Mustangs shrug off first-half blues and roll past Ottawa

Over the course of a 30-game regular season, a team is going to experience ups and downs.
 
The hope is that the downs will be few and the ups will be the ordinary.
 
Such was the case Saturday afternoon when The Master's University shook off a mediocre first half to cruise to a 76-49 victory over Ottawa of Arizona on Bross Court.
 
Winners of 10 in a row, the Mustangs are now 18-4 overall and 10-1 in the GSAC where they own a two-game edge over Westmont and Arizona Christian.
 
"After having a subpar first half, it was good to see our team find a little rhythm in the second half," said TMU head coach Dan Waldeck.  "We had to play through multiple circumstances that were out of our control and I was proud of how our team responded."
 
That positive response was needed because the visiting Spirit proved to be pesky and competitive, leading 16-14 after one quarter and trailing only 33-27 at the break.
 
Ottawa led by as many as six points (14-8) in the opening stanza before the Mustangs closed on a 6-2 run to close within two.
 
That momentum carried over into the second quarter when a Sabrina Thompson layup put the Mustangs up 17-16.
 
Ottawa bounced back and led 25-24 and then watched as the Mustangs tallied nine of the final 11 points of the stanza to forge a six-point halftime lead.
 
The "subpar" performance of the squad had nothing to do with shooting accuracy, at least from inside the circle where TMU made 11 of 14 shots.  The club went 1-8 from long range.
 
The Mustangs wound up shooting over 54% (12-22) over the opening 20 minutes.
 
Ironically, the Mustangs shot poorer in the second half (just over 42%) yet expanded their advantage.
 
Fueled by a Stephanie Soares' layup, the Mustangs scored the third quarter's first nine points and when Thompson hit a jumper with 5:35 left in the stanza, the lead had ballooned to 42-27.
 
The Spirit responded with a 6-0 run but Soares and Hannah Forrar didn't let it escalate.  The duo owned the third quarter, combining for 14 of the team's 22 points and TMU led after three 55-41.
 
Ottawa pulled within 57-46 on an Elizabeth Garcia three-pointer with 7:25 left to play and then the Mustangs turned out the lights with a suffocating defense that has become one of the best in the country.
 
Holding the Spirit to 1-11 shooting over the final six-plus minutes, the Mustangs closed out the game on a 19-3 skein.
 
The offensive part of that burst was ignited by a Soares' jumper and Anika Neuman scored eight of her game-high 19 points in a 2:25 span.
 
Neuman went 5-10 from the field and 8-10 from the line.  Soares added 18 points on 7-10 shooting and hauled in 19 rebounds for her nation-leading 18^th double-double of the season.
 
Forrar gave the club a lift off the bench with 14 points and Thompson finished with 10.
 
After playing eight of their past nine at home, the Mustangs head out on a three-game road swing that commences next Thursday at Menlo, a team TMU beat 65-21 three weeks ago.
 
"Today prepared us for a tough road trip coming up," quipped Waldeck.  "We have a lot of things to work on and improve at over the next week."