By Caitlin Butler

Adding another “W” into their current win streak is George Mason High School, which downed Skyline High School 48-31 last Friday.

“Playing together is the biggest thing. It’s other girls stepping up in a team effort,” Mason head coach Chris Carrico said about the winning streak. “Our second biggest thing is defense. If we get people out of their comfort zones and playing at our pace while making them shoot contested shots that’s our strength.”

The first quarter of the evening started out as a neck-to-neck battle between the visiting Hawks and the Mustangs. The home team struggled to play to their full potential after the first eight minutes and ended only leading 13-7. Mason immediately came to life once the second quarter got underway. A putback shot from the hands of senior forward Emma Rollins was the beginning of an 8-1 run where the Mustangs caused multiple turnovers on their way to a 21-8 advantage.

As the second quarter progressed sophomore center Rianna Arsenault capitalized two back-to-back offensive rebound putbacks that took the Mustangs to a score of 27-10 sealing their lead by 17 points. The Hawks could only claim one additional basket to end the first half at a score of 27-12.

“We scored tonight off our defense so, when we were able to get turnovers and run outs that’s when we were successful. If we got defensive rebounds we finished before they could get their defense set up. That was our strength tonight,” Carrico added.

Mason lacked the same scoring oomph in the third quarter, allowing Skyline to outscore them 9-5. But the Mustangs bounced back in the fourth quarter with another opening quarter basket by Arsenault. The lack of rebounding held the visiting Hawks in check with the Mustangs capitalizing off nearly every rebound they claimed.

“Communicating with each other, staying hype. We have been working on communication through-out the entire season. As long as we support each other.” said Arsenault on their win.

A 16-point final quarter helped Mason cement the game’s result. The team’s success on the boards and in close to the basket is likely to be a formula going forward.

“To continue to build on what we’ve been doing lately. We don’t want to hit any road bumps heading into the postseason. Staying with knowing what our team goals are and staying focused,” Carrico stated.

The Mustangs will be on the road for their next two games this Friday and Feb. 14 before returning home on Feb. 18 hosting Central (Woodstock) with a tip off time of 7:30 p.m.