George Mason Holds Off Bowie State Lady Bulldogs 83-81 in Basketball Exhibition

FAIRFAX, Va. (November 2, 2014) - The Bowie State University women's basketball team fell short of victory in a 83-81 exhibition loss to Division I George Mason University on Sunday afternoon at the Patriot Center.

Junior Ty-Nita Baker (Houston, Miss.) paced the Lady Bulldogs with 31 points and grabbed eight rebounds while senior Donia Naylor (Washington, D.C.) added a double-double of 14 points and 14 rebounds. Senior Alisha Burley (Baltimore, Md.) and junior Alauna Jackson (Ellicott City, Md.) tallied 17 and 11 points respectively for the Lady Bulldogs.

The Patriot’s were led by Taylor Brown with 31 points while Kristi Mokube added 11 points. Qierra Murray, Tayler Dodson and Talisha Watts contributed 10 points each for George Mason. Watts also hauled down a game-high 17 rebounds.

Free throws really hurt Bowie State as the Lady Bulldogs shot a disappointing 26-of-41 (63.4 percent) from the charity stripe. George Mason struggled even more, making 28-of-45 (62.2 percent) at the free throw line.

After a 13-all tie, George Mason went on a 6-0 run before a Naylor free throw stopped the Patriot’s run. Cyndi Cole popped a 3-pointer and Mokube layup and free throw created the run.

The Lady Bulldogs experienced their first lead at 25-24 after a pair of free throws by junior Sheldeen Joseph (Belair St. Vincent and the Grenadines) at the 6:25 mark of the first half.  A Talisha Watts layup on George Mason’s next possession shifted the advantage back over the Patriot’s. However, Bowie State’s Burley answered with a layup on the other end and the Lady Bulldogs used the momentum to take a 38-32 lead into halftime.

Bowie State shot 42.9 percent (12-of-28) in the first 20 minutes but struggled at the free throw, making only 13-of-21. George Mason hit 11-of-39 first half field goals (28.2 percent) with four of those field goals behind the arc.

The second half was a much different story, as the Patriots would outscore Bowie State 28-10 over the first 12 minutes of the half to take a 62-48 lead. The Lady Bulldogs started the second half 1-for-12 from the field and trailed 50-43 with 11:52 left in the game.

The Bulldogs would rally back with a 28-20 run over the final 6:20 of the game, but Mason would hold on to take the win thanks to 10 free throws from Brown in the last three minutes of play.

“I’m proud of every single player as they fought to the very end”, said head coach Renard Smith. “To lose by two after being down by 10 late in the second half was very impressive.”

Bowie State begins the regular season on Friday (November 14th) against Lock Haven University in the opening game of the Wolf Bus Lines Classic hosted by Shippensburg University.