FAIRFAX, VA- George Mason fell 64-51 to Bucknell on Wednesday morning on Elementary School Day, a game which saw over 1,000 local students in attendance. The loss today was the fourth in a row for the Patriots, who fell previously to UMKC, Bradley and Coastal Carolina.
To say Mason shot the ball poorly would be an understatement. For the game as a whole, Mason shot just 27.5%, making just 18 field goals the entire game. The only way the Patriots were able to keep it close at halftime was by shooting 12/16 from the foul line, totaling 12 of their 26 first half points. Jacy Bolton alone shot 7/8 from the line in the first half, as she nearly single-handedly willed Mason to stay in the game in the first half.
The third quarter saw Bucknell, a NCAA Tournament team from a year ago, hammer down on Mason, outscoring the Green and Gold 23-10 in the frame. That is somewhat sugar coated by six late points by Mason, as with 1:21 left in the third, Bucknell was outscoring George Mason 20-4. Tessa Brugler came alive in the second half, scoring 18 of her 24 points in the final 20 minutes, while also snagging 11 rebounds.
George Mason did manage to outscore the Bison 15-12 in the fourth quarter, but by then the game was long-ago over.
The Patriots will have the next 15 days off, before getting back in action December 19 at Navy.
“I’m usually not out of words, but I don’t have answers right now,” said head coach Nyla Milleson after the game. “[We will] certainly use these next two weeks to get better, but we’re really not good at any phase of the game right now and I don’t really have answers as to why.”
After starting the season averaging 71.2 points per game as a team in their first five games, which saw Mason go 4-1, during this four-game losing streak, the Patriots are averaging just 56.5. That is a dramatic drop-off in offensive production.
When asked post-game about where to go to for offense, Milleson replied, “That’s a good question.” She expanded by saying, “I still think a lot of places we’re getting good shots, they’re just not falling. It means we gotta get better shots, we absolutely have to find the low block game, and we don’t have that right now.”
Milleson also expressed her frustrations in lack of production following offensive rebounds, stating with frustration, “We lead the conference right now in offensive rebounds but we’re not getting done out of it.”
Needless to say, it’s going to be a long two weeks for George Mason.
“It’s back to day one of practice, slots wide open, some of our returners, you look at the numbers over the past four, five games and there’s lots of zeros. We’re gonna start back to square one and get back to some fundamental things…we’re gonna go back and pull out practice schedule number one and go back to the basics.”
The bright spot of the game was the collegiate debut of Vita Stam, who found out on Monday that she had finally received her eligibility from the NCAA. In her first game, Vita totaled six points and six rebounds. When asked about Vita’s debut, Milleson said, “I thought she came in, for game number one, and finding out less than 48 hours ago, I thought she came in and gave us some presence there, but we shouldn’t have to rely on her today.”
This team has a lot of work to do, especially with Atlantic 10 play looming just over the horizon. The schedule certainly isn’t going to be getting any easier. After playing at Navy on December 19, Mason will return home to play Howard before back-to-back road games at Delaware and SMU. George Mason will open A-10 conference play on January 4 against George Washington.
“This is the same team that beat Penn State, this is the same team that has won games and scored the basketball…It’s up to me and my staff to get the ship righted. We’ve got two weeks to do it and we certainly will get it done.”
Author’s Note: I just wanted to give you all a heads up, this will be my last Mason Women’s game I cover this semester, as I will be leaving for winter break before the next home game on December 21 vs Howard. As I live in Louisville, KY, Dayton is only two hours away from me, so it is my goal to make the Mason game at Dayton on January 8. I will do my best to keep up with games over break, and if nothing else, you can find my Twitter live-tweets of games over on my Twitter, @n1a2v3y4. I will be back in EBA on January 19 for the game against Fordham, and the remainder of the spring semester. Thanks for following along, and thank for supporting women’s basketball.
