Box Score BOX SCORE

Junior LaTeisha Dean matched her career high with 20 points against George Mason but the High Point University women's basketball team lost to the Patriots by a score of 76-57 in Fairfax, Va., Friday night.

High Point trailed by just two late in the first half but GMU outscored the Panthers 41-29 in the second half as High Point fell to 2-4 on the season.

“This has got to be a lesson that carries over throughout the rest of the season,” said head coach Tooey Loy. “We got outplayed tonight, they brought more intensity than we did and that can't happen.”

After George Mason jumped out to an 8-2 lead to start the game, HPU went on an 8-2 run its own to tie the game at 10-10. Senior Ashlee' Samuels hit two free throws and a fast break layup to help the Panthers pull even.

High Point took its first lead of the game with 9:30 left in the forst half when Dean stole the ball from the Patriots and took it to the basket to put HPU up 18-16.

The two teams traded baskets until the final four minutes of the first half when a 10-5 run by the Patriots gave George Mason a 35-28 lead at the halfway mark. Dean led all Panther scorers at the break with 13 points on 5-7 shooting. Brittany Poindexter scored 14 points to lead GMU in the opening 20 minutes.

GMU pushed the lead to double digits with a 6-0 run to take a 41-28 lead early in the second half. Dean trimmed the lead to ten with three straight points on a jumper and a free throw but the Patriots quickly responded, building the lead to 18 and forcing the Panthers to call timeout.

High Point continued to fight but could not find an answer for George Mason as the lead grew to 21, 60-39, with just over nine minutes remaining. HPU trimmed the deficit to 13 with just under two minutes remaining, but the Panthers were unable to draw any closer, falling 76-57.

Samuels scored a season-high 11 points and grabbed a team-best five rebounds and junior Jurica Hargraves chipped in with 10 points for HPU in the loss. Poindexter led all scorers with 27 points for the Patriots.

“We have to learn from this and make sure it doesn't happen again,” said Loy. “We have a game against a very good American team on Sunday and a chance to redeem ourselves and get back to the style of basketball we have been playing all year.”

High Point concludes its four-game road swing on Sunday, Dec. 6 when the team plays American University in Washington, D.C. Tip-off at American's Bender Arena is scheduled for 2 p.m.