George Mason drops cold-shooting Oakland in season opener
FAIRFAX, Va. – Bethany Watterworth led all players with 17points, but the Oakland women’s basketball team (0-1) dropped its season-opener, 59-48, to George Mason (1-1) at the Patriot Center on Sunday. Zakiya Minifee added a double-double of 10 points and 10 rebounds for the Golden Grizzlies.
“That’s how opening games go sometimes,” said Oakland head coach Beckie Francis. “The first game of the yearis always hard, especially on the road and missing a senior team captain.”
Watterworth had 10 points in the first half and gave Oakland its first lead of the game with a 3-pointerwith 14:37 remaining in the first half. OU used a 7-0 run to take an 11-6 lead, the largest of the game. Just a junior, Watterworth now has 995 points in her career.
The Patriots responded with a 15-3 run to go in front 21-14 on a basket by Rahneeka Saunders. The Golden Grizzlies managed to rally over the final four minutes of the half and pulled within 25-23, before a late foul and two free throws gave GMU a 27-23 lead at the break.
Victoria Lipscomb scored the first basket of the second half to bring OU within two points. From that point, the Patriots went on a 24-10 run, taking a 51-35 lead on a layup by Evelyn Lewis. The Patriots out-rebounded Oakland 50-38 with a 20-9 edge in offensive rebounds. GMU also went 4-for-8 beyond the arc in the second half.
Taleia Moton and Amber Easter each scored 11 points to lead George Mason. Moton led GMU offense with seven assists, while Easter was her team’s top rebounder with eight. Moton also had a key defense play, hustling back to break up an Oakland fast break top reserve a nine-point lead with 1:30 left in the game.
The two teams combined for15 blocks, with Janaa Pickard recording four of GMUs 10 blocks. Brittany Carnago and Watterworth both had two blocks each for OU. The Golden Grizzlies shot34.5 percent from the field, while holding George Mason to just 34.3 percent.
Oakland played without senior guard Sharise Calhoun, who averaged 12.8 points per-game last season. The Golden Grizzlies areback in action on Tuesday playing at American. The game will tipoff at 7 p.m.from Bender Arena.
Category: Campus Clips, Colleges / Other, Oakland University
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