University of Delaware Athletics
Delaware Cruises to 15th Straight Win as #9 Blue Hens Lead Wire to Wire in 71-53 Victory Over George Mason
2/23/2012 8:48:00 PM | Women's Basketball
NEWARK, Del. -- The University of Delaware cruised to its 15th straight win in wire-to-wire fashion Thursday night as All-American Elena Delle Donne and fellow junior Danielle Parker each recorded a double-double and combined for 42 points and 23 rebounds in a 71-53 Colonial Athletic Association women's basketball victory over George Mason at the Bob Carpenter Center.
The No. 9 (Associated Press) Blue Hens also posted their 13th straight home win and stayed unbeaten in league play as they shoot to become the first conference team to go undefeated in league play since Old Dominion went 18-0 in 2001-02. Delaware (25-1, 16-0 CAA) has now won a school record 17 straight conference regular season games since last season. Delaware's 25 wins are the second highest in school history and just one shy of the record 26 established in 2000-01 (26-5) and 2006-07 (26-6).
The game was played before a near-capacity crowd of 4,824 in the 5,000-seat Carpenter Center. Delaware's final home game of the season this Sunday vs. Northeastern is already sold out.
Delle Donne (at right), the nation's leading scorer (28.1 ppg) who earlier in the day was named the Capital One Academic All-American of the Year for NCAA Division I women's basketball, knocked down 9 of 16 shots from the field, 3 of 5 three-pointers, and 7 of 8 free throws to finish with a game-high 28 points while also adding 11 rebounds, four assists, and two blocked shots. The double-double was her 12th of the season.
Delle Donne's seven free throws gave her 541 for her career, breaking the UD career mark previously held by current Blue Hen assistant coach Tiara Malcom, who had 535 during an all-conference career in 2001-05.
Parker (bottom left) recorded her fourth double-double of the season with 14 points and game-high 12 rebounds while Lauren Carra chipped in with 11 points and seven rebounds. The Hens enjoyed a solid shooting night all around, hitting 26 of 53 shots from the field (49.1 percent) and 16 of 18 from the foul line. Delaware also held a big rebounding advantage, pulling down 46 to George Mason's 31.
"We really set the tone and got out to a good start tonight," said head coach Tina Martin, who was honored during a pre-game event for earning her 300th win against Georgia State earlier this month. "In the second half, we held the ship and did what we needed to do to get the double digit win. We have accomplished so much. Right now, we're finishing the grind of the regular season and we don't want to let anyone down. Our defense is the key. When we play defense we're a tough team to beat."
George Mason (13-14, 7-9 CAA), which lost for the third time in the last four games, got a team-high 18 points from guard Taleia Moton, 10 points off the bench from Joyous Tharrington, and nine points and eight rebounds from Amber East. Moton entered the game averaging 21.0 points per game.
The Patriots, who gave up 40 points to Delle Donne in a 66-54 loss in the team's first meeting back in early January, shot just 32.4 percent from the field (22 of 68) Thursday night and misfired on all 10 three-point attempts.
Delaware scored off the opening tip and never trailed the entire night. The Blue Hens quickly pushed the lead to double-digits at 15-4 on a layup by Kelsey Buchanan with 11:52 left in the opening stanza and closed the half on an 8-2 run, including two three-pointers from Delle Donne, to take a 38-21 lead into halftime.
The Blue Hen lead ballooned to as much as 19 points at 53-34 after a Trumae Lucas jumper with 10:22 left to play and Delaware remained in front by at least 11 points the rest of the way. Mason used a 6-2 run to pull to within 57-46 with 4:58 left, but Carra knocked down three free throws and Parker added a layup moments later to push the lead back to 16.
Delaware will continue action Sunday when it hosts Northeastern at 2 p.m. at the Bob Carpenter Center. The Hens will be attempting to complete their first unbeaten home season since going 11-0 during the 2000-1 campaign when the team went 26-5, captured the America East conference title, and advanced to the NCAA Tournament for the first time.
