Defending Atlantic 10 Tournament champion St. Joseph's, who entered as the #5 seed after just missing out on a bye, cruised past a beleaguered George Mason squad who was pushed to overtime last night by UMass, 89-55. The Hawks use a very balanced scoring attack, with five players in double figures, but none over 15 points (Kelsey Berger) as 11 players scored for St. Joseph's.
"We placed a point of emphasis that we needed balance in scoring if we were going to make a run in this tournament," St. Joseph's head coach Cindy Griffin said. Griffin led the Hawks to their first A-10 Tournament title in 14 years in 2013.
Natasha Cloud, the A-10 Defensive Player of the Year, took care of Taylor Brown, the George Mason guard who nearly broke the tournament scoring record with 35 in the UMass win Wednesday night, holding her to 5-of-18 shooting, and 15 points overall.
"We try to contest every shot, we try to be there in the gaps as well," Cloud explained, noting her teammates were just as key to holding down Brown, and the rest of the Patriots.
Janaa Pickard, in her final game as a Patriot, scored all 15 of her points after intermission, when the game was well in doubt, but she passed an important milestone, scoring her 1,000th career point.
"That was a goal of ours late in the game. You'd think we had won the World Series when Janaa got her 1,000th point," George Mason head coach Nyla Milleson said.
St. Joseph's (22-8) next plays #4 George Washington in a quarterfinal Friday at 2:30pm. The two teams split their two meetings back in January, each winning on the road.
For Milleson and the Patriots, an 8-23 campaign comes to an end with much reflection, but also much pride and hope. The head coach emphasized a few points for the Mason faithful.
"First of all, I want to say how proud we are of being a part of the Atlantic 10 Conference," Milleson said. "We are extremely excited of what lies ahead. We understand the prestige of this league."
Milleson also praised her three seniors: Pickard, Kyana Jacobs, and Cierra Strickland.
"We have to recruit more and better, and we will. We must teach, teach, teach individual skills. In years to come, as we improve, these seniors, who could have gone through the motions, but didn't, they can take credit for helping to build what we will have down the road."
The Patriots will begin their second season in the Atlantic 10 in 2014-15.
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