It came down to turnovers and made free throws.
The Master's women's basketball team committed three turnovers in the final 1:07 and Wayland Baptist made 10-of-12 free throws in that final 1:07 to defeat the Lady Mustangs 62-58 Saturday during the Jersey Mike's Thanksgiving Classic in The MacArthur Center.
The game was tight throughout, including a 28-28 halftime and a 39-39 score at the end of the third period. The difference truly came down to that final minute-plus of the game.
"We didn't come ready to play today," said TMU Head Coach Lisa Zamroz. "Too timid and indecisive offensively for most of the first half and didn't adjust our play when the three wasn't falling. Despite the fact I feel like we didn't look like 'us' for the majority of the game, we were still in it with a chance to tie with under 10 seconds in the game."
The Master's was just 6-of 33 (18%) from 3-point range.
TMU also lost the rebound battle (54-45) and the offensive rebound difference (21-12) led to a difference in second-chance points that also favored the Flying Queens (15-5). Shooting favored the Lady Mustangs as they shot 34% from the field and held WBU to less than 30%. Points in the paint also favored The Master's 28-22.
Nicole Chuang led TMU with 19 points followed by Belle Hernandez with 11.
"It's a great learning opportunity for us early in the season," Zamroz said. "(This is ) exactly why we scheduled these tough teams to come from other conferences. To learn and grow."
Madeline Cooke scored six points with a season-high 15 rebounds and four blocks. Cooke moved into third place all-time in career blocked shots (130), passing Lesley DuBois who had 125 from 1999-2003. Cooke will need 63 more blocks to reach Bianca Cubello's 193 she amassed between 2013-2017. Stephanie Soares has the program record of 450 blocks between 2018-2022.
The Master's will hit the road Thursday when they travel to Redlands to take on the University of Redlands Bulldogs. Tip-off is scheduled for 6 p.m.
"We look forward to a chance to get it back this week against Redlands," said Coach Zamroz.
