The Master's women's basketball team got to within one in the final quarter, but it was the Menlo Oaks that pulled away in the end to get the 67-60 win Saturday afternoon in The MacArthur Center.
The Master's committed 19 turnovers, compared to the Oaks' seven, which resulted in a 19-6 points off turnovers difference in favor of Menlo. Plus the Oaks pulled down 17 offensive rebounds that led to 10 second chance points.
"Tough showing from us today," said Head Coach Lisa Zamroz. "Unfortunately we gave them 20 more shots than us between turnovers and offensive rebounding. Can't do that against great teams and win."
The loss ended a seven-game win streak for the Lady Mustangs (22-6, 9-5).
TMU held a 32-31 lead at the half, but came out flat in the third quarter. The Master's hit just 4 of 15 (27%) from the field in that quarter, scoring 12 points. The fourth quarter was better (5 of 13), but the Oaks hit 7 of 16 in the final frame.
Belle Hernandez finished with 20 points to lead the Lady Mustangs, followed by Maddie Cooke's double-double (12 points, 13 rebounds)
The team finishes in a tie for third in the final conference standings with the Jessup Warriors. However, TMU holds the tiebreaker over Jessup, and will go into the GSAC Championship Tournament as the No. 3 seed. TMU will play No. 6 Hope International in the first round on Thursday, a team The Master's split with this season.
"We hope to get one more chance at (Menlo) in the GSAC tournament," Zamroz said.
The tournament will begin Thursday in Atherton, Calif. The TMU/HIU game is scheduled to start at 7:15 p.m. PT.
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