Sixth-ranked TMU Women's Basketball had its Senior Night spoiled on Saturday night, falling to Vanguard University, 62-71, inside The MacArthur Center. The loss drops the Mustangs a game back of first place in the Golden State Athletic Conference standings with two games left in the regular season.
"Tough one tonight," Master's Head Coach
Lisa Zamroz said. "We fought hard and competed to the end. I'm proud of the fight I saw from our team. We just struggled to put it in the hoop."
The Mustangs got 16 points from
Ella Brubaker and 12 from
Allyson Pettit, but missed the 21.2 points per game average of
Stephanie Soares, who is in Serbia playing in FIBA World Cup Qualifying for her native Brazil.
Vanguard limited Master's to 33.9% shooting from the field and 20.0% from 3-point range, holding the Mustangs to a combined 0-for-7 from behind the arc in the second and third quarters.
Master's responded from a 7-0 Vanguard start to the game to take a lead following the first quarter, after
Ella Brubaker hit a last-second 3-pointer.
The Mustangs didn't find themselves ahead for much longer, though, as the Lions re-took their lead early in the second quarter before extending that to five going into the half.
A
Lexi Hernandez free throw got the Mustangs to within one two-and-a-half minutes into the third quarter, only for Vanguard to score on three-straight possessions late in the period to take a nine-point advantage entering the fourth.
The Lions then led by as many as 12 early in the final quarter, before the Mustangs threatened a comeback, with Pettit's triple cutting TMU's deficit to four with 5:35 remaining.
A Brubaker 3-pointer a couple minutes later made it a four-point game once again, as did her layup with 2:29 to play, only for a 7-0 run Vanguard run to put the game away.
Hernandez nearly joined Brubaker and Pettit in double figures with her nine points, while
Rebekah Throns led the Mustangs with 11 rebounds.
Master's entered the game knowing it would earn at least a share of the Golden State Athletic Conference regular season title if the Mustangs won their final three games.
But with the loss, TMU dropped to 24-3 overall and 13-3 in the GSAC, now needing at least one loss from No. 3 Westmont College to have a chance at a regular season conference championship.
The Mustangs will conclude their regular season next week in northern California against William Jessup on Thursday at 5:30 p.m. and Menlo on Saturday at 1 p.m., before hosting the GSAC Championships Feb. 23-26.
