FAIRFAX, Va. — George Mason's Kyana Jacobs hit a driving layup with 12.7 seconds left, and Janaa Pickard blocked a runner by Georgia Southern's MiMi DuBose on the other end as the Patriots overcame a 13-point second-half deficit to defeat the Eagles 54-53 in the Patriot Center Saturday afternoon.
    DuBose finished with a season-high 22 points for the Eagles (1-9), while Anna Claire Knight scored 11. Sierra Kirkland posted six points and nine rebounds, and Aishya Wofford tallied six points and seven boards.
    Jacobs had nine points, seven steals and four rebounds for the Patriots (5-5), and Amber Easter tallied 15 points and nine rebounds.
    Maggie Davis hit 1-of-2 free throws to give the Eagles a 53-51 lead with 2:48 remaining. Easter hit a free throw for the Patriots, and that's the way the score would stay until Jacobs' layin.
    "I'm so proud of the way our kids battled today and played to win for 40 minutes," said Georgia Southern coach Chris Vozab. "I thought we made enough plays to win the game, but unfortunately, that's not how it turned out."
    DuBose scored all nine points as the Eagles stretched a six-point halftime lead to a 41-28 cushion early in the second period. The Patriots trimmed a 12-point GSU lead to 49-48 on two Easter free throws with 5:48 remaining to set up the late-game excitement. Pickard scored six and Easter netted five during the 11-0 stretch.
    The Eagles held Mason to 31 percent shooting for the game while shooting 41 percent on their end, but GSU committed 23 turnovers, which turned into 22 Patriot points. George Mason had 15 steals in the contest.
    The Eagles jumped out to a 10-2 run to start the game as Knight scored a conventional 3-point play, and DuBose added a triple from the corner. Jacobs scored five points in a 9-2 George Mason run, and the Patriots took their first lead of the game at 19-18 on a pair of Cierra Strickland free throws.
    With GSU trailing 23-22, Kirkland and DuBose scored four points each in a 10-0 Eagle run that opened a 32-23 lead. Easter hit a triple from the wing with seven seconds left in the half, and GSU went into the break with a 32-26 advantage. The Eagles shot 54 percent from the field in the stanza, the second-best percentage in a half this season, while holding the Patriots to 33 percent.
    The Eagles finish their road trip to Virginia with a 2 p.m. contest at James Madison on Dec. 31.