The Eastern Kentucky University women’s basketball team held a two-point lead, 25-23, after one half of play, but could not sustain that advantage, falling to the George Mason Patriots, 64-41, at EagleBank Arena in Fairfax, Virginia.
The Colonels (2-6, 0-0 OVC) forced 15 first half turnovers to help fight back from 10 down, 18-8, to take two-point lead, 25-23, going into the halftime break. However, George Mason came out of halftime on a 7-0 run to retake the lead, 32-25. Eastern cut the lead to four, 36-32, when Shay Solomon converted a layup underneath, but the Patriots rattled off another 7-0 run to pull ahead, 45-32 with 1:22 left in the quarter.
From there, EKU responded with a 6-0 run, sparked by a Solomon jumper, that extended into the fourth quarter, cutting the George Mason lead to nine, 47-38. The Patriots, however, put their foot down in the fourth quarter, outscoring the Colonels 19-5 the rest of the way to seal the win.
Madison Pierce led the way for the Colonels, scoring a career-high 12 points and coming away with a career-high four steals, the most steals by a Colonel since last season, when Marcella Rocha came away with four on March 1 against Morehead State.
Abby Wright was the only other Colonel to score in double figures, contributing 11 points. Despite scoring just two points and snapping her double-digit scoring streak, A’Queen Hayes pulled down a team-high eight rebounds and three steals.
The Eastern defense stepped up, coming away with a season-high 11 steals and forced the Patriots into 19 turnovers, scoring 15 points off of them. They also limited George Mason’s leading scorer, Natalie Butler (18.6 ppg), to just one first half point, 12 total, which tied her season low.
EKU’s offense struggled to find rhythm, going 18-of-64 (28 percent) and 2-of-15 from behind the arc.
The Patriots (9-2, 0-0 A10) were led by Nicole Cardano, who finished with a game-high 18 points.
The Colonels return to action on Dec. 18, when they take on Ohio Christian in McBrayer Arena. Tipoff is scheduled for 5:30 p.m. ET.
— www.EKUSports.com —
Kevin Britton
Assistant Athletics Director for Communications & Branding
