The Silencing of the Rams: Mason Gets Sweep of VCU, Looks Forward to Senior Night Against JMU

The Patriots (14-14, 8-9) traveled to the Verizon Wireless Arena in Richmond just one day after the Mason men's basketball team was defeated on national television by the VCU men's basketball team. The women came into the game seeking to settle the score between the in-state rivals, as well as improve their overall record back to an even .500. The Patriots did this in convincing fashion by securing the lead with 11:13 left in the first half and never giving it up until they had sealed the victory 69-59.

Lewis had a solid night w/ 8 and 10

As stated in our preview for this match-up, in order for the Patriot's to secure a victory they would have to limit the threat of VCU's all-star forward Courtney Hurt. And while Mason did not by any means take her out of the game or shut her down, the defensive presence by Evelyn Lewis and Janaa Pickard held Hurt to below her averages in both scoring and rebounding. Courtney Hurt came in shooting 45.9% from the field, and the Mason defense was able to limit her to only hitting 8 of 19 from the field (42%).

The second thing we  stated Mason needed to focus on was limiting the effectiveness of the role players on VCU, thus putting more pressure on Courtney Hurt to force shots and put the team on her back. Mason did this to a certain extent, allowing only one VCU player not having the name "Hurt" on the back their jersey to score in double-digits. Andrea Barbour of VCU had 18 points on 50%  shooting from the field, but the other three Ram starters only combined for 6 of 19 (31.5%)  from the field and 14 total points. Mason effectively played team defense for the full 40 minutes, forcing the Rams into 17 turnovers with tough on-ball pressure coming from Rahneeka Saunders and Taleia Moton who both had 3 steals apiece.

Strickland had 8 points in 18 mins

Overall Mason was able to get their second win against VCU this season because of a strong TEAM game. Taleia Moton and Amber Easter combined for 35 points on 13 of 26 (50%) shooting from the field. Evelyn Lewis had a very solid offense night to go along with her great defensive performance, scoring 8 points (4 of 7) and hauling in 8 rebounds. And to top it all off, the most surprising figure of the night had to be in the column of Sophomore guard Cierra Strickland. Strickland, who came into the game only averaging 1.7 points in extremely limited action, scored 8 points in just 18 minutes of court time. Solid bench production like this is what separates an average Mason team, from being a a good or great basketball team.

Mason looks to continue their success as they conclude the regular season at home in the Patriot Center celebrating Senior Night. The Patriot will be playing an incredibly crucial game for the final CAA standings against JMU. A win could give the Patriots a #6 seed in the CAA tournament which would give them the advantage of playing the latest game of the first round, thus the most time to prepare for the opening round match-up. A win over JMU and achieving a #6 seed would match the Patriots up with the #11 seed, who based on Wednesday night's results, will most likely be Georgia State whom Mason just defeated in overtime a few weeks ago. From that point on a win would move them into a match-up with the #3 seed, whom based on Wednesday's results could be either Drexel or Hofstra. Mason has played both teams only once, and has beaten Drexel in Philly (56-51) while losing to Hofstra (70-82) in Fairfax.

A win over JMU will not be easy, as the Patriot have already fallen to the Dukes on the road 45-49 in a nail-biter. A victory tomorrow over a top 4 CAA opponent is important not only for team confidence, but it can potentially give the Patriot's an easier road to the conference championship game.

Looking for another reason you may or may not want to win tomorrow?  If Mason were to lose tomorrow, get the #7 seed and still advance past the first round of the CAA tournament, they would face the #2 seed JMU Dukes guaranteed in the second round. Playing the same team twice in a matter of a 10 days can be a good or bad thing, but playing a good team like the Dukes to advance in a one-and-done tournament would most likely be a road the Patriots want to avoid.

Once Again the Patriot face-off Wednesday night at 7pm in the Patriot Center. You can tune into WGMU Radio for live coverage of the game.

Dragon Slayers! Mason Takes Down Drexel 56-51 in Philly

In a game that on most nights the Patriots (11-10, 5-5) would have lost, they hung together and pulled off a key road win at Drexel (10-10, 6-4). This win was key because it not only helped them climb up another wrung on the CAA standings ladder, but it also broke a streak of 7 straight losses on the road.

In many ways you could say that Mason played one of their most complete games of the season, even though they only shot 33% from the field on the night. Mason started the game by going down 6-0 in the first 4 minutes of the game. Eventually Mason would go down by 14 points, Drexel's largest lead of the game, with just 3:25 left in the 1st half. The Patriots were able to fight back and bring the lead down to just 8 points at halftime, even with only shooting 28% from the field.

