Taylor Brown set a George Mason women's basketball single-season scoring record Thursday as the Patriots (13-17, 5-11 A-10) fell 71-43 to Saint Joseph's (13-16, 8-8 A-10) in the second round of the Atlantic 10 Tournament at the Richmond Coliseum. Brown score 11 points on the game to conclude her already historic season with a record 643 points, breaking the previous record of 642 set by Talia Moton in 2011-12
“This season was very humbling, I've learned a lot,” Brown said. “To hear the numbers and records I've achieved, it's not all about that. I still know I have some work to do because I want to be a better player, but I am very grateful that I've been able to achieve so much.”
Freshman Casey Davis went 5-5 from the field and 1-1 from beyond the arc on her way to a career-high 11 points. The Annapolis, Md. also stepped up for the depleted Patriots on defense with a block and a steal in 23 minutes of action.
“I've just worked my hardest all season and knew that I had to be ready for when this opportunity did come,” Davis said.
“We struggled a bit this season to find the right places for Casey, but I love what she does,” head coach Nyla Milleson said. “She's just a freshman and she is going step up and do great things for us in the next three years.”
“We were able to play on fresh legs today. Unfortunately we probably faced one of the hottest teams right now,” head coach Nyla Milleson said. “St. Joe's is playing very good basketball right now.”
Saint Joseph's shot 44.4 (12-27) percent in the first half compared to the Patriots 33.3 (10-30) percent in addition to hitting 11-12 free throws to take a 36-25 lead into the break. The second half was much of the same for Mason as they took on the Hawks with only nine active players. Seniors Sandra Ngoie and Talisha Watts along with freshman Qierra Murray were suspended for violating team rules.
“We've been struggling a bit offensively over the last few games and, facts are facts, we were short-handed today,” Milleson said. “We had three major contributors in street clothes so several players were asked to do some things we haven't asked them to do all season.”
The Patriots finished Milleson's second season as Mason's head coach with five more wins overall than the 2012-13 campaign including four additional conference wins.
“Looking forward to next year, I'm very excited for what lies ahead. We still have some work to do to get this program at the level that we want to, but our nucleus returns and we have five Division-I transfers sitting at home that are chomping at the bit to play. I don't think we've heard the last of the Mason Patriots.”
