Behind 29 points from
Marin Lenz and a career-high 27 from
Lexi Hernandez, The Master's women's basketball team knocked off the Park-Gilbert Buccaneers 95-83 Friday night in the semifinals of the GSAC Women's Basketball Tournament at The MacArthur Center.
The Lady Mustangs (18-8) used a 52-point first half to create a 17-point lead, which they needed to hold back the nation's best 3-point shooting team.
"I think our girls came to play, from starters to bench to everyone, it was just a different mindset tonight," said TMU Head Coach Fonda Wilson. "Going into halftime with that lead you do have a cushion and you can rely on taking a break for a little bit and not having to worry about how many adjustments we have to make. So that was good for us."
TMU hit 22 of 38 (58%) in that first half, but it was their rebounding that helped dominate the floor. The Mustangs pulled down 28 rebounds to the Buccaneers' 15 in the first 20 minutes, and 11 of those rebounds were offensive that lead to a 16-4 difference in second chance points.
"We've been really working on that," Coach Wilson said about the rebounding. "One thing that we didn't really concentrate on in other games was those second chance points. So we really worked on that this week and honing in on keeping the ball on our side. Even if your teammate is going up for a basket, you've got to get the ball and either put it back or start our offense over. Just focusing on that area really showed tonight."
The second half started exactly as the first half did --
Nicole Chuang hitting a 3-pointer. That second 3-pointer by Chuang put The Master's up by 20.
But that lead was short-lived as Park-Gilbert relentlessly cut into the lead, eventually getting to within three points with 5:12 to play. But TMU would go on an 8-0 run, punctuated by a pair of 3-pointers, to push the lead back up to 11 with 4:02 to go.
The Buccaneers would never get that close again as the Lady Mustangs would make all of their free throws at the end to finished with the 12-point win.
Lenz scored her 29 points on 12 of 28 shooting, which included  four 3-pointers. Hernandez added 20 rebounds, one shy of her career high, as well as six assists, five steals and a pair of blocks. She also surpassed the 1,000-point mark for her career in this game.
The Master's will now face No. 1-seed Arizona Christian on Monday at the ACU Event Center in Glendale, Ariz. Tip-off is scheduled for 5 p.m. MT, 4 p.m. PT.
