The Master's women's basketball team repeatedly overcame deficits, but in the end just could not do it one last time as the Arizona Christian Firestorm defeated the Lady Mustangs 72-64 in the semifinals of the GSAC Women's Basketball Tournament played in The MacArthur Center.
Master's (18-8) at one point overcame a 13-point ACU lead to take the lead, only to see the Firestorm come back, led by the conference Player of the Year Emily Till going 12 for 12 from the free throw line, to win by eight.
The lady Mustangs out-shot Arizona Christian, hitting over 44% of their shots compared to 39%. But the Firestorm took the advantage from behind the arc, hitting 10 3-pointers to The Master's four.
But the real difference came in rebounding, where ACU pulled down 44 compared to TMU's 25, a complete reversal from when these two teams last played in The MacArthur Center on Feb 14 when Master's won the board battle 60-24 in a 77-48 win.
According to TMU Head Coach Fonda Wilson, the rebounding difference "was a huge factor in the game."
"Really tough loss tonight," Coach Wilson said. "Still so proud of this team and the group of girls we have. It's truly been such a blessing getting to coach them. The Lord has been kind to us and I pray that we can continue to honor Him always."
The game was filled with runs by both teams. Master's jumped out to a quick 4-0 lead, only to see ACU answer with an 11-3 run to go up by four. But then TMU went on a 9-0 run to grab a 16-11 advantage. A Firestorm 3-pointer at the end of the period cut the Lady Mustangs' lead to 16-14.
More of the same in the second quarter as the two teams swapped the lead. After
Abbie Mullins hit a jumper to put The Master's up 28-26 with 3:05 to play in the half, Arizona Christian closed out the half on a 10-1 run to go to the locker room at the break up 36-29.
That lead grew as the third quarter progressed, with the largest lead getting to 13 with 3:33 to play in the frame. But that's when the Lady Mustangs' defense, ranked No. 1 in the conference and No. 6 in the nation, showed up in a big way.
The TMU "D" shut out the Firestorm for the next 5:48 of game time, from the end of the third quarter until 2:15 into the fourth. In the meantime, that defense created offense, allowing Master's to score 13 unanswered points to tie the game at 52-52.
AnÂ
Alli VanKooten jumper with 5:08 to play gave The Master's a 60-58 lead, the first time they had the lead since the 2:38 mark of the second quarter.
But Arizona Christian wasn't finished with their runs.
The Firestorm closed out the game on an 11-2 run, with Till going 6 for 6 in the final 17 seconds from the free throw line, to seal a trip to the championship game for Arizona Christian.
Allie Miller led the Lady Mustangs with 18 points, with both VanKooten and
Chloe Auble adding 16. VanKooten had a team-high nine rebounds and three blocks, while Bella Forker was incredible on defense creating seven steals.
"
Allie Miller played her heart out," Coach Wilson said.
Now The Master's will have to wait to hear if their name is called for the NAIA National Championship Tournament, which will be announced on the selection show on Thursday, March 5 at 5 p.m. PT.
