The way
Brooke Bailey saw it, a key to The Master's University's opening game of the NAIA Division 1 tournament would be not allowing its opponent to see the ball go in from the paint or the high post.
Or, like they'd done to a number of teams this season, the Mustangs could just make it difficult for the University of Science and Arts of Oklahoma to score from anywhere.
Master's picked the latter option Wednesday in Billings, Montana, smothering the Drovers on the way to a 54-40 win and earning its third trip to the round of 16 in the last four years.
The Mustangs (27-6) will play MidAmerica Nazarene (KS) on Friday at 11:30 a.m. PST.
Anika Neuman led Master's with 19 points on 8-of-15 shooting. The versatile forward overcame a slow start to carry the offense in the second half, at one point scoring five straight points to push the lead to 14 in the third quarter. The No. 2-seeded Mustangs led by as many as 21 from there.
"She was amazing," center
Stephanie Soares said of Neuman. "She has a great shot. We all tell her that the three is her shot."
Science and Arts, a No. 7 seed, cut the deficit to 12 with under three minutes to play, but
Sabrina Thompson drove the lane, stopped, pivoted in a semicircle and buried a shot from close range. It was the dagger in another stellar defensive performance.
Master's forced 21 turnovers and held the Drovers (21-12) to 28% shooting from the floor.
The Mustangs limited SAC Player of the Year Vivian Holcomb to six points on 3-of-14 shooting. Tori James led the Drovers with 10 points.
Soares, who was named a Women's Basketball Coaches Association NAIA All-American Wednesday, had 12 points and 18 rebounds.
She also contributed five blocks for the Mustangs, who exacted some level of revenge with the win – even though no one playing in the sequel was even close to stepping on campus the first time these teams met in the postseason.
Science and Arts beat Master's in the second round of the 2003 tournament.
Since then, the Mustangs have been a fixture of the postseason, reaching nationals in 11 of the following 16 seasons and in each of the last seven.
Last year's group wasn't sure it would make nationals until its name was called on the NAIA's broadcast. The Mustangs played highly seeded Freed-Hardeman, the eventual national champion, in the first round and lost convincingly.
This time the Mustangs are coming off the first Golden State Athletic Conference regular season title in program history; they boast one of the best post tandems in the country; and they have a stable of talented, veteran guards. They expect to be here.
Neuman made 3-of-7 three-pointers Wednesday, one of which hit the rim, bounced high off the backboard and fell through the net. Assistant coach
Lena Kelley teased the Minnesota product during the next timeout.
"'So that's the Minnesota touch, huh,'" Neuman later recalled Kelley saying.
TMU's defensive effort was no joke. Science and Arts scored seven points in the first quarter, and Neuman felt the Mustangs did a good job of making the Drovers feel uncomfortable for most of the night.
"We adjusted to their offense and protected the rim," she said. "We weren't perfect, but we did what we needed to do to get the job done."
The Mustangs were active all over, but they specifically limited the Drovers from their favorite spots, the ones Bailey highlighted.
"Our ability to contain the high post and make them take shots we wanted them to take was key," Bailey said. "Our posts had a fantastic game on offense, but they really gave us the spark we needed defensively."
Thompson finished with eight points,
Hannah Forrar added six and Bailey had five.
The Mustangs recorded 15 assists on 20 baskets and won despite losing the rebound battle, 48-40.
This was the first time this season Master's won a game where it was outrebounded. It was previously 0-3.
