Late Layup Sinks Dragons 49-47 at George Mason

Thursday, January 20

Fairfax, Va.

7:00

Drexel University

George Mason

Late Layup Sinks Dragons 49-47 at George Mason

1/20/2011 8:56:51 PM | Women's Basketball

Box Score

Fairfax, Va. – George Mason's Taleia Moton hit a driving layup with four seconds left in the game to give the Patriots a 49-47 win over Drexel (11-6, 3-3). Kamile Nacickaite led a furious rally by the Dragons in the final minutes, but it fell just short this time. The junior finished with a team-leading 17 points. Amber Easter scored all 11 of her points in the second half to lead George Mason (8-9, 2-4) to victory.

Brittany Poindexter led the Patriots with 14 points and Angelee LaTouche pulled down a team-high seven boards and also led the Patriots with five assists. The victory snapped an eight-game losing streak to the Dragons dating back to 2005.

Drexel shot just 34 percent in the game and made 4-of-12 from three-point range. George Mason outrebounded the Dragons 37-28. The Patriots pulled down 11 offensive rebounds and converted them into as many second-chance points, while shooting 42 percent from the floor.

The Patriots, who are ranked third in the CAA in scoring defense, did well to disrupt the Dragons' offense throughout the game. The Dragons found it difficult to get into the usual ebb and flow of their offense, this was evident by the season-low seven assists handed out by the team.

Drexel trailed by as much as 10 points early in the second half but rallied numerous times in the period to give itself a chance to win. The final Drexel push came with Mason leading 43-37 and less than four minutes to play, Nacickaite would hit a baseline fade-away to bring the Dragons within four. Drexel's full-court trap would quickly generate a steal on the inbounds pass, setting up a pair of free throws from Rosseel to make it a 43-41 game with 2:50 to play.

The Patriots responded with a pair of free throws. Nacickaite had two opportunities to halve the lead again, but both jumpers in the lane fell short. She connected on a free throw a minute later, but Easter answered with a layup to give Mason a 47-42 lead with 56 seconds left.

On the ensuing possession Nacickaite drove her way down the left side of the lane and tossed in a layup while getting fouled. She connected on the free-throw to make it a 47-45 game. Johnson-Allen drew a charging foul on a driving Brittany Poindexter to give the Dragons the ball and Nacickaite responded with another spinning layup to knot the game at 47 apiece with 17.7 seconds to play.

The Patriots cued the ball in to Taleia Moton and she drew a foul on Johnson-Allen with nine seconds left. On the reset, Moton drove the lane and knocked down a layup on the left side five the Dragons the ball with four seconds left.

Hollie Mershon attempted the coast-to-coast drive with 4.1 on the clock, but the Mason double team caught her at mid-court and she was unable to get the shot off before time expired.

The Patriots opened the second half with a 6-0 run to grab a 10-point lead in the first three minutes of play. With its offense seemingly in disarray, Drexel used some hustle plays on defense to find its rhythm again.

Substitute Tory Thierolf came up with a steal that resulted in a layup by Ayana Lee on the other end. The bucket trimmed the lead to eight points at the 16-minute mark.

Following a scoring lull by both teams that lasted nearly four minutes, the Dragons came up with a lose ball in transition and Nacickaite knocked down an open three-pointer to make it at 32-27 game.

Rosseel knocked down her second three-pointer of the game with 11:12 on the clock to make it a four-point game at 36-32. But Mason responded with a run of its own led by six points from Amber Easter to push the lead back to seven points and Drexel would go another four and a half minutes before getting another field goal.

Drexel trailed 24-20 at halftime after a first half fraught with turnovers for both teams. The Dragons made just 7-of-21 from the floor and got off only four three-point attempts in the first 20 minutes. Taleia Moton and Brittany Poindexter led the Patriots into the lockers with eight points apiece.

Nacickaite had six for Drexel but she also picked up three fouls, two of them on the offensive end of the court and found herself on the bench for the final two minutes of the half. The teams combined to commit 18 turnovers in the period.

The Dragons return to the DAC on Sunday for a 2:00 p.m. game against the Hofstra Pride. Drexel will welcome its alumni back during the game as part of the University's Homecoming Weekend celebration.