Dukes Show Their Bite, Spoil Senior Night: Mason Falls to JMU 66-54

Senior Amber Epps was honored

Mason came into their game Wednesday night against JMU knowing that if they won, they had a firm chance to secure a #6 seed in the CAA tournament and avoid having to play the Dukes possibly twice in 10 days. On senior night when Taleia Moton, Evelyn Lewis, and Amber Epps were all honored for all they have done for George Mason women's basketball, fortunes did not fall the Patriots way. As the final whistle sounded their would be no celebrating for Mason, as the Patriots would fall to the Dukes 66-54.

This was a game of scoring runs, in which JMU would build a lead as large as 12, and then Mason would clamp down to try to crawl closer. Mason however would never lead in this game, unless you count the first bucket they scored with 32 seconds in the game to make it 2-0.

The first half was a precursor to the second half for the Patriots. In the first-half Mason shot 40% from the field, compared to JMU's 33%, but yet the Patriots still trailed by 1 after the first 20 minutes. Mason had a huge opportunity in the first-half to take hold of the game, but failed to do it. JMU operated their offense, pushing the ball up and attempting 6 more attempts then the Patriots in the half. Even tho the Dukes weren't shooting efficiently, they still were able to score because of tough defense and scoring 7 points off of Mason's 8 turnovers in the first half. Keep in mind Mason only had 9 total turnovers in the whole game, so this sloppy play really kept JMU in the game early when they were having trouble hitting a shot.

Senior Taleia Moton was held in check with just 15 pts

Early in the game it seemed as though Mason was trying to set a tone by going strong in the paint with Evelyn Lewis, who was easily more physical than any post player on JMU's roster. In the first 7 minutes of the game Lewis went 3 for 3, all down low with layups and hooks within 3 feet of the basket. Overall Lewis would go 5 of 10 from the field for 10 points, but it seemed Mason seemed to abandon her towards the end of the first half and continuing into the second half when JMU would hit a few quick shots to push the lead to double digits. Mason would settle for tough 17-20 ft jump shots instead of hammering the ball down low where Lewis had complete control of the post. I seemed more to be more practical to take your chances with your size advantage down low even with the point differential, especially when Taleia Moton was having a bit of a off-night in which she missed drives and lay-ups that normally go in with her eyes closed.

Senior Evelyn Lewis 10 pts, 5 rbs 

The second half was a complete different story for the JMU offense, as they really put the pressure on the Mason defense by putting up 42 points and shooting 48% in the half. JMU's Kirby Burkholder began the half by hitting back-to-back 3's to contribute to her 13 points and 13 rebounds on the night. Overall the the Dukes scoring was complimented by their rebounding, with both Burkholder and  Nikki Newman(15 pts, 12 rbs) both grabbing double digit boards and points. Nikki Newman was truly a huge mismatch for the Patriots with her 6'2 frame and ability to drive hard or step back and shoot the jumper. But it wasn't just about one or two players carrying the Dukes to victory. JMU had 4 of the 5 starters scoring at least 13 points on the night, showing the balance of shot attempts across the court and thus putting pressure on the defense to secure all points of attack.

Amber Easter came off the bench to lead Mason with 18 points and 15 rebounds. Coach Porter did the classy thing and started seldom used senior Amber Epps in place of Easter for the first 3 minutes of the game.  Easter has definitely grown as a play-maker/do-it-all for the Patriots, but even she only shot 35% on 6 of 17 from the field. Overall the Patriots would keep themselves in it with some of the best free-throw shooting they've had all season, 15 of 16 for 93% in the second half, but they would get no closer then within 4 points with 4:07 remaining in the game.

With the loss against JMU, the Patriots have clinched the #7 seed for the CAA tournament and are set to meet the Northeastern Huskies (8-21, 6-12) on Thursday March 8th in the opening round match-up. Mason has met Northeastern twice this season, beating them big at home 75-62 but losing narrowly on the road in Boston 54-58.  Northeastern may only have won 6 of 18 games in conference, but in the last two and a half weeks they have won 5 of their last 6 in beating two of the CAA's top 4 teams ( James Madison, Hofstra). This is definatly a extremely tough matchup for Mason, as Northearstern seems to be getting hot at the right time, and the Patriots have recently gone cold losing their last 4 of 6.

Stay tuned for our tournament preview!

