The Master's University women's basketball team doesn't believe Saturday's 78-65 loss to Menlo College accurately reflects what they're capable of heading into next week's Golden State Athletic Conference Tournament.
The Oaks outscored TMU 28-11 in the third quarter inside The MacArthur Center, erasing what had been a three-point Mustang advantage at halftime. That was the turning point in TMU's final game of the regular season.
The conference tournament starts Thursday in Atherton, California. See
Tournament Central for updated game times.
"We're motivated headed into the GSAC Tournament," said TMU head coach Lisa Zamroz, whose team fell to 17-9 overall and 10-8 in GSAC play. "We know we're tougher than what we showed today. We are more than capable to go surprise people up in Atherton."
Kelly Lotz led four Mustangs in double figures with 16 points off the bench. Twelve of those came in the first half, when the 5-foot-7 freshman pulled down three offensive rebounds that she immediately turned into layups.
"Kelly was a huge spark in the first half," Zamroz said. "She was everywhere. Her intensity instantly raised our level of play."
Menlo's Kiara Brown answered with 15 first-half points. She added 12 in the crucial third quarter on her way to a game-high 35.
"We let Brown have whatever she wanted in the second half," Zamroz said. "We lacked focus to play the scout and make other players beat us. Menlo played tougher than us down the stretch."
For the game, Menlo (19-8, 13-5 in GSAC) made 7-of-15 three-pointers. The Mustangs were just 4-of-24 from deep.
TMU's
Ella Brubaker had 13 points, and
Marin Lenz and
Madeline Cooke each added 11 for the Mustangs. Cooke also recorded 11 rebounds and five blocks for TMU, which led 37-34 at halftime. Lotz made 6-of-8 shots during that span. But Menlo's advantage from the three-point line kept them in the game, and the trend never turned.
