William Jessup University limited The Master's University women's basketball team to just 11 points in the second half, defeating the Mustangs, 56-41, on Saturday afternoon inside The MacArthur Center.
"We dominated the glass, won the turnover margin, but just couldn't make shots," Master's head coach
Dan Waldeck said. "We were a step slow offensively. It was 100% offense for us. We were just doing everything too slow to be effective and we didn't get the ball inside."
Master's outrebounded William Jessup 39-28, including 15-2 in offensive rebounds, while committing one fewer turnover, but fell to 6-4 overall and 4-2 in the Golden State Athletic Conference.
The two teams battled back and forth in the early going, with TMU taking a one-point lead on an
Olivia Prettyman free throw with 1:58 to play in the first quarter. William Jessup (8-8, 4-2) took back the lead, which the Warriors held for the rest of the game, with a 7-2 run to finish the opening quarter ahead by four.
The visitors continued that momentum to start the second quarter, scoring eight-straight points to take a 12-point lead.
Tristen Coltom scored seven points in the second to bring the Mustangs back to within one, but two Warrior baskets in the final 30 seconds put William Jessup back up by five going into halftime.
After the break, the Mustangs could not get much going offensively, scoring five points in the third and six in the fourth. In the second half, TMU shot just 14.2% from the field and a combined 0-10 from 3-point range.
"You can't make three field goals in the second half and expect to win a game," Waldeck said. "If we had a couple shots go down, just a couple of them, it would have loosened us."
Despite the inefficient offensive performance, Waldeck was proud of his team's defensive effort.
"Our defense was great," Waldeck said. "They scored 10 points in the third and 11 in the fourth. 21 points in a half isn't beating you, but 11 points offensively in a half isn't winning the game for you.
"Today I thought we stuck with it defensively. For how much defense we had to play, I thought we did a good job. We could have rolled over, but we didn't. We fought the whole way through."
Leading the way for TMU once again was its senior class.
Jessica Soares (11 points, 13 rebounds) recorded her third-straight double-double, while
Anika Neuman (six rebounds) tied Soares for the team-lead with 11 points. Coltom, who led the team with three steals, just missed out on double figures with nine points.
Waldeck said he was impressed with his seniors' leadership, as the team continues to battle injuries.
"These are life lessons they're learning, that not everything is going to go your way," Waldeck said. "It's important to respond in a way that honors the Lord and looks beyond the circumstances. They're doing that. They kept battling and I couldn't be prouder of them for that."
Fortunately for the Mustangs, they will have some time to recover physically, not having another game currently scheduled until a back-to-back on Feb. 19 and 20 against San Diego Christian (6-3, 3-1).
"Hopefully we get some girls healthy and back on the court, which would be a huge boost for us," Waldeck said. "If we're able to play eight or nine girls thoroughly, it'll help our energy. If we can do that on day one of a back-to-back, then it helps our day two."
Despite the loss, TMU remains in contention in the GSAC East standings. Master's and William Jessup both have identical 4-2 conference records and each have two conference games remaining against San Diego Christian, who are ahead of both teams by percentage points. Arizona Christian sits one-game back with a 3-3 conference mark, as those four squads seek to earn one of the GSAC's two automatic berths to the NAIA National Championships.
"Let's just take it one game at a time," Waldeck said. "The season is still in front of us. The season isn't over."
