#MasonGameDay: Mason Women vs #24 Virginia Tech

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Daniel Frank
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Photo: Daniel Frank

After a pair of road games to start the season, George Mason (2-0) will finally return home on Sunday at noon as they host #24 Virginia Tech (2-0). The Hokies will be the first ranked opponent the Patriots will have faced since #24 Michigan on opening night of the 2018 season, and the first ranked team to come to EBA since Elena Delle Donne’s #18 Delaware Blue Hens came to town in 2013. This game is also the home-opener for the new look Patriots, playing their first game at EagleBank Arena under first year-coach Vanessa Blair-Lewis.

Before we get to the game ahead, let’s take a look back at the pair of games that kicked off the season for Mason, and how the “road warriors” started the season.

On opening night, Mason trekked down to Miami to face Florida International, a team picked 7th out of 14 teams in C-USA. Just a few months removed from finishing second-last in all of Division-I in field goal percentage, the Patriots shot the ball at a 48% clip, including 53% in the fourth quarter of the ballgame. Jordan Wakefield led the way with 17 points on 4/9 shooting, including 8/8 from the foul line. Newcomer Amaya Scott added 16 points on 8/10 shooting, while Tamia Lawhorne had 10 points. The surprise of the game Paula Suarez, the lone freshman on the team, started the game and played 31 minutes, including some very key ones down the stretch of the fourth quarter. In fact, Suarez scored four of her five points in the final 4:34 of the game, including a key free throw with 1:29 left that proved to be the winning point in the game.

Mason did what they had to do down the stretch to secure the win, which was Vanessa Blair Lewis’ first at the helm at George Mason, and snapped a 16-game losing streak overall for the Patriots.

Needless to say, the celebration afterwards was as you’d expect:

Win #1 of the VBL era in the books!

Onto Friday’s game, which showed a lot of good, mixed with some bad for the Patriots. Jazmyn Doster had a great first half, leading the way with 9 points and 6 rebounds. Mason held the Greyhounds to just 27% shooting and held a 26-17 advantage on the glass at the break. Frankly speaking, it was an UGLY first 20 minutes. But Mason led at the half, so in reality, I had little room to complain.

The second half started much life the first half did: ugly. And yet, George Mason seemed to find some momentum in the final three minutes of the third quarter, closing the period on a 12-2 run to take their largest lead of the afternoon at the quarter break, 44-34. Everything was looking up for the Patriots: they had a comfortable lead, all they had to do was hang on for 10 minutes and they’ll have the win in the…

WELP.

It took not even two whole minutes for Loyola (MD) to trim the Mason lead to just 2 points.

Up to that point, Mason had done a phenomenal job guarding the perimeter, holding the Greyhounds to just one made three through the first 30 minutes of play. How quickly a game can change, though, when you knock down a pair of threes within 30 seconds of each other. All of a sudden, we had a game on our hands.

And not only that, but with 4:30 left to play, Loyola (MD) took their first lead of the entire game, capping off a 12-2 run of their own. Jordan Wakefield answered immediately with a three to give Mason the lead back at 47-46 with 4:11 to go, but a little 5-0 spurt from the Greyhounds put the Patriots in a 51-47 hole with 1:30 left in the fourth. I willingly will admit, it looked bleak. I never give up on a game fully, but given all the factors surrounding Mason Women’s Basketball in the past few years, I admit, my faith was shaken.

But all of a sudden, a switch flipped. See if you can detect the pattern here:

Mason got a stop, drawing an offensive foul. Then Amaya Scott drove the land and got fouled, knocking down a pair of three throws with 1:23 left to play to make it a 51-49 game. Mason got another stop, before Amaya Scott once again got a high-percentage look, tying the ballgame at 51-51 with 0:36 left to play. Another stop, with 18 seconds left, followed by a Jazmyn Doster second-chance bucket to give Mason the lead with 5 seconds left:

One more stop, and the Patriots PREVAILED!!!

Doing the math here, George Mason got FIVE consecutive stops to end the game, during which time the Patriots outscored the Greyhounds 6-0.

I mean just looked at that win percentage calculator. Talk about a roller coaster of emotions! With 1:25 left to play, leading by four and with the ball, ESPN gave Loyola (MD) a 94.7% chance of winning. But no one told George Mason that.

So what have we learned about Mason through the first two games of the season: they have HEART. Their mental toughness is light years ahead of where it was a season ago, and so is their confidence. It’s amazing how much can change in such a short time. I don’t think there’s much doubt that this team a year ago likely would’ve started the season 0-2. And it’s worth noting that Mason has done all of this without the services of Marika Korpinen, Rachel Balzer, Milica Manojlovic and Angelee Rodriguez, who all missed the first two games. Rachel shared on Instagram that she received full medical clearance on Thursday afternoon after getting off-season shoulder injury, and was actually cleared two months ahead of schedule. She dressed Friday, but did not play and still had what looked like a soft shoulder-brace on overtop of her shooting shirt. We’ll see whether or not she’ll play today.

Virginia Tech is a completely different beast from what Mason has faced up to this point in the year. The Hokies have already faced two A-10 schools already this season, defeating Davidson at home on opening night, 76-57 and thoroughly throttled George Washington 75-38 on Thursday night in Foggy Bottom. If George Mason has a prayer in this game, their first, second, and third mission MUST be to stop Elizabeth Kitley at all costs. Thursday night at GW, she had 34 points: The Colonials as a team had 38. But on Tuesday, she was held to just 6 points. Furthermore, controlling the glass will be a huge factor in this game. Davidson actually out-rebounded Virginia Tech 42-36, but GW got out-rebounded 39-26 on Thursday.

One way or another, this is by far the best team that George Mason will face all season long. It will be a great opportunity to measure where the Patriots are at right now, especially coming in riding that wave of momentum after the two road wins. And you never know what can happen in college basketball.

Tipoff is set for Noon ET and the game will be broadcast on ESPN+.

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