Four women's basketball seniors combined for 51 of the Mustangs' 63 points, as The Master's University prevailed over William Jessup, 63-51, in a crucial Golden State Athletic Conference matchup on Friday afternoon inside The MacArthur Center.
Jessica Soares led all players with 20 points and 14 rebounds.
Anika Neuman added 13 points and six boards, while
Rebekah Throns joined them in double figures with 11.
Tristen Coltom orchestrated the offense at the point guard position, scoring seven points.
"They're really good," Master's head coach
Dan Waldeck said of the Mustangs' senior class. "Jess was awesome. She's been a double-double machine. Ani was All-American Ani, leading, hitting open shots. Bekah hit some key shots. Her defense is always good. She's versatile. Tristen led really well from the point guard spot. She got into gaps, collapsed the defense, knocked down some shots and took care of the ball."
TMU (6-3 overall, 4-1 GSAC) came out firing on all cylinders, putting up 21 points in the opening quarter. Eight of those came from Neuman, who hit two triples in the first quarter.
With an eight-point lead after one, the Mustangs extended that to 11 at halftime, 38-27.
"We really worked this week on being aggressive and taking care of the ball," Waldeck said. "I thought we balanced that. We had a patient aggressiveness in the way that we played. We got the right people the right shots and they shot it with confidence."
William Jessup (7-8, 3-2) began the third quarter with a 9-2 run to get back to within four, but two Soares layups and an
Olivia Prettyman 3-pointer restored TMU's double-digit lead. Helping the Mustangs gain back control was their defense, which held the Warriors scoreless for over four minutes in the third.
"I thought our rotations were really good," Waldeck said. "We know that when our defense is working, when our rotations and communication are strong, then our defense can be tough to play against, even against the best offensive teams."
Master's then held William Jessup to eight points in the fourth quarter to win by 12.
"I thought we didn't hang our hat on our defense, but the reality is our defense gave us freedom offensively," Waldeck said. "We didn't have to make every shot because we knew we could get a stop on the next possession."
The Mustangs have battled injury all season and almost added another to the list when Coltom fell hard to the floor after a drive to the basket. Fortunately, she was able to return to the game.
"When it happened, I was like, 'Okay, we've been here. Someone else will step up.' I thought others did until she got back in," Waldeck said. "
Katelyn Saulog came in and played great minutes for us. I thought the way Tristen responded visually helped the team respond in a relaxed way."
TMU is set to return to the court with William Jessup on Saturday at noon and will hope to repeat its performance from Friday.
"Today we were able to get on the winning side," Waldeck said. "We'll have to figure out how to do it again tomorrow and adjust. It'll be a tough game. They've been playing really well and they're a good team. Their coach (Hernando Planells) has done a really good job."
With the win, the Mustangs move one game ahead of the Warriors in the GSAC East standings. A victory in the rematch on Saturday could prove vital in moving TMU one step closer to securing one of the conference's two automatic berths to the NAIA National Championships.
"Play every minute like it's your last," Waldeck said on what his message to his team will be going into Saturday's game. "Just compete hard. Try to take some of the lessons we learned from last week and try to come out with a little bit more energy and confidence. I think they'll be ready, but we know we'll face a ready Jessup team too."
