Women's hoops defeats Delaware, 67-56

Senior Brittany Eley knocked down a three-pointer as time expired at the end of the first half in Thursday's 11-point victory over the Delaware Blue Hens. (John Powell)

The Mason Women Patriots (12-13, CAA 6-8) swept the regular season series with the Delaware Blue Hens (15-10, 8-6), winning 67-56 Thursday night in the Patriot Center.

The Patriots were coming off two straight losses, and were looking to get back on track in a highly anticipated matchup. The nearby Delaware team had many of their own fans in the Patriot Center stands. The Patriots had the musical Green Machine as the backbone of their supporters.

The majority of the first half was closely contested, with the two teams going back and forth for the lead. As the assists began to rack up for the Patriots and the turnovers began to reduce, they became more and more difficult for the Blue Hens to stop. They were working together as a team and it showed. In the final minutes of play in the first half, the Patriots began to extend their lead by a considerable margin, 35-26, and they never looked back.

The Patriots worked their way up to a five-point lead around two minutes to go in the first, but Delaware responded cutting down the lead to four points with a minute remaining. A quick attack to the basket by senior guard Brittany Poindexter in the final minute raised the Patriots’ lead back up by six. Pointdexter’s shot was followed by a three-pointer at the buzzer by senior guard Brittany Eley, giving the Patriots the nine-point cushion going into the second half.

Leading the way in scoring for the Patriots in the first half was senior guard Ashleigh Braxton with nine points.

“Defense started making a lot more stops and this allowed us to push up and get transition shots,” said Braxton, who was 4-6 from the three-point line. “Coach always stresses the importance of working on defense.”

Delaware attempted to put themselves right back into it in the second half by scoring the first basket, cutting Mason’s lead down to seven, which they soon cut down to five. The Patriot’s were relentless, though, as they worked their way back to an 11-point lead with 15 minutes to go. After this, the closest Delaware was able to get was within five points with 10 minutes left in the game.

Mason once again closed out the half strong, attacking the basket hard and opening up their margin. Leading overall scoring for the Patriots was Poindexter with 15 points, to go along with 10 rebounds, and leading in assists was sophomore guard Rahneeka Saunders with four. Sophomore Amber Easter also contributed 14 points to the effort.

A variety of players were able to contribute for the Patriots in terms of points and assists due to their strong defense in which they were able to force turnovers leading to offense.

“We played great team defense tonight, were positive, and had communication,”
Saunders said. “We want to keep winning and have everyone play their hardest each game.”

This win put Mason securely in the middle of the pack in the CAA. The Patriots have another home game on Sunday, Feb. 20, at 2 p.m. against the Towson Tigers (8-17, 2-12). This will be the first meeting between the Patriots and the Tigers this season. All Mason fans in attendance will receive a free pink t-shirt.