FAIRFAX, Va.—George Mason (2-2) used a 24-4 run over a 12 minute stretch spanning both halves to take control of the game and defeat the UMBC women's basketball team (1-4) by a score of 54-38 Tuesday evening at the Patriot Center.

The Retrievers never led, but remained within four points of the host Patriots for nearly the entire first half. A jumper by junior center Topé Obajolu (Randallstown, Md./Archbishop Carroll) tied it at 19-19 with 3:08 remaining in the period, but George Mason guard Brittany Eley put the hosts on top 22 seconds later with a jumper of her own, sparking a 10-0 Patriot run to end the half.

Obajolu and junior guard Michelle Kurowski (Hicksville, N.Y./Hicksville) combined to score 17 of UMBC's 19 first-half points, as Obajolu tallied nine on 4-of-5 shooting, and Kurowski contributed eight.

The Patriots scored 14 of the first 18 points of the second period to take a 20-point lead, 43-23, at the 11:40 mark. But the first of three 3-pointers by junior forward Erin Brown (Bethesda, Md./Walt Whitman) sparked an 11-0 UMBC run that cut the Retrievers' deficit to single digits, 43-34, less than three minutes later.

But the Retrievers could get no closer, as they managed just two points the remainder of the game.

Obajolu was the only Retriever in double figures with 11 points. Amber Easter scored a game-high 16 points for George Mason.

The Retrievers return to action this weekend, when they travel to New Rochelle, N.Y., for the Iona Thanksgiving Classic, where they will face Toledo on Saturday and Brown on Sunday. Both games will tip at 1 p.m.