Dec. 19, 2007

Box Score

WASHINGTON - The American University women's basketball team fell to George Mason Wednesday night, 57-49, in the 50th all-time meeting between the regional rivals. The Eagles were led by senior Liz Hayes who scored a game-high 18 points and freshman Michelle Kirk who netted a career-high 14 points in her first ever start.

"I think tonight we played a game in which we overcame a poor first half and still had a chance to win," Head Coach Melissa McFerrin said. "We were just not sharp enough down the stretch on offensive to get it done."

The Eagles struggled to begin the game against Mason's pressure defense and found themselves down by 15, 26-11, with under five minutes to play in the first half. American closed that gap to three points by halftime with a 12-0 run to close the period. Hayes scored 10 straight points, including two-three pointers, to begin the run and Kirk capped it off with her first bucket of the night.

American scored first to open the second half and took its first lead of the game on a Stephanie N'Garsanet lay up, 27-26. The Eagles kept pace with Mason through the midway point largely in part to Kirk who scored eight points in the half's first seven-plus minutes. Down four with 3:37 left to play, AU was forced to foul and put the Patriots on the line. GMU sank 10 free-throws in the final three minutes to put the lead out of AU's reach and secure the victory, 57-49.

Hayes finished with a game-high 18 points and hit four shots from behind the arc. Kirk scored a career-high 14 points in the loss, 12 of which came in the second half. Liz Leer notched a career-high nine rebounds and was complemented on the glass by Maggie Smith-Davidson who pulled down seven.

GMU was led by Rashauna Hobbs' 18 points. Lateisha Wade scored 10 for the Patriots including five from the charity stripe with less than one minute to play.

The Eagles return to action Saturday against Radford University inside of Bender Arena. Tip is scheduled for 2 p.m.