Women’s basketball (5-3) fell 87-55 George Mason in their first conference contest Tuesday night.
The game marked the Revolutionaries’ first loss of the season in the Smith Center. They got off to a slow start, down 23, before a run before the end of the first half brought them back to within 12. George Mason pulled away in the second half, routing the Revs.
The matchup was the first Atlantic-10 women’s basketball game of the season. George Mason was picked to finish 3rd in the conference, while the Revs were slated to finish 13th out of 15 teams.
Graduate transfer guard Makayla Andrews was the only Rev in double figures, scoring 23 points off 8-12 shooting. Freshman guard Morgan Matthews scored her new collegiate-high 10 points in the contest, going 2-3 from beyond the arc.
“Makayla does have a scoring mentality so finding you know where to get her shots within the flow of our offensive system is really important,” Coach Caroline McCombs said.
George Mason jumped out to an early 14-5 start, in which graduate transfer forward Mariona Planes Fortuny scored the only five points for the Revolutionaries, causing McCombs to call timeout with 5:08 left in the first quarter.
The Revolutionaries struggled to handle the ball in the opening frame, ending the quarter with nine turnovers and a 10 point deficit.
They started the second quarter with turnovers on their first two offensive possessions and gave up seven straight points to the Patriots who extended their lead to 27-10. The Patriots continued their dominance reaching their largest lead of the game that far at 39-16 with 4:15 to go in the half.
Andrews headed to the free throw line to sink a pair of free throws she drew off a defensive rebound down 20 with 3:31 left in the half to try and get her team back in the game.. She scored eight straight points for the Revs as they cut into Mason’s lead feeding off cheers from their bench and the Foghorns. Freshman guard Gabby Reynolds continued the momentum, capping a 13-2 Revs run to end the half on a jumper with just one second to go. The run tightened the Revs’ deficit to 12 as they jogged into the locker room.
George Mason stifled any further Revolutionary momentum going on a 10-0 run just two minutes into the second half. Up 52-33, the Patriots put a full-court press on forcing two more turnovers and extending their lead to 27.
“The first couple times they hit us with the press I don’t think we were ready for it mentally even though we had been preparing for it, so I don’t really know why we weren’t ready for it,” Andrews said.
Going into the fourth quarter down 65-42, the Revs failed to defend the three-point line, giving up a three to start the final frame. The Patriots made 12 threes on the night.
The teams went back and forth in the last quarter. The Revs could not put much of a dent in the Patriots’ 30-plus point lead and ultimately lost the game 87-55.
McCombs said postgame that her team’s ball security is a part of their game that they still need to execute in game.
“We talked about taking care of the ball,” McCombs said. “It’s not like we’re not practicing it, it just hasn’t happened yet for us to be strong enough and have the ball toughness that we need.”
The Revolutionaries will finish the rest of their non-conference schedule before resuming their A-10 schedule on Dec. 29 at La Salle University. Their next game is against Coppin State on Dec. 10 at the Smith Center.
