Resolved, poised Mustangs take down Menlo

The last time The Master's University clashed with Menlo on January 5, the Mustangs dominated defensively in a 44-point victory.
 
Thursday evening in Atherton, the No. 5-ranked Mustangs knew they were in for a dogfight.  And that's what they got, beating the Oaks 70-60 for their 11th straight win. 
 
"(I'm) really proud of the resolve we played with," said head coach Dan Waldeck.  "Menlo played extremely well and we knew they would, but our team played with great identity throughout."
 
The 16th-ranked Oaks played much better on Thursday than they had in the teams' first meeting, shooting just under 46% in the first half.
 
Still, they trailed the Mustangs 40-29 at the break.
 
They had no answer for Mustang freshman Stephanie Soares in the first quarter when she scored 10 points, and they struggled to find Brooke Bailey in the second stanza when the junior guard drained a trio of three-pointers.
 
Bailey's first trey put the Mustangs ahead to stay 27-24 and her last one of the quarter gave her team the 11-point halftime lead.
 
Soares had 15 points and Bailey had 11 more at the intermission.
 
When Soares started the third quarter with back-to-back buckets, the Mustangs had created their largest lead of the game, 44-29.
 
The Mustangs didn't enjoy that margin very long.  The Oaks ripped off a 10-2 run to get within 46-39 and then scored five straight points to end the quarter, pulling within 52-46 at the end of three.
 
That was as close as Menlo got as the vaunted Mustang defense took over in the fourth quarter.
 
The Oaks scored just four points in the first 6:03 of the final period and wound up with 14 in the quarter.
 
Meanwhile, the Mustangs extended the lead back into double digits (57-46) on a Bailey three-pointer with 8:46 remaining.
 
Menlo made one last rush, using an 8-2 burst to get within 65-58 with 1:30 left to play.
 
It wouldn't be enough since Master's closed out the victory with five free throws in the final 1:23, three of those from Rebekah Throns.
 
Soares led all scorers with 23 points and took down a dozen rebounds to record her 19th double-double of the season.
 
Bailey, who has sunk 14 three-pointers in her last six games, including four in this one, finished with 14 points.
 
Anika Neuman chipped in with nine points and Rebekah Throns did a nice job on the boards, ripping down eight rebounds.
 
Enjoying a two-game lead in the GSAC over Westmont and Arizona Christian, the Mustangs close out their NorCal trip on Saturday when they play at William Jessup.
 
Master's defeated the Warriors 69-59 on January 3.
 
"It's super tough to play on the road," Waldeck said.  "And for our team to come here and play solid, poised basketball reveals the overall growth in our team since the start of the year."