Box Score (PDF)

FAIRFAX, Va. – Senior Mariah Ruff closed out her career with a game-high 30 points, but it would not be enough to upset fourth-seeded George Mason as the Patriots advanced with a victory over the St. Bonaventure women's basketball team, 89-79, in the first round of the Atlantic 10 Tournament Tuesday night.

Ruff finished the game with her fourth 30-point game of the season, most of any A-10 player, and jumped from 12th to eighth in all-time Bonnies career scoring.

Danielle Migliore posted 16 points and Mckenna Maycock added 15 points in the effort for the Bonnies.

Bona opened the game strong, running out to an 11-4 lead over the first two and a half minutes. The Brown and White led for nearly seven minutes to open the contest.

Mason slowly fought its way back during the first quarter, taking its first lead at the 3:16 mark. From there, though, the two teams continued to fight back and forth for nearly the entirely of the half.

A steal and coast-to-coast run from Jalisha Terry followed by another layup by Migliore tied the game with 8:23 left in the half.

A Maycock corner three-pointer pushed the Bonnies back ahead, 33-32, with 4:05 remaining before intermission, but the Patriots would ultimately finish the half on a 13-5 run to take a 44-35 lead at the break.

Bona continued to battle during the third quarter, closing within 59-53 with 1:07 left, but saw Maycock forced to sit late in the quarter due to picking up her fourth foul.

The Bonnies continued to remain within single digits as the clock ticked down to eight minutes after another three-pointed from Migliore.

Back-to-back treys by Jacy Bolton extended the Mason lead to 72-57 with six minutes to go, however, giving the hosts control.

Five quick points by Ruff brought the score to 74-64, but Maycock would foul out with 4:30 to play.

A pair of free throws by Arielle Harvey with 3:11 remaining got the deficit back down to single digits, 79-71, but two at the line by Mason's Nicole Cardano-Hillary put the score back at an 81-71 spread.

The Bonnies would get within single digits one more time following the fourth three-pointer of the night by Migliore, 83-74, but with 1:37 to go, Mason worked to the line again for two shots and the visitors could never get any closer.

St. Bonaventure shot at a 50 percent clip for the night (28-for-56) and went 10-of-24 from long range, but the Patriots outrebounded the Bonnies by a 43-21 margin and also connected on 49 percent of their field goal tries (33-67).

Natalie Butler delivered 20 points and 19 rebounds for the Patriots while Bolton poured in 24 points on 9-of-12 shooting.

George Mason (23-8) moves on to play in the A-10 quarterfinals on Friday while the Bonnies' season concludes at 8-22.

GAME NOTES:

• Ruff moved from 12th to eighth in career scoring, passing Melissa Fazio '01 (1,419), Stefanie Collins '06 (1,421), Suzie Dailer '95 (1,422) and Jessica Jenkins '12 (1,441). Ruff finishes her career with 1,446 career points.
• Ruff also stands fifth in career three-pointers, hitting her 200th on Tuesday and finishes with 202. She ranks fourth in career assists with 427 and her 151 this season are the most by a Bonnie since 1992-93.
• Only one other Atlantic 10 player improved her season-to-season scoring average more than Migliore who went from 1.7 ppg last year to 10.3 ppg this year (Jayla Scaife, Dayton).
• Maycock went 5-of-6 from the floor and finishes the year shooting better than 46 percent from the floor.
• Terry handed out a team-high six assists, also finishing with nine points.
• The Bonnies will return every other member of its 2017-18 roster and will also add Dajah Logan, who sat out this season due to NCAA transfer rules after joining the program from the College of Charleston. 

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