FAIRFAX, VA- After eight consecutive losses, George Mason (8-15, 2-8) defeated UMass (16-7, 6-4) by a score of 73-56 on Sue Collins National Girls and Women in Sports Day.
Ahhhh, it feels so nice to be back in the win column again! As Coach Milleson said postgame, “The ball went in the hole tonight!”
And boy did it! In the first half, Mason shot the ball 59% from the field, and hit five threes, just one game removed from going just 2/21 from deep. Not to mention against Rhode Island, the Patriots managed just 42 points for the game while tonight, they had reached that mark at halftime.
Marika Korpinen started off red hot from the field, with nine early points before even the first media timeout of the game. She would go on to finish with 16 points. When asked postgame about what was different tonight, Marika responded, “I got pissed off after the Rhode Island game, I could not make anything…I’ve been shooting outside of practice, two, three, four hours in the gym just getting shots up because I’m telling you I’m never going to miss that many shots again.”
The balanced scoring attack didn’t stop there, as both Nicole Cardaño-Hillary and Jacy Bolton posted 17 points each and combined for nine rebounds. Camarie Gatliing added nine points off the bench, and freshman Jazmyn Doster added seven points.
“I am just so incredibly proud of this basketball team. It’s not been an easy season for us and we absolutely are making no excuses but this team, this staff, starting with me, is coming in every day and trying to figure out the next chess move we need to make to be better,” said Coach Milleson. “They’re coming in and believing in the process even when the process is tough.”
This is a game that George Mason badly needed to win. Not only coming off eight straight losses, but as a revenge game. The last time Mason and UMass met was the 2019 A-10 Tournament First Round, a game which the Minutewomen won in 2OT.
“Hopefully this is kinda the monkey off the back, I feel a little lighter, but we’re not done,” said Milleson. “We’ve gotta come back in tomorrow…and get ready for the next one because two conference wins certainly not where we’re satisfied being.”
This day carries extra meaning for many, as it was Sue Collins National Girls and Women in Sports Day. “This is a big day. Sue Collins is a big reason I’m here, she’s a big reason we have a new locker room, somebody else someplace across the country women get new uniforms. She’s a big reason across this entire country women have what we have today,” said Milleson.
“I played when Title IX first came out. I played in what was labelled a girls gym. I rode a bus that was labelled the girls bus, so I know what it’s like as a player as a coach not to have those things.”
“It’s been a struggling year, we haven’t won as many as we would have liked but I can promise you we’re winning in the game of life and that’s what is important to me and we’re gonna continue to try to win ball games.”
George Mason is back in action on Sunday when they will host Saint Louis at 2:00 on Pink Day.
