This post was written by Hatchet staff writer Mary Ellen McIntire.

After a buzzer-beating win against Howard the prior week, in which graduate student forward Tara Booker hit the 1,000 career points mark, the Colonials came out strong against the Patriots, scoring first within the first minute of play, and maintaining their lead throughout the entire game.

“The kids had great energy, a really good bounce to them. I felt like we’d had a good week of working on things, and that we could come out and really just be high energy [and] enthusiastic,” head coach Jonathan Tsipis said.

George Mason hadn’t competed in two weeks, and the Colonials knew they could not give their opponent an early confidence.

Throughout the first half, whenever the Patriots came close to taking a lead, the Colonials responded by scoring quickly. In the 15th minute of play, the Colonials led 19-15, but senior guard Danni Jackson quickly brought the Colonials up 25-15.

“I think Danni played at another speed, especially in transition, and didn’t settle. I felt like she had open threes and took the extra dribble to get to the 15-footer and really got some shots to go down early. You could see her confidence gaining,” Tsipis said. “She was our catalyst.”

Jackson led the team with a season-high 21 points, as well as seven assists and five rebounds.

Despite Jackson’s efforts to widen the score before the break, the Patriots responded as well, bringing the score to 25-24 at the half. Tsipis said that the Colonials allowed the Patriots to catch up to them in the first half. At the break, GW’s coach insisted on a stronger transition defense in the second half, guessing whichever team had that would win.

As the second half began, the Colonials wasted no time building up a lead once again, bringing the score to 33-26 within the first three minutes of resumed play. Booker was instrumental in keeping the Colonials ahead, ending the game with seven points and nine rebounds. Although she only shot four times in the second half, she netted an important three-pointer, and made the extra pass several times, setting up her teammates for important shots, allowing the team to jump ahead at 52-37.

“I thought we did a much better job in the second half,” Tsipis said. “We ended up out-rebounding them. At halftime [George Mason] had 12 offensive rebounds. We were able to limit them to three in the second half, and I really felt like if we could have a second chance to be about even, we’d have a good shot at winning the game.”

Overall, the Colonials had 44 rebounds, compared to the Patriots’ 42. The Colonials also led the Patriots in turnovers, with 16 compared to their 13.The Colonials rank second in the Atlantic 10 in both blocks and steals, and had four of each against the Patriots.

Although the Colonials typically play man-to-man defense, in the second half they played more zone defense because of a high number of fouls, looking to hide those weaknesses with a more wide-ranging approach.

“It helped us get a little bit more momentum and really made them change what they were trying to do offensively,” Tsipis said.