Mason Rallies Past Northeastern, 70-60
UPPER MARLBORO, Md. (March 8, 2012) - Seventh-seeded George
Mason closed the game on a 17-3 run and rallied past No. 10 Northeastern 70-60
in the first round of the Virginia 529 CAA Women's Basketball Championship on
Thursday evening at The Show Place Arena.
The Patriots (15-15) will face second-seeded and two-time
defending CAA champion James Madison in the quarterfinals on Friday at 5 p.m.
The Huskies closed their season with an 8-22 mark.
Senior guard Amber Easter recorded a double-double and led
Mason with a career-high 22 points and a team-best 13 rebounds. Senior All-CAA
guard Taleia Moton added 20 points and forward Janaa Pickard contributed 10
points, all of which came in the second half.
Northeastern got a career-high 25 points from forward
Christine Huber. Freshman post player Jewel Tunstull had a double-double with
15 points and 10 rebounds.
Mason led 37-33 with 17 minutes left in the game before
Northeastern caught fire behind the shooting of Huber. The Huskies' junior
scored 19 points over an 8:30 span to give Northeastern a 55-51 lead with 8:20
remaining.
The Patriots were still down by four (57-53) with 7:30 to go
when they made their deciding run. Two free throws and a jumper by Pickard tied
the game and Mason took the lead for good on a Moton layup with 5:03 on the
clock. The Patriots would eventually score 15 straight points to put the game
away, capped by a three-pointer and a layup by Easter that made it 68-57 with
2:03 remaining.
Neither team could take control in an evenly played first
half. Northeastern scored the first seven points to open the game, but Mason
responded with a 14-2 run to take its largest lead of the half, 14-9, with
15:08 left in the period.
The Huskies quickly came back to tie the contest at 16-16 on
an A'lece Mark rebound bucket and the lead changed hands 10 times over the next
13 minutes. A jumper from Moton with 51 seconds left gave the Patriots a 32-31
advantage at the break. Moton finished with 15 first-half points, while Tunstull
had nine points and seven rebounds in the first 20 minutes for Northeastern.
Mason shot 39.7% from the floor and set a CAA tournament
record by going 18-for-18 at the free throw line. The Patriots also
outrebounded the Huskies 45-33. Northeastern shot 34.4% from the floor and was
10-of-14 from the charity stripe.