In their second conference game of the season, The Master's University women's basketball team lost to No. 19 Arizona Christian University Firestorm 62-56 at The MacArthur Center in Santa Clarita, Calif. Wednesday evening.
The Mustangs (8-5, 1-1 GSAC) entered the game looking to take an early conference lead with a win over the Firestorm, who are the No.19 ranked team in the nation.
A tightly played first quarter had TMU only one point behind, with that gap expanding to four points by halftime. But both sides played a defensive third quarter, with the Mustangs cutting their deficit to two points while only scoring nine in the quarter.
The game went down to the wire, with the Firestorm taking a 9-point lead in the final 1:15 to secure their win.
While the Firestorm led at the end of each quarter, the lead changed 15 times throughout the game, with the Mustangs even taking a 4-point lead in the first quarter.
Despite the loss, TMU Head Coach Fonda Wilson is proud of her team and felt they had a chance of defeating the only ranked team in the GSAC.
"We could have won." Coach Wilson said after the game. "We had our moments and we had our spurts and we were there as a team. I think just knowing that gives us hope, gives us faith, knowing that we are a good team and can beat them."
The Firestorm had a better shooting percentage than the Mustangs with 22 of 62 (35.5%) shots made from the field. But the Mustangs were more productive from far, making 8 of 26 (30.8%) of their 3-pointers.
Senior Lexi Hernandez and sophomore Nicole Chuang both led the team with 12 points each, with junior Kelly Mathiesen close behind with 10 points. Chuang also made four of her six 3-pointers.
For Coach Wilson, that team effort was the standout of the game, as the starters and the bench brought everything to the court.
"The starters… got some good rebounds and got some stops. Lexi [Hernandez] did well underneath the basket," Coach Wilson said. "But our bench really came in to help and that was good… I think we lost the game because we kind of beat ourselves, so it's kind of hard to swallow this loss."
The Mustangs look to rebound in their next game against Ottawa University of Arizona at the MacArthur Center on Saturday at 12 p.m.
