Dec. 11, 2011
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FAIRFAX, Va. - Alyssa Thomas had 18 points to lead four players in double figures and the fifth-ranked Maryland women's basketball team beat George Mason 78-50 on Sunday.
Laurin Mincy scored 15 points for her seventh straight game in double figures. Lynetta Kizer had 14 and Anjale Barrett added 13 for the Terrapins (11-0).
"This is a big team win for us, especially defensively," head coach Brenda Frese said. "Any time you can go on the road and hold a really good George Mason team to 24 percent shooting, I thought we did tremendous job just mixing it up defensively."
Taleia Moton led the Patriots (6-3) with 16 points and Janaa Pickard added 12.
Maryland scored the first 10 points of the second half and Barrett's jumper at the 15-minute mark put the Terrapins up by 36. Maryland eventually led by as many as 40 points and George Mason got no closer than 28 the rest of the way.
Maryland, now 5-0 all-time against George Mason, shot 46 percent from the field for the game and outrebounded George Mason 59-33. The Patriots made just 17 of 71 field goal attempts.
"Maryland is a good as advertised. No doubt," George Mason coach Jeri Porter said. "While we knew what to expect from them, we were also a bit disappointed. We didn't feel like we put forth our best effort tonight in terms of our offense. We didn't do a really good job of staying patient in the game and putting the ball in the basket. But a lot of credit for that obviously goes to Maryland in terms of their defense scheme and how aggressively they play."
Acknowledging the talent of the George Mason guards, Frese opted to put Maryland into a zone defense for much of the game.
"We haven't played a 40-minute game like tonight," Frese said. "I felt like watching George Mason that was how you could be effective and successful and I wanted to challenge this team early to know that as we get into conference play that if this is what we need to go to, we can.
"We felt like their guard play was very, very strong and we wanted to make it difficult for them to be able to get shots off, so I thought, just collectively as a team, we did a nice job making them take difficult shots," Frese said.
George Mason hit three of its first four shots, including two 3-pointers, and led 8-4. Led by Thomas and Alicia DeVaughn, the Terrapins went on a 12-0 run and outscored the Patriots 40-12 over the remainder of the period to take a 44-20 lead at the break.
After Moton's three-point play pulled George Mason within 21-13, the Patriots went nearly 9 minutes without scoring and trailed by as many as 27 points.
"That was definitely an emphasis we had going into the game," Frese said. "We felt with what we have in size that we could expose them inside, and it's great because again you challenge a team to execute and they did."
Maryland now has 16 days off before its next game.
"We're 11-0 and I think we're pretty happy, but there's always room for improvement," Barrett said. "We've got a long stretch of practice now so we just need to keep getting better every day."
The Terrapins will play host to No. 22 Delaware, East Carolina and Lafayette in the Terrapin Classic Dec. 28-29 at Comcast Center. The Terps will play Lafayette at noon on Dec. 28, with Delaware and ECU in the second game of the day at 2:30 p.m. On Dec. 29, the Terps will play either the Pirates or the Blue Hens at 7 p.m., while the Leopards will play either one at 4:30 p.m.
Maryland is ranked No. 5 in the latest Associated Press rankings and is back in the AP top five for the first time since it ended the 2008-09 season ranked No. 3. The Terps come in at No. 6 in the ESPN/USA Today Division I Top 25 Coaches' poll.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
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