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(Keith Lucas / Sideline Media / A-10)

BY BRIAN A. HAYUM, SPORTS EDITOR AND PETER MAHLER, ASSISTANT SPORTS EDITOR

No. 1 Rhode Island defeated No. 2 George Mason women’s basketball 53-51 in the A-10 Championship game on March 7, holding the Patriots to 32.2% FG and ending their title-defending run. 

“I thought the game was a slugfest,” Coach Vanessa Blair-Lewis said. “At the end of the day, we didn’t put the ball in the hole like we needed to.”

Mason’s top two scorers, juniors Zahirah Walton and Kennedy Harris, came into the game fronting most of the offensive load for Mason. The duo were averaging a combined 39 shots per game, but the Rams’ defense made maintaining that record difficult. 

The duo combined to make only 9 of their 36 shots from the field for a 25% shooting percentage. 

“I would live and die by the shots that we took, and all of those shots we make 100% of the time, but today they just didn’t connect,” Blair-Lewis said.

Rhode Island’s Albina Syla led the charge on the glass with 10 rebounds, including 7 on defense. The Finnish center added 9 points and a block, winning tournament MVP in the process. In three games, Syla averaged 14.7 ppg and 10 rpg.

Mason’s defense blitzed the Rams in the first quarter, holding Rhode Island to 7 points (3-for-8 FG) and forcing seven early turnovers. Mason entered the second quarter with a 15-7 lead, but the Rams swung momentum, outscoring the Patriots 17-10 in the period. 

The Patriots looked vulnerable even as they held the lead at half, and the Rams began seizing control of the game. Rhode Island tightened its grip with a 6-0 start in the third quarter, keeping Mason to just 9 points on a woeful 3-of-11 shooting.

(Keith Lucas / Sideline Media / A-10)

Mason missed a crucial opportunity during a six-minute stretch in the fourth quarter where both teams suffered a scoring drought. Trailing by 3 with five minutes left, the Patriots went 0-for-4 from the field — including misses from Walton and Harris — before Brooklyn Gray’s layup ended the stalemate and pushed the Rhode Island lead to 5 with 1:57 remaining.

Senior Jada Brown drained a second-chance 3-pointer, bringing Mason to a 3-point deficit with 15 seconds remaining, but the last-ditch effort wasn’t enough. 

After a season where her team returned to the A-10 title game and claimed the school’s first-ever regular season championship, Blair-Lewis displayed perspective and a sense of pride. 

“Yes, this is not the outcome we wanted, but it was exponential growth … and [the players] grew as human beings,” she said. “Somebody had to win, and somebody had to learn.”

Having clinched an automatic bid into the Women’s Basketball Invitational Tournament (WBIT), the Patriots aren’t done yet. Fans can watch this historic Mason squad when the tournament begins Thursday, March 19.