CAA Press Release
UPPER MARLBORO, Md. (March 14, 2013) - Ninth-seeded UNCW jumped out to a 11-0 lead and never looked back in recording a 60-46 victory over #8 George Mason in the first round of the 2013 CAA Women's Basketball Championship, presented by Jani-King, at the Show Place Arena on Thursday afternoon.
The Seahawks (5-25) advance to Friday's quarterfinals where they will face top-seeded Delaware at Noon. The Patriots' season came to an end with a 9-21 mark.
Sophomore guard Kelva Atkins scored a career-high 24 points on 10-of-17 field goal shooting to lead UNCW. It was the seventh double-digit effort in the past eight games for Atkins, who also contributed six rebounds, four assists and three steals. Senior All-CAA forward Karneshia Garrett posted her 10th double-double in the past 14 games with 15 points and a team-high 12 rebounds.
Mason was led by junior forward Janaa Pickard, who also recorded a double-double with team-highs of 18 points and 12 rebounds.
UNCW needed just 3:53 to score the game's first 11 points as Jessica Freeman tallied the first five and Atkins added a pair of layups during the run. Mason cut the gap to seven when Pickard nailed a jumper to make it 18-11 with 8:06 left in the half.
However the Seahawks quickly responded with three straight three-pointers as Tawanna Lee buried two in a row and Dana Brown hit another to increase the UNCW advantage to 27-13 with 3:53 to go. The Seahawks took a commanding 31-15 lead into halftime.
UNCW stayed in control for most of the second half and was ahead by 15 with 10:39 remaining before Mason rallied. Pickard scored seven points and Amber Easter added six as Mason went on a 13-2 run to close within 47-43 with 6:39 to play.
Back-to-back buckets by Atkins allowed UNCW to regain control and the Seahawks held Mason to just one point over the final 4:42 of the contest to pull away for the victory.
UNCW shot 44% from the floor, made 10-of-14 at the free throw line and committed a season-low seven turnovers in the contest. The Seahawks never went to their bench as all five starters logged 40 minutes.
Mason out-rebounded UNCW 41-25, but shot just 34% from the floor and was hurt by 18 turnovers.
