spark the offense as they cut the lead to 7 with 11 minutes left in the first. The game plan going into the game (as noted in our Keys to the Game) was that George Mason had to shoot well from the floor, especially with the shot-blocking presence of Delle Donne for the Blue Hens.
After struggling at the start, the Patriots finished the first half shooting close to 41%. A huge push, 11-2 run, towards the end of the half brought Mason to within 5 points with 2 minutes left. A few free throws from Delle Donne (who had 19 points and 11 boards in her 19 minutes of play) along with a jumper from Lauren Carra pushed the lead for the Blue Hens back up to 9, as they led the Patriots 34-25 at half. Moton led Mason in scoring with 10 first half points.
Mason came out of the halftime break cold, finding all of their down low opportunities rejected by Delle Donne. The Patriots were unable to get their first bucket until 4 minutes into the 2nd half, coming off of a nice layup from Easter. George Mason went away from what was working in the first half, as they insisted on finding points in the paint, even though there was nothing open down there. Instead they found the hot hand of Taleia Moton, as she connected from outside, along with a steal and layup to cut the score to 43-32 with 13 minutes left in the game.
The Patriots attacked Delle Donne all game long with double teams, along with a constant rotation on defense with Lewis, McNair, Watts, and Pickard. While the defense was unable to stop her completely, it was able to keep her from completely dominating, which allowed Mason to hang around. The pesky Patriots cut it to a 6 point game after a Moton bucket and foul, but was immediately answered by a Delle Donne layup with 10 minutes left. The Basketball Gods can go ahead and rename the 2nd Half "Delle Donne Time". The 6'5 Junior was absolutely unstoppable. Jump hooks, turnaround jumpers, along with the always deadly three-point stroke had Delle Donne scoring 23 of the Blue Hens 32 points in the 2nd Half.
An Amber Easter 3 ball cut the lead to 56-46 with 5 minutes left in the game, but that was as close as the Patriots got as they fell to the Blue Hens, 66-54. Delle Donne finished with 40 points and 15 rebounds, she also added 3 blocks and was 7 for 8 from the free throw line. The Blue Hens as a team shot 87.5% from the charity stripe, as they went 14 for 16. George Mason's leading scorer was Taleia Moton, who finished with 30 points and 6 steals. Moton was a perfect 9 for 9 for her free throws and shot 50% from the floor. Mason was dominated 30-16 in points in the paint and let Deleware score 15 2nd chance points.
Mason will travel on a short two-game road trip starting at Northeastern on the 12th followed by UNCW on the 15th. The Patriots are now 7-7 overall and 1-2 in the CAA.
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