Offensively against George Mason Feb. 8, UNCW’s women’s basketball squad struggled in the first half, scoring only 20 points before halftime.

The Seahawks found a solution.

“(Coach Ann Hancock) just told us to be patient and look for our post players,” senior guard Cherie Lea said. “The wings, we were going faster than the post and the post was going slower. We kind of had to slow things down and move the ball.”

The approach worked and UNCW scored 43 points after the intermission.

Nursing a lead, the Seahawks exploded to a 19-point lead when the squad by going inside to Shannon Presswood (five points) and especially to freshman Michaela Vezenkova, who scored a career-high 10 points on four straight possessions.

“She was really working hard in the post,” Lea said. “I don’t think (the Patriots) knew her too well. She was really getting baskets and knocking in free throws. They were telling me I was going to hug her to death.”

Finding their way: Coming off a rugged non-conference schedule, UNCW opened CAA play by sputtering to three straight losses.

Now they’ve won seven of their last eight in the conference.

“It’s easy to get down, because we did play tougher competition and maybe we didn’t come into conference play with a good feeling,” Hancock said. “But I think playing tougher team has helped us. I’d like the opportunity to go back and play them now. I think we played them well, but we didn’t define everybody’s role at that time.”

Seahawks/Pirates split: UNCW’s men downed ECU in 11 of 13 events as the Seahawks doubled the Pirates 162-81 in their regular-season finale.

ECU dropped the women 128-114.

Sophomores Ben Pulskamp and Adam Brenneman paced the Seahawks by winning two individual events and swimming legs on winning relay squads.

Diver Dean Berman swept the 3- and 1-meter events and set another school and pool record in the 1-meter dive with a 353.85 score.

On track: Freshman Fatima Schuler set her second school record in an indoor track sprint of the season Feb. 8, running the 55-meter dash in 7.20 seconds at the George Mason Intercollegiate.

On Feb. 2, Schuler created a new program landmark in the 60-meter sprint 7.76 seconds.

At George Mason, senior Angela Bonner won the weight throw (53 feet, 4 1/4 inches) and shot put (36-4 1/4). Her weight throw performance qualified her for the ECAC Indoor Championships.