Women's Basketball Edged By Towson, 58-53 :: Wade's 17 points pace Patriots, but Tigers take lead for good with 54 seconds left

Wade's 17 points pace Patriots, but Tigers take lead for good with 54 seconds left

Feb. 24, 2008

FAIRFAX, Va. - The George Mason women's basketball team jumped out to an early double-digit lead, but the Towson Tigers fought back and held off the Patriots down the stretch in a 58-53 contest on Sunday afternoon at Patriot Center. Mason (9-17, 3-12) was denied its 10th victory of the season while the Tigers (18-8, 10-5) won for the first time at the Patriots' home court, ending a four-game losing skid at Patriot Center.

Senior Lateisha Wade poured in a game-high 17 points and was joined in double figures by junior Jessica Smith, who added 10 points, while freshman Eugenia Broadus pulled down a season-high 11 rebounds. However, the Tigers saw three players score in double figures, led by Holly Mahan's 15 points. Mason was out-shot by a narrow 37.5-to-36.7 percent margin from the field, but was doomed by a 1-for-17 (.059) showing from beyond the three-point line.

Towson jumped out to an early lead but the Patriots, down 6-5 just over three minutes in, mounted a 13-2 scoring run to open up a 18-8 advantage at the 11:46 mark. However, Towson answered right back with a 11-0 run of their own spanning 4:05 to regain the lead at 19-18.

From there, the game was a give-and-take battle, with neither team taking a lead larger than four in the first half, including the halftime margin of 30-26 in the Tigers' favor. Towson would grow its lead as large as five on two separate occasions early on in the second period, but a 7-2 Mason scoring advantage leveled the game at 37 with 13:24 to go in the game. The tight back-and-forth play continued, as the lead would change hands three more times. Mason evened the ledger continually, including a game-tying Wade jumper to knot the game at 52 with 1:26 to go.

However, a pair of Shanae Baker-Brice free throws put the Tigers up for good with 54 seconds to go, as the Patriots were unable to tie the game again.

Mason will open up its final road trip of the season on Thursday when it travels to nationally-ranked Old Dominion for a 7 p.m. tilt at the Constant Convocation Center.