Even in defeat, George Mason gives fans a ‘champion to cheer for’ in NCAA Tournament

“I said, ‘You know what? The story that I wanna tell is the story that you wrote. Your story,’” she said. “A story that will be, for years to come, told about these great women who believed in something when there was no evidence of it. That believed big enough to believe that they could be future champions. 

“That’s the story. And you guys are the authors. And so you get to decide how long these chapters go and when the chapter ends. And tonight, I’d like for you to keep writing, because I’ve enjoyed reading every single page of your journey.”

Though the final chapter ended on a sad note on Saturday night in Baton Rouge with the team’s 94-59 loss to No. 6 seed Florida State, the book is full of celebrations and milestones for this Patriots program.

The team recorded its best start to the season in program history (11-1), recorded the longest win streak in program history (11 games), set the program record for wins in a season (27) and won its first Atlantic 10 Tournament championship to advance to its first NCAA Tournament.

The Patriots’ only lead against the Seminoles came less than a minute into the game when senior guard Paula Suárez hit the first of her five 3-pointers to put the team up 3-2. 

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Though George Mason made 28.6% of its shots throughout the game, the shooting struggles were most evident in the first and fourth quarters when it shot 21.1% and 10.5% respectively. Alternatively, the team shot above 40% in the second and third quarters, outscoring the Seminoles 43-41 in that span.

The Patriots pulled within seven points with 6:13 left in the third quarter and trailed by 10 heading into the fourth. Florida State started the final period with a 12-0 run to go up by 22 points in a quarter in which the team outscored George Mason 31-6 and led by as many as 37 points. 

Suárez led George Mason with a career-high 25 points and added three rebounds, three assists, three steals and one block. Sophomore guard Kennedy Harris was the only other Patriot to score in double figures, with 12 points, four rebounds, five assists and one steal. Graduate student forward Nalani Kaysia finished her George Mason career with a team-high seven rebounds with seven points, one assist, one steal and one block.

Related reading: How George Mason’s Nalani Kaysia has found success in basketball, volleyball, motherhood and the classroom

In Kaysia’s three seasons at George Mason, she has seen Suárez become a more aggressive scorer, something that helped earn Suárez the A-10 Most Improved Player award earlier this month. 

Though Suárez wouldn’t sing her own praises after the game — noting she just wanted to win and compete so she was aggressive and took the shots she could to help the team — Kaysia was more than happy to gush about her teammate. 

“No one’s more deserving than P, she works so hard,” she said. “She is an amazing teammate, and she puts everyone before herself. So seeing her put herself first and it showing — and her … [showing] the national stage, once again, that she is a ‘Spanish Cookbook,’ really brightens my day.”

Suárez is the only player on the roster who spent the last four years at George Mason under Blair-Lewis. Before the NCAA Tournament, Blair-Lewis talked about Suárez and her impact on an episode of The Her Hoop Stats Podcast. 

“We just call her our smooth criminal,” Blair-Lewis said. “She’s a 6’ point guard. She’s smooth as the other side of the pillow, cool as a cucumber. She can do it any way you want it. [She can] get to the rim. She can shoot over most guards because most guards aren’t her height. She can hit the three. She’s a pro. Paula is a pro.”

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Though Blair-Lewis didn’t recruit Suárez, she wishes she could take credit for bringing the dedicated player with a strong work ethic from Pamplona, Spain to Fairfax, Virginia.  

“We just said in the locker room, she’s the person you wanna emulate,” Blair-Lewis said. “There was never one time she was late to study hall, she was late to a practice, she complained. She was the most low-maintenance player we’ve ever coached. So much so, sometimes you didn’t even know if she was there. She was quiet, but she was watching. 

“She was not just a player to watch on the court, but she became an amazing student. She’s a 4.0 student … And she’s been through the tough, the ups and downs … And then this year, she blossomed into a beautiful flower. She grew, she found her voice and she believed she could shoot the ball.” 

Blair-Lewis came to George Mason almost four years ago and took over a team that went 3-19 (0-14, A-10) the previous season. In the years since the Patriots have steadily improved as they’ve built a foundation for success in Fairfax. 

“I’m so proud of these ladies for the incredible season that they’ve had,” Blair-Lewis said. “And not just this season. They say if you want a bigger house, you have to have a bigger deposit. And each year we did that. We put a bigger deposit down to the season that we wanted. And this year, no matter the outcome of this game, [it] does not define who they are as a whole. 

“They are champions. They have put a legacy in place at Mason. They’ve won an A-10 championship. And they’ve had the first-ever NCAA berth at the university. That can never be taken away. I thanked them in the locker room for the deposit that they’ve made in this program. And I’m super proud of not just the basketball players they’ve become, but the human beings and the leaders they’re gonna go out into the world to become.”

Though their college careers have come to an end, Suárez and Kaysia are proud that they helped build George Mason into a winning program with a winning culture. 

“Every single year, they’re gonna be out there competing for a championship and winning and coming to the NCAAs,” Suárez said. “So it just means a lot that we can put our little …  stamp [on the program].”

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Kaysia added, “Just leaving our mark, and knowing that this is just the stepping stone, what we did was history, but it’s only up from here.”  

After the game the players and coaches didn’t go directly to the locker room, they detoured to wave and show their appreciation to their dedicated fans and to the Green Machine — George Mason’s pep band — who traveled to watch them play more than 1,100 miles from EagleBank Arena. 

The fans clapped and cheered and members of the Green Machine returned the heart hands players were holding up. 

The support of the fans and the Green Machine Saturday night — and all season long — meant a lot to Suárez, Kaysia and Blair-Lewis. 

“I think Fairfax has been waiting to have a champion,” Blair-Lewis said. “And they’ve had it on the guys’ side. And they’ve had it in other sports. And obviously, the [men’s basketball] Final Four run was amazing. But the women’s basketball team, we wanted to be their champion to cheer for.

“And each year, we made it important and vital to get out in the community and have them come in and see us play. But I think [the growth of] women’s basketball laid a lot of that groundwork … a lot of people became curious in town, what is this women’s basketball all about? And we gave them something to cheer for. And we’re proud of what we built. And I’m so thankful that they did not find it robbery to come watch us play this weekend.”