Weithman, Strickland sign with George Mason women's basketball

Blake's Christine Weithman and McNamara's Cierra Strickland have signed letters-of-intent with George Mason during the late-signing period.

Weithman, a second-team All-Met, was a four-year starter for the Bengals, who advanced to the Maryland 4A semifinals each of her first three years. This past season, Weithman, a 5-foot-10 guard, averaged a career-high 23.7 points (fourth in the Washington area) and made 70 three-pointers and 157 of 187 free-throw attempts (84 percent). She finished her career with more than 1,200 points.

"Christine was a steal in the late signing period," Patriots' Coach Jeri Porter said.

A 5-11 guard, Strickland averaged 10.6 points and more than seven rebounds per game for the Mustangs, who won 60 games in her three seasons with the program.

"She is the prototypical CAA guard," Porter said, "in terms of her length and her athleticism and her ability to score the basketball in so many different ways."

After starting 8-3, the Patriots finished 10-20 last season, the first time since 2005-06 that they won at least 10 games.