By Rebecca Roa (September 14, 2002)

With a season high 23 points, Maggie O’Toole led the Lady Mustangs to a 54-49 victory over the Courtland Cougars on the ‘Stangs’ home floor last Wednesday night.

By the end of the first quarter, the Mustangs’ 17-point gap over the Cougars kept Mason in control of the game early. Although the Cougars were able to slowly diminish the Mustangs’ large margin, junior guard Amanda Harrington with 13 points was able to knock down key 3-pointers to keep the Cougars in check.

Coming out of the locker room after halftime the Mustangs felt confident, as they were leading the game by 13 points. Counting on junior guard Becky Roa’s numerous fast break opportunities and senior power forward Christina Sedney’s offensive rebounds, the Lady Mustangs were banking on keeping the Cougars from being able to hang with them.

Unfortunately, foul trouble was the theme for both teams. Early in the fourth quarter, freshman starter Lena Griffin and Harrington had four fouls and O’Toole had three. With the lead disintegrating from 13 points to a mere five points in the final five minutes, the Mustangs remained in control. As the four-minute mark approached, Griffin’s fifth foul unfortunately forced her out of the game. Sixty seconds later, Harrington’s fifth foul struck her out as well. With two of the three starters out at the clutch point of the game, the Mustangs were able to hang on with their win, when freshman Julie Dorsey sealed the game with her half court steal with thirteen seconds in the game.
 

"I’m proud of this last effort, we played a bigger, stronger team, but our defense held them in check," said varsity head coach Chris Madison. Wednesday’s victory brought the Mustangs’ record to 3-2. They opened their season with a loss to AA Charlottesville, then won against AA Warren County, then lost to AA Liberty before bouncing back with a victory over Colonial Beach. Coach Madison likes to load up his early schedule with oftentimes more powerful AA teams to test the metal of his A Lady Mustangs before they begin their district competition.