HURRICANE - George Washington coach Jamie LaMaster is finding out something new about his team every night.

The Patriots proved they could handle pressure in winning their season opener 67-60 in a hostile environment at Ripley in overtime Tuesday. On Thursday, GW showed it knew how to close the deal.

Dri Nazario turned in an impressive floor game and spearheaded a smothering defense in leading the state-ranked Patriots past Hurricane 59-24. A crowd of about 100 attended the Class AAA Mountain State Athletic Conference matchup at Hurricane High.

Nazario, who transferred from Nitro after last season, scored 19 points, grabbed 10 rebounds, handed out five assists, came up with eight steals and blocked two shots for good measure. A Virginia Tech coach was in attendance to take a look at Nazario.

Alexa Peoples added 10 points and seven rebounds and Kiara Tyler pitched in six points, six boards, seven steals and two blocks for No. 8 GW (2-0), which forced 34 turnovers and had 23 steals.

The Patriots jumped out to a 24-10 lead at halftime behind a pressure defense that forced 18 turnovers in the opening half. Hurricane (2-1) tallied the first three points of the third period to close its deficit to 24-13 with 6:58 left. GW then proceeded to put away the Redskins, going on a 35-11 run to end the game.

"In the Ripley game with it being close, I found out they had a will to win,'' said LaMaster. "Tonight I think I found out my team was able to finish. That's what I preached at halftime, 'You're up. Let's maintain the lead, and can you finish the game?'

"We had a little bit of a lead but I thought we played sloppy, then I thought we played a much better second half. I'm pleased so far with a younger team and some players back that weren't here a year ago. We're developing roles and kind of finding ourselves.''

HURRICANE - George Washington coach Jamie LaMaster is finding out something new about his team every night.

The Patriots proved they could handle pressure in winning their season opener 67-60 in a hostile environment at Ripley in overtime Tuesday. On Thursday, GW showed it knew how to close the deal.

Dri Nazario turned in an impressive floor game and spearheaded a smothering defense in leading the state-ranked Patriots past Hurricane 59-24. A crowd of about 100 attended the Class AAA Mountain State Athletic Conference matchup at Hurricane High.

Nazario, who transferred from Nitro after last season, scored 19 points, grabbed 10 rebounds, handed out five assists, came up with eight steals and blocked two shots for good measure. A Virginia Tech coach was in attendance to take a look at Nazario.

Alexa Peoples added 10 points and seven rebounds and Kiara Tyler pitched in six points, six boards, seven steals and two blocks for No. 8 GW (2-0), which forced 34 turnovers and had 23 steals.

The Patriots jumped out to a 24-10 lead at halftime behind a pressure defense that forced 18 turnovers in the opening half. Hurricane (2-1) tallied the first three points of the third period to close its deficit to 24-13 with 6:58 left. GW then proceeded to put away the Redskins, going on a 35-11 run to end the game.

"In the Ripley game with it being close, I found out they had a will to win,'' said LaMaster. "Tonight I think I found out my team was able to finish. That's what I preached at halftime, 'You're up. Let's maintain the lead, and can you finish the game?'

"We had a little bit of a lead but I thought we played sloppy, then I thought we played a much better second half. I'm pleased so far with a younger team and some players back that weren't here a year ago. We're developing roles and kind of finding ourselves.''

 The Patriots, however, still have some kinks to work out. GW shot just 41.9 percent (26-of-62), including an abysmal 1-of-11 on 3-pointers.

"I didn't think we finished around the basket, I thought we were getting outhustled to loose balls and offensively rebounding we were terrible,'' LaMaster said.

"The second half I thought we improved on some of those things. That's what I'm saying. We have yet to put a complete game together. I hope that we continue to get better from here.''

Beth White was the only player to score in double figures for Hurricane, netting 10 points. Skye Smith contributed four points, three boards, six assists and seven steals for the Redskins, who were harassed at every turn.

"We made our own mistakes, too,'' said Hurricane coach Denny Paugh, whose team won its first two games to open the year. "I think at times we thought there was more pressure than there was, then at times [GW] really pressured us and got in our face. I think that rattled us some.

"When they weren't really pressuring us we were in too big of a hurry. We had a lot of missed opportunities because of that. We missed some putbacks that could have kept us closer earlier in the game and maybe helped us.''

Reach Tommy R. Atkinson at tatkin...@wvgazette.com or 304-348-4811.