It took two overtime periods before The Master's women's basketball team had their hearts broken by No. 19 Arizona Christian 89-86 Saturday in Glendale, Arizona.
The two teams were tied at 68-68 at the end of regulation, and 78-78 after the first 5-minute extra period, before the Firestorm hit three free throws in the final 22 seconds to break yet another tie and get the 3-point win.
"Yeah, tough loss," Head Coach Fonda Wilson said after the game. "It was a battle and the girls fought hard until the end and they gave it their all."
The Mustangs (13-7, 6-3) came out strong, jumping out to a 22-4 lead after the first quarter. ACU erased 10 points off the lead in the second quarter, but TMU still went into the locker room with a 36-28 lead at the half thanks in no small part to
Marin Lenz's 14 first-half points.
"We had a great start, but credit to ACU," Wilson said. "They made the plays."
And those plays truly showed up in the fourth quarter. The Master's still held onto a 7-point lead at the end of the third, but the Firestorm came back, scoring 24 in the quarter and taking the lead 68-66 with less than a minute to play.
Lexi Hernandez's layup with three seconds left on the clock tied it at 68-68 to send the game to overtime.
In that first 5-minute period, ACU jumped out on a 7-2 run and led 75-70 with 2:24 to play. After TMU clawed back with five straight points to tie it at 75-75, an Arizona Christian jump shot and added free throw gave the Firestorm a 3-point advantage inside of a minute to play.
Once again it was a last-second shot that tied it, this time a 3-pointer from
Chloe Auble to send the game to a second overtime.
Both teams had slim 1-point leads as it went back and forth. After the game was once again tied with less than two minutes to play, ACU hit six free throws, sandwiched around a
Nicole Chuang 3-pointer, to send the Lady Mustangs home with the 3-point loss.
Coach Wilson acknowledged that her three players that fouled out of the game -- Lenz, Hernandez and
Alli VanKooten -- certainly played a factor at the end of the game.
"We had foul trouble but we will learn from this, regroup and come back stronger."
Five players finished in double figures for TMU, led by Lenz with 23, Hernandez 18, Chuang 15,
Kelly Mathiesen 12 and VanKooten 10. Mathiesen had a team-high 12 rebounds, while Chuang led the team with five assists and Hernandez added five steals.
The Master's will be back hom on Wednesday when the take on Park-Gilbert in The MacArthur Center. Tip-off is set for 5:30 p.m.
