Wilmington Bests Mason For Second Straight Day

By Connect Mason Sports Director Damien Sordelett

If the weekend could not get any worse at George Mason University, the UNC-Wilmington Seahawks decided to stay in the area for one more day.

Brittany Blackwell scored 22 points and was joined in double figures by two other Seahawks as UNC-Wilmington (15-9, 5-7 CAA) defeated the George Mason Patriots (9-15, 3-10 CAA) 69-55 Sunday before 654 at the Patriot Center.

Lateisha Wade led all scorers with 23 points, including hitting 5 of 5 from 3-point range. Wade scored 14 points in the first half, but did not get much help outside of that. Casey Quigley added eight points for the Patriots.

With the Lady Patriots down four with a little over 10 minutes left, the Seahawks went on a 12-2 run, putting the game out of reach. Though Wilmington did not hit a field goal in the last four minutes, they did hit 14 of 17 free throws down the stretch.

“I think that’s very big because we talked about making free throws when it matters the most, especially at the end of the game,” said Blackwell, who added nine rebounds. “It provided for cushion for us at the end.”

Overall, the Seahawks hit 26 of 33 from the free throw line. In addition to those made free throws, the visitors shot 55.3 percent for the game, including 60 percent in the second half.

“We’ve been in a lot of situations like that this year and fortunately enough, we made them tonight,” UNC-Wilmington coach Ann Hancock said. “At the first game against Mason, they held us scoreless in the last eight minutes and we were able to make some free throws down the stretch in that game as well.”

The Lady Patriots built a cushion early, getting out to a 20-8 lead after a Quigley lay up with 11:19 remaining in the first half. The Seahawks responded with a 16-3 run that had Mason on their heels for much of the remainder of the game.

“When we stopped scoring, we couldn’t get into our press and just had to play them halfcourt and they were able to get the ball inside,” George Mason coach Debbie Taneyhill said. “We had some untimely turnovers when we made some substitutions and just didn’t maintain the level that we got off to start.”

The Lady Patriots were hampered in foul trouble for most of the game, committing 25 team fouls which sent the Seahawks to line 33 times. It hurt early that Wade picked up two fouls in the first half and was playing with three fouls most of the second half.

“We tried to pick our defensive intensity up and the referees started calling more fouls,” said Wade, who added six assists and four rebounds. “We started playing a little timid and they started hitting shots. We were trying to adjust to what the referees were calling and that just got us all out of whack.”

Sahsha Taylor and Greta Luksyte joined Blackwell in double figures, scoring 12 and 11 respectively.