The George Mason girls basketball team clearly has its eyes on bigger and better things – namely a third straight state title – but in order to raise another banner, the Lady Mustangs have to take care of business each step along the way.
Mason began its playoff journey Tuesday with a clinical 76-25 thumping of overmatched Manassas Park in the Bull Run District Tournament, smothering the Cougars from the game’s early minutes and never looking back.
“They’re just good. They’re too fast,” Manassas Park coach Doug West lamented. “They ran us all over the court.”
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With the win, top-seeded Mason will now host No. 2 seed Clarke County at 7 p.m. Thursday for the district championship.
The game was never in doubt from the opening tip, but the Lady Mustangs squashed any chances of an upset with a 15-0 run over a three-minute span in the first quarter. At the end of the period, Mason led 26-5, and the rout was on.
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Leading the way for the Lady Mustangs was sophomore forward Stephanie Cheney, who simply had her way inside against the Cougars’ smaller post players. Cheney scored 17 of her 29 points in the first half, including a run over the first and second periods where she tallied 10 straight points.
“We can’t take anything for granted,” Cheney said.
When Manassas Park tried to take away Cheney and center Ashley Alexander with double teams, the rest of the Lady Mustangs picked up the slack, sparked by guard Leah Roth, who helped create havoc on defense and then found the open players streaking to the basket.
“I feel like my role is to feed the ball inside,” said Roth, who had eight assists to go along with her 11 points. “But I also have to step up and shoot.”
With a 37-10 halftime lead, one might think that Mason coach LaBryant Thomas wouldn’t have much to say to his charges, but he was not satisfied.
“We had some issues on the defensive end, but we did fix them,” Thomas said.
Indeed they did. The Lady Mustangs finished the game on a 24-4 run, holding Manassas Park scoreless for 7:23, even as Mason cleared its bench.
“I mean, the team is good,” Thomas said. “We’ve adapted. The girls have bought into the scheme, and it’s working.”
In addition to her 29 points, Cheney had nine steals. Alexander finished with 12 points and 15 rebounds.
Now, the only team standing between the Lady Mustangs and another district championship is Clarke County. Mason hammered the Eagles 61-17 on Jan. 29, but had a much tougher time in the Feb. 4 road rematch, winning 47-42 – the Lady Mustangs’ smallest margin of victory all season.
“We didn’t win by that much last time,” Cheney said. “It will help that (the game) is at home, but it is going to be tough.”
