Sophomore forward Shay Steele registered a career-high 23 points, while senior guard Almesha Jones pumped in 20 points and had a game-best seven assists to lead the Morehead State women's basketball team to a 79-70 triumph at George Mason Sunday afternoon (Nov. 17).
The Eagles conclude their season-opening road trip to Virginia 2-0. The Atlantic 10 Conference Patriots, who defeated Atlantic Coast Conference foe Virginia Tech Friday, fell to 1-1. It marked the program's first win over GMU in three tries.
"I felt like this was much more of a 40-minute effort today," Head Coach Greg Todd said. "To be able to get a sweep on this road trip is a big confidence boost for us."
Steele, who tied her then-career high with 17 points in the season-opener at Norfolk State Friday, hit 10-of-17 from the field and also added six rebounds and four steals in 35 minutes.
"We feel blessed to have Shay." Todd said. "The sky is the limit for her."
Jones reached the 20-point plateau for the 13th time in her career and has now handed out 15 assists in the first two games. She is just 53 points short of 1,000 for her career.
MSU also got double-digit scoring outputs from senior guard Maiki Viela (13) and sophomore guard Aaliyah Wells (11).
The Eagles shot 42 percent (28-of-66) on the day and hit eight three-pointers. MSU also forced 21 turnovers and held a 29-19 advantage in points via turnovers. The Eagles outscored the hosts 38-22 in paint points.
George Mason topped MSU in the rebounding department, 48-39
"We do have a lot of things we can still improve on, but we did some great things today," Todd added. "We got beat up more on the boards today, but both teams did miss a lot of shots. That is always a work in progress."
The Eagles limited the Patriots to just 25 percent (11-of-38) from the field in the first half. GMU improved to 44 percent (14-of-32) in the final half.
Jones drilled a three-pointer at the 9:59 mark of the first half to give the Eagles an 18-16 lead, and George Mason never led again. That ignited an 18-6 run to push MSU's cushion to 33-22 with 3:16 left in the half.
The hosts climbed back to within 38-35 with 17:54 remaining, but a 12-3 MSU run over the next two minutes distanced the Eagles from their foes. MSU's largest advantage was 73-59 following junior guard Natalie Greenwell's trey with 2:49 left.
Taylor Brown topped GMU with 23 points and eight rebounds. The Patriots hit only 5 of their 21 three-point attempts.
Morehead State will face No. 11 Kentucky in Lexington on Wednesday morning (Nov. 19). The special education-day game is set to tip off at 11 a.m.
