TMU drops second-straight despite Soares' 34 points

Despite 34 points from Stephanie Soares, third-ranked TMU Women's Basketball dropped its second-straight contest, falling to (RV) Hope International University on the road on Thursday night, 62-72.
 
"We dug big holes in the first and third," Master's Head Coach Lisa Zamroz said. "Hope played with a lot of confidence and we didn't respond in a competitive way to the adversity."
 
Soares' scoring output is the second-best of her career, one fewer than the 35 points she scored in the 2019 Golden State Athletic Conference Tournament Championship.
 
"They didn't have an answer for Steph in the post," Zamroz said.
 
Soares and Allyson Pettit scored six points apiece in the first quarter, but they were the only Mustangs to score in the opening 10 minutes, after which Hope International took a 15-12 lead.
 
The Mustangs' 6-foot-6 forward then scored 16 of the team's 18 points in the second quarter, which helped TMU battle back to within a single point going into halftime.
 
The Royals then began to pull away in the third, opening the quarter on a 9-0 run and outscoring Master's by 13 points to take a 14-point advantage into the final period.
 
Hope International (22-2 overall, 12-2 GSAC) then maintained its double-digit lead for the rest of the game, helping HIU move atop the conference standings, a half-game ahead of the Mustangs.
 
Master's, who had been in first place in the GSAC for the entire conference season, will look to bounce back on Saturday at home against San Diego Christian. Tip-off inside The MacArthur Center is scheduled for 5:30 p.m.
 
If TMU wins its final five games, Master's will earn at least a share of the GSAC regular season title.
 
"Growing pains for a young team learning things the hard way," Zamroz said.