Shaking off Saturday night’s stunning 62-74 loss against Biola, The Master’s College women’s basketball team got back to its winning ways with a 68-46 victory over the ninth-ranked Westmont Warriors Tuesday night at Bross Court.

With the win over the NAIA’s defending national champions, the seventh-ranked Lady Mustangs improved their 2013-14 record to 20-6 and 8-3 in GSAC play.   About 60 miles away, the Lady Mustangs received some much-needed help from their rivals in La Mirada as Biola edged the 15th-ranked Hope International Royals 72-69.  Biola’s win over the Royals gave TMC a temporary grasp on second place in the Golden State Athletic Conference standings – a luxury the Lady Mustangs will enjoy if they can win their final three conference games.

“To respond the way we did tonight after a tough loss on Saturday was really encouraging for our girls and for me as a coach,” commented head coach Dan Waldeck. “I thought we represented our program well, trusted each other, and played outstanding defense against a really great team. I’m proud of our effort, the concentration, and character we showed behind closed doors these last couple of days. We got back to the basics and made our effort stand out on the floor.”

A dogfight was unleashed in the initial 20 minutes when the two squads witnessed a lead change four times and a tied score twice.  Bianca Cubello (Riverside, CA) unlocked the game’s final tie with a jumper at the 9:33 mark, bringing the score to 15-13.

Over the next eight minutes, the Lady Mustangs posted a 20-8 run which brought the score to 35-21 at the half.

Staying true to form, Jacquelyn Marshall (San Clemente, CA) led all scorers with 14 points.  Marshall nearly bagged an early double-double as the senior forward yanked down 9 rebounds in the opening 20 minutes.  Not to be overlooked, freshman standout Megan Lindsley (Vancouver, WA) posted 10 points.

The Lady Mustangs posted a sparkling 53% (14-26) field goal shooting percentage, an even 50% (2-4) completion rate from behind the arc, and a dazzling 83% (5-6) on completed free throws.  16 of the Lady Mustangs’ opening 35 points came within the paint.

Kelly Burns (Yorba Linda, CA) drove in a layup at the 18:30 mark, giving the Lady Mustangs a 37-21 advantage.  From there, the Lady Mustangs continued to put more pressure both on offense and defense against the Warriors which resulted in a game-high 25 point lead (65-40) with 2:16 left to play.  And while the Warriors reeled off 6 more points in the waning moments of the game, it was a Whitney Best (Snohomish, WA) free throw and a Stacie Perez (San Fernando, CA) jumper that put the nail in the coffin, bringing the final score to 68-46.

Marshall notched her usual double-double by scoring 18 points and bringing down 16 boards.  Lindsley scored 15 points and chipped in 4 assists, while Best tallied 12 points and threw in 3 dimes.

Collectively, the Lady Mustangs went 24-51 (47%) from the field, 6-16 (37%) behind the arc, and 14-22 (63%) from the charity stripe.

Now, the Lady Mustangs look to sweep San Diego Christian this Saturday in a 5:30 p.m. GSAC showdown at Bross Court.  At the beginning of the month, the Lady Mustangs topped the Hawks 75-43 on the road in El Cajon.

GSAC Women’s Basketball News:

In other GSAC action, unranked Biola upset No. 14 Hope International 72-69 in Fullerton, No. 1 Vanguard beat Concordia 93-72, and San Diego Christian got past Arizona Christian with a 79-43 victory in Phoenix, AZ.