Behind a smothering defense that held the No. 10 Vanguard Lions to their fourth lowest point total in a game this season, The Master's women's basketball team won 68-62 Thursday night in The MacArthur Center.
The Lady Mustangs (17-5, 4-4) held the Lions to just 34% shooting from the field, including just 2 of 22 from 3-point range.
The win erased a bad memory of a 65-64 loss at Vanguard back on Jan. 6 in which TMU had the ball in the final seconds but could not get it in the basket.
"The game ended in heartbreak at the buzzer at their place the first go around," said TMU Head Coach Lisa Zamroz. "We didn't forget the sting of that loss and knew the importance of this game."
The win moves The Master's into fifth place, just one game out of third and two games behind second place Vanguard. Menlo is 8-0 and alone on top of the conference standings.
After Vanguard took an 8-6 lead with 5:31 to play in the first quarter, the Lady Mustangs went on an 11-0 run to close out the quarter and grab a 17-8 lead.
Vanguard cut into that lead in the second, out-scoring TMU 20-15 in the frame and go into the locker room down 32-28.
But the third quarter defense of TMU matched the first quarter, pushing the lead to 51-38 at the end of the third by limiting the lions to just 3 of 11 shooting and 0 for 4 from behind the 3-point arc.
Despite a furious defense that brought Vanguard to within three with 1:26 to play, the Lady Mustangs hit their free throws at the end of the game to win by six.
Marin Lenz, led TMU with 15 points, while
Nicole Chuang added 15 and both Belle Hernandez and Maddie Cooke poured in 10. Cooke also pulled down eight rebounds and added four more blocks to her nation-leading total of 68.
Lexi Hernandez led the team with 10 rebounds and also added eight points.
Vanguard's Melissa Akullu had a game-high 31 points and 21 rebounds, with Halle Si'i adding 18 points. Together they scored 49 of the Lions's 62 points.
"Despite the fact they had two players dominate their stat sheet, we held on with clutch free throw shooting and determination to see this one through," Zamroz said. "So many different players stepped up at key moments throughout the game on both sides of the ball."
The Master's will travel to San Dimas, Calif. to play the Life Pacific Warriors Saturday. Tip-off is scheduled for 5:30 p.m.
