It was a game that could define defense.
The Master's women's basketball team lost to No.12 Vanguard Saturday night 41-32 in a game played at Orange Coast College. It was the lowest scores by both teams this season.
The Lady Mustangs shot just 30% from the field, but their defense held the Lions to just 24%. TMU led at the half 18-17, but was out-scored 24-14 in the second half.
"It was a defensive battle from start to finish," said Head Coach Lisa Zamroz. "I'm really proud of how hard we battled. The final score doesn't reflect that it was a one possession game until the end. We held them below all of their averages. Did everything needed on the defensive end. Just one of those games we couldn't get a bucket to fall when we needed it.
The greatest difference in the game was the turnovers. TMU committed 25 miscues (15 Vanguard steals) compared to the Lions' 12. That led to a 16-6 Vanguard advantage in points off turnovers.
Only four players scored for The Master's, led by
Marin Lenz with 12. Belle Hernandez and
Ella Brubaker each scored nine, with
Madeline Cooke getting two points and a team-high 10 rebounds.
With the loss, the Lady Mustangs (16-8, 9-7 GSAC) are now tied for fifth in the GSAC with Jessup, and a game-and-a-half up on Arizona Christian (8-9). All TMU needs to do to get into the GSAC post-season tournament is win one of their final two games, and both of those games are in The MacArthur Center,
It starts Thursday night when The Master's hosts Jessup at 5:30 p.m., followed by the regular season finale against Menlo Saturday at noon.
