Alli VanKooten scored 12 points, but The Master's University women's basketball team fell 69-52 to Oregon Tech on Thursday night at The MacArthur Center.
The Lady Mustangs dropped to 2-2 in their first home game of the season. Oregon Tech improved to 2-1.
Neither team shot well. Oregon Tech went 26-for-68 from the field (38.2 percent), and TMU went 19-for-68 (27.9 percent). The teams combined to make 4 of 37 3-pointers. The Owls won the battle inside, outrebounding TMU 58-51, with a 34-24 edge in the paint and a 16-9 edge in second-chance points. Both teams committed eight turnovers, and the Lady Mustangs held a 16-14 advantage in bench scoring.
Oregon Tech opened with a 9-0 run. TMU answered with eight straight: a Charis Hughes jumper, two layups from Kylin DeVries and two Audrey McKenna free throws cut the deficit to 9-8. The Owls then scored the next eight points and led 19-10 after one quarter. TMU shot 7-for-36 in the first half and trailed 33-21 at the break.
"Tonight wasn't our best," TMU Head Coach Fonda Wilson said. "We struggled to find our rhythm from the beginning and dug too big of a hole to get out. This team has so much resilience and determination. The girls played hard and I'm still so proud of them. Games like these are tough but also very necessary for every team."
The Lady Mustangs played their best quarter in the third. They outscored Oregon Tech 21-16 on 10-of-18 shooting and pulled within 49-42 heading into the fourth. Oregon Tech closed the game on a 20-10 run while TMU went 2-for-14 from the floor in the final period. The Owls' largest lead was 17 points, in the final seconds.
VanKooten went 4-for-11 from the field and 4-for-7 at the line, adding five rebounds. Izabella Forker had eight points, nine rebounds, three assists and two blocks. DeVries scored eight points with six rebounds, four of them offensive, in 15 minutes off the bench. Allie Miller added seven points, Chloe Auble scored five and Abbie Mullins had four points and three assists.
Tatum Schmerbach led Oregon Tech with 19 points and nine rebounds. Jozie Ramos added 16 points and six rebounds, Brooke Anderson had 11 points, seven rebounds and five assists, and Avery Andrews scored 10 points with eight rebounds off the bench.
Up next, the Lady Mustangs play an exhibition at Cal Lutheran on Thursday, Nov. 5, at 5 p.m. in Thousand Oaks.