The second half wasnt much better shooting percentage wise for Mason, as they only shot 39%, but they were able to score in bunches and finally take their first lead of the game with 7 minutues left. Mason made their run at the 16 minute mark while trailing 9 points, 30-39, as Taleia Moton scored 6 straight points to help put together a 10-0 run that brought them to within 1 point of Drexel. From this point on, the lead would shift back and forth twice, and then finally Mason would take the lead at the 7:58 mark and never look back. The Patriots were ultimately able to achieve and pull out the 56-51 victory on the road by holding the Drexel Dragons to shooting  just 1 of 13(7%) from the three point line, and only 32% from the field in the second half.

Kamile Nacickaite had 14 pts

This was a game of two halves, and a Mason team that made defensive adjustments at halftime in order to win the ballgame. Drexel was hot in the first half from the 3pt line, going 5 for 11 (45%), with Kamile Nacickaite knocking down 3 treys and Hollie Mershon hitting 2 from beyond the arc. But in the second half Mason adjusted their defensive scheme that lead to Drexel only hitting 1 out of 13 attempts from 3 point land,  and to the Dragons only shooting 25% from the field in the second half.

Mason as a team did not shoot well as team in the game, with only Taleia Moton being the only player to shoot  over 38% with at least 3 Fg attempts. But the difference in the game was that along with Moton's 28 points, 3 players off the bench were able to contribute points and rebounds. Talisha Watts, Joyous Tharrington, and Christine Weithman each recorded at least 2 points on a efficient 3 for 5 from the field combined. What was even bigger was the effect the bench had on rebounding, the the biggest impact coming from  Jouyous Tharrington who recorded 5 boards in just 13 minutes of court time. Together the bench accounted for 10 of the total 37 rebounds that Mason hauled in, and this is something Mason fans have been hoping to see from those role players.

Anyone who has watched Mason, whether on the road or at home, had to be shocked when they saw that the Patriots went 20 of 23 (87%) from the free throw line. We have stressed on this blog numerous times that Mason has lost many close games because of their sub-par free throw shooting, but they proved me wrong against Drexel. In Mason's last game against ODU, a loss by 3, the Patriots shot just 9 of 17 from the line in a heart breaker. In that game Taleia Moton and Amber Easter combined for only 6 of 13 from the line, while against Drexel those two players alone went 14 of 16 from the line. This shows: 1) The play-makers for Mason are starting to realize they need to step-up in the crunch time of the season, and 2) driving aggressive to the hoop leads to more free point at the line which allows a team to dig themselves out of large deficits and win close games. We have been preaching these two things all season, and it helped them win a big game.

With the win Mason now finds themselves in 5th place, and only 1 game out of the cluster of three teams tied for fourth place in the CAA standings. Mason will travel to Harrisonburg to battle against 3rd place James Madison (16-5, 7-3) and try to pick up a huge conference win on the last game of the current 3 game road tri[. Tip is set for 2 pm on Sunday.

Ben's Keys to the Game: GMU vs. DREXEL

      The Patriots come into this matchup with a 10-10 overall record (4-5 in the CAA), while Drexel is 10-9 (6-3). With only nine games remaining on the schedule, George Mason needs to make a big push if they want to jump up in the conference standings, starting with tonight's game against Drexel.

1) Get back to their winning ways
          Remember when the season was still young, the Patriots were 7-3, and everyone was happy? Those times seem so long ago, but in reality it was the months of November and December that treated Mason quite well. Maybe someone needs to roll out the big screen and show these women how well they were playing back then, though something has seemed to click lately, winning three of their last four games.Yes, the road has not treated the Patriots too well (2-7), but come on let's get back on the winning streak, starting with Drexel.

2) Share the rock
        It is an obvious statistic, but assists are one of the more important stats out there. They become especially vital when compared to the amount of turnovers in a game. For example, let's look at the three game win streak over William & Mary, VCU, and Towson. Against W&M: 18 assists 17 turnovers (one would like the assists to be a little higher than just a +1 advantage), VCU: 19 assists 13 turnovers, and against Towson: a whopping 23 assists and 11 turnovers. Now let's compare those three games to a three game stretch during Mason's six game losing streak. We will track the assists/turnovers stretch from their games against Ohio, Norfolk, and at W&M. Ohio: 13 assists 15 turnovers, Norfolk: 12 assists 16 turnovers, and lastly on the road against W&M: 12 assists 19 turnovers. Clearly the stats can speak for themselves: have more assists than turnovers and you will clearly have a better chance to win the game.