The Dog Days of Winter: Mason Falls against JMU, Host the Northeastern Huskies Thursday

Just when Mason (11-11, 5-6) seemed to be turning their road woes around, they lose a critical game in nail-biting fashion 49-45 against the Dukes of James Madison (17-5, 8-3) in Harrisonburg.

The road loss against JMU is not only heart breaking because the win could have put them into a tie for 5th or possibly 4th in the CAA, but because Mason had almost every opportunity to win the game in the second half and still came out with a "L". The Patriots by no means shot well on the night, only 31% as a team from the field, but compared to JMU' terrible shooting (22%) it should've been enough to win them the game. JMU's low shooting percentage is no doubt in part due to the tough defense that the Patriots put on the Dukes, but this aggressive defense is also one of the factors that helped JMU win the game.

In the game JMU would never have a lead larger than 7 points, and that lead came with 10:41 left in the second half. The 7 point lead with 10:41 left  was also the last time JMU would score a field goal the rest of the game, yet Mason was still unable to overtake the Dukes to win the contest. Over that 10 minute span with the score at 41-34, and even with inability to hit a jumper, JMU forced the ball to the hoop and was able to convert free-throws in order to seal the ballgame away. Anyone who watched this game and saw the statistic for overall free-throws attempted, could plainly see why JMU was victorious in this game down the stretch. Time and time again on this blog we have stressed the need for Mason to force and convert more free-throws, because they truly are "free points".

Lauren Whitehurst had 12 rebounds vs. GMU

In the 4 point loss at JMU, Mason was only able to get FOUR total free-throw attempts compared to the Dukes' TWENTY-NINE attempts. This is not just a lopsided stat, it is almost unfathomable.  Their are a few ways you can justify the horrible ratio above, either that the referees were overwhelmingly biased to JMU, or that in reality the Dukes just played harder on the offensive end to force the ball inside and out to create shot opportunities. I'm going with the latter. The fact is the JMU forwards of Toia Giggett, Lauren Whitehurst, and Crystal Ross attempted 16 of the total 29 free-throws on the night, which shows their was a game plan to pound the ball inside to either score or to force the ref into calling a foul.

Another stat that goes along with the lopsided free-throw attempts, is the fact that Mason got destroyed on the offensive boards by a margin of 16 to 28 in favor of JMU. These 28 offensive boards would lead to the 19 second chance points that the Dukes compiled in the game. Now bring together the uneven free-throw attempts, the lack of offensive rebounding, and the fact that Mason turned the ball over 6 times (18 total in the game) in the critical 10 minute span to end the game; mix it all together and it is a recipe for defeat.

#32 Deanna Kerkhof--14ppg

On Thursday night the Patriots will look to go to .500 in conference play as they take on the bottom dweller Northeastern Huskies (4-18, 2-9) in Fairfax. Mason last faced Northeastern on January 12th in Boston and were narrowly defeated 58-54. In that game Deanna Kerkhof dropped 25 points for the Huskies, her second highest output through 22 games this season, while Mason would be lead by Taleia Moton's 21 points. Deanna is a tall (5'11) and dynamic guard who, even though is only averaging around 14 ppg, is able to score in bunches and can drop 20+ any night of the week. It will be the job of the Mason coaching staff to pin-point her on the court this time around. Another player to watch out for is play maker Jamie Conroy who is averaging just around 9 points and 5 assists per game. Jamie's ability to see the open court so well translates over to the defensive end, where she leads the Huskies in total steals on the season. Look for Jamie to be on the court for most of the night trying to cause mayhem for the Mason guards, as shes ranks second on the team in average minutes  played with 34 per game.

Saunders is 2nd on the team w/1.5 Stls per game 

For Mason to be victorious and avoid the sweep by Northeastern, the Patriots will have to force the Huskies into more turnovers then they did in the first match-up. The Huskies on the season are averaging an abundant 19 turnovers per game, but the Patriots were only able to force 9 in the first match-up. Turnovers often lead to easy scoring opportunities, and when Mason forced 9, they were able to convert those mistakes into 18 points against Northeastern. So if Mason can intensify the defense, led by play makers Rahneeka Saunders and Taleia Moton, then the Patriots should find themselves with an exponentially greater amount of easy scoring opportunities than they did in the first meeting.

Mason return to the Patriot Center where they have played  dominantly this season going 8-3 at home and 4-1 against CAA opponents. Since Northeastern's victory against Mason on January 12th, the Huskies have lost 6 of the last 7 games. 


Tip-off is set for 7pm, and you can listen live at WGMUradio.com for all the action.

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.

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.