For the second year in a row, The Master’s University women’s basketball team pulled off an upset to claim another GSAC Women’s Basketball Tournament championship with a 72-66 win over the No. 1-seed Arizona Christian Firestorm Monday night, March 3 in Glendale, Ariz.

The Lady Mustangs needed heroics at the end from All-GSAC guard Marin Lenz, who despite getting benched in the third qurater due to foul trouble, fought off a furious comeback by the Firestorm in order to claim the title.

“She’s been a leader all year long, knowing how to step up and stay locked in,” said TMU Head Coach Fonda Wilson about Lenz. “After getting that third foul early she was dying to get back in. But I had to wait until the fourth quarter, and it worked. She knew what to do in that moment and that comes with experience.”

Despite falling behind 4-0 at the start of the game, the No. 2-seed Mustangs (19-8) found their rhythm and closed the gap to within a point at 11-12. From that point on, TMU played the final 4:37 of the first quarter unstoppable, going on a 15-5 run to go up by nine at 26-17.

ACU closed to within five by the time intermission came at 39-34, and got to within two by the end of the third period.

It was the final 10 minutes when the Firestorm looked like they had completed that furious comeback.

The Master’s led by eight when Chloe Auble hit a three-pointer with 5:53 left to play. But ACU then went on a 9-0 run over the next 2:43 of game clock to go up 64-63.

That didn’t sit well with Lenz.

The senior made a three-pointer to re-take the lead for the Lady Mustangs. Moments later, with 15 seconds on the clock and The Master’s clinging to a two-point lead, Lenz coolly drained a pair of free throws to make it a two possession game.

Laney Grider then collected a rebound on a missed layup, got fouled and then sank her two free throws to put the game completely out of reach for TMU and the final was 72-66.

“This means a lot,” Wilson said. “I see a lot in practice that other people don’t see. So it was surreal to see them play in the game what I see every day in practice.”

The Master’s was led by All-GSAC Forward Lexi Hernandez’s 14 points, plus she pulled down 10 rebounds for her 11th double-double of the season. Auble had 11 and Alli VanKooten dropped 10 and grabbed a team-high 14 rebounds.

The win not only gives the Lady Mustangs their second consecutive championship and sixth overall, it avenges a heartbreaking double-overtime loss at ACU on Feb. 1

“One of the reasons we did so well was the way we played last time we were here, losing in double OT,” Wilson said. “We knew we could compete with them on their floor, and these girls did just that.”

TMU’s defense held the GSAC Player of the Year ,Alyssa Alvarez, to just 12 points on five of 19 shooting and no three-pointers. On the season, Alvarez averaged 15.6 per game and dropped 55 three-pointers.

With the win The Master’s automatically qualifies for the NAIA Women’s Basketball National Tournament, which gets underway March 14 at a site to be determined. It is the second year in a row TMU has made it to the national tournament, the 11th time in the last 12 years (not counting the Covid-cancelled year).

For more information visit GoMustangs.com.