3) Duo vs. Duo
        It's nice to have one great player on a team, its even better to have two. Both Mason and Drexel have one-two combos that provide a majority of the offense. For Drexel the spotlight is on Kamile Nacickaite and Hollie Mershon. Nacickaite is averaging 17.5 points per game this season, while her counterpart Mershon is averaging 15.3. Both also shoot fairly well from downtown, and shoot strong from the free throw stripe. For Mason, while the two-headed monster consisted primarily of Moton and Saunders, it seems that Amber Easter has stepped into the second fiddle role to Moton. Easter averages now 11.4 points per game to go along with Taleia's 21.7. The always-energetic Easter provides a great scoring option when Moton is covered or having an off night. The matchup of duo vs. duo will loom large tonight.

Mason matches up pretty evenly with this Drexel squad, as the Patriots look to make a nice jump in the CAA.  Tip-off is scheduled for 7:00 EST, from Daskalakis Athletic Center in Philadelphia.

Mid-Week Wrap-up: Mason Continues its Roller Coaster of a Season

GMU won their first 7 games, then lost 8 of 9, and now have won 3 of 4

Coming into last Sunday's game against Old Dominion University, Mason's roller coaster ride of a season seemed to be on the incline once again, riding a 3 game winning streak. A dominating 24 point win over the Towson Tigers(12-8) in Fairfax lead up to the critical conference match-up with the ODU Monarchs. Mason unfortunately could not finish on the road once again, and their streak of dismal performances on the road would continue.

Down in Norfolk, it was a slug fest between the Patriots and the Monarchs to see if Mason (10-10) would take the season sweep of ODU (7-14). The game was back and forth all night, with the largest lead for both sides only being as high as 8 points.  Mason held a 8 point lead with 7 minutes to go in the regulation, but saw it evaporate and would end up losing by 3 points 68-71.

This defeat is a little riddling seeing as Mason lead in many major statistical category including FG% 46.6 to 36.6, Points in Paint 36 to 20,  Bench points 7 to 3,  and Points off of Turnovers 21 to 11. But when you delve closer in the statistics, you can point out a few major things that lead to this defeat and has plagued the Patriots on the road all season long.

ODU's Tia Lewis dominated down low with 13 rebounds vs GMU

The first glaring negative statistic is the rebounding margin, 32-48 in favor of ODU, in which 17 of the 48 were offensive rebounds for the Monarchs compared to Mason's 5 total. To put Mason's rebounding woes in perspective, ODUs impact forward  Tia Lewis has 13 boards to go along with bench player Shakeva Richards collecting 5 board(3 offensive) in just 16 minutes of play. Combined starting forwards Janaa Pickard and Evelyn Lewis only had 13 rebounds for Mason, together they only equal that of Tia Lewis's total.

The Patriots were out hustled on second chance opportunities by a scoring margin of 1 to 17, a figure that is truly unacceptable and is in direct correlation with ODU's domination of the boards. If you make a stop as a team, you cant continue to give the other team additional opportunities to score. It not only demoralizes you, but it demoralized the defensive effort of your teammates as a whole.

And the third nail in the coffin for the Patriot, as in most of their close losses this season,  was abysmal free-throw shooting. Mason shot 52.9% overall from the line and 6 of 11 (54.5%) in the second half, as compared to ODU who shot 72% for the game and 13 of 14 (92.9%) in the second half. In close games, especially in the dwindling minutes as this one came down to, the win  usually will go to the team to who can convert their free-throws  attempts and ODU sunk them. Even star Taleia Moton was having a off night and went 2 of 5 from the line. Moton came into the game ranked third on the team hitting around 80% from the charity stripe. Mason currently ranks 166th in Division I basketball in FT shooting percentage, hitting just 68.7% on the season.

GMU is ranked 166th in the NCAA in FT%, hitting 68.7%

Not only is the lack of successful free throw attempts disappointing, but it is also the low total amount of attempts that Mason's receives. In the amount of free-throws attempted in the game, Mason shot  9 less, 17 to 26,  and on the season the Patriots are  trailing even worse. The total free-throw attempted on the season for Mason compared to all opponents, 319 to 378, brings a -59  margin. This shows a lack of aggressiveness in taking the ball to the hoop down low, and forcing the other team or referee to give you a call. It is important in the remaining games for Mason that they really try to improve this number and increase the opportunities at "free and easy points" at the free throw line.

Next up for the Patriots is a tough Drexel (10-9) sqaud who has performed exceedingly well in-conference this season, currently tied for 3rd place with a 6-3 CAA record. Mason will have to step its game up on the road, where on the season they have dropped their last 7 of 9  outside of the Patriot Center.

Mason is currently tied for 5th place in the league standings with ODU, but could possible move up to a 4th place tie with VCU with a big win on Thursday against Drexel.