Mustangs Bid for Three-peat Ended in Semifinals

RICHMOND - Nothing George Mason did on defense slowed down Maryah Sydnor, and the Mustangs didn't do much better at the other end of the court, falling to Radford 63-36 in the Virginia A Group 2 semifinals on Friday. The loss brings an end to George Mason's hopes of a third straight state title.

Sydnor scored 40 points, seven off the record for a state tournament game, and pulled down 12 rebounds. Besides dominating in the paint, the 6-foot-1 senior occasionally played point guard and wing, creating mismatches no matter who was guarding her. Much of that responsibility fell to Stephanie Cheney, who was frequently frustrated by Sydnor's size and picked up four fouls in the process.

Cheney was held to a season low eight points, the first time all year she's been held to single digits, and was moved to tears after her only loss in three years at VCU's Siegel Center.

"I've never lost here before. All I know is I don't want to do it again because it feels horrible," she said. "It's a good thing I'm coming back next year because we can't let this happen again."

The Mustangs fell behind early and never recovered. As the deficit increased, so did the number of mistakes.  Rebounds often quickly turned into turnovers on attempted long passes in an effort to create fast breaks, and the players' frustration became more and more apparent.

"I think [all the mistakes were] totally to do with nerves. This is a young group, and to be on a stage [like VCU], in front of everybody, is tough," head coach LaBryan Thomas said. "Turnovers cost us the game. Usually we take care of the ball, but we didn't do a good job of it today."

Claire Trevisan also added eight points, but Ashley Alexander, the Mustangs second leading scorer at just under 11 points per game, shot 0-3 from the field and was held to a single point that came on a third quarter free throw. The typically fluid passing that craeted easy inside buckets all season was not there for the Mustangs on Friday.

"It was more our offense [then their defense]. We really weren't focused. We'd take the first shot we got. If we'd slowed the ball down more, we would have gotten more chances inside," Cheney said. "But the thing is, we're a running team, and today that was kind of taken away."

The Bobcats shot a blistering 59.5 percent from the floor for the game, including an efficient 10-15 in the second half, thanks in large part to Sydnor's 16-23 effort. The Mustangs shot just 31.4 percent from the floor and made only 11 field goals, five fewer than Sydnor.

Ultimately, not having an answer for Sydnor proved to the Mustangs downfall. By the third quarter, when she scored her 30th point of the game and the 2000th of her career, she was driving the lane with little resistance.

"When you've got a talented player like she is, it causes all kinds of problems in match ups, and we didn't have an answer for her today," said Thomas.