The Master’s University women’s basketball team upset No-1 seed Vanguard 68-65 Saturday to win the Golden State Athletic Conference Women’s Basketball Tournament Championship in Atherton, Calif.

The Lady Mustangs (25-6) entered the tournament as the No. 3 seed, defeating Hope International in the quarterfinals Thursday, Menlo in the semifinals Friday, and the No. 8-ranked team in the nation Vanguard for the championship.

“Wow!” is what TMU head coach Lisa Zamroz said after the game. “This group is so resilient and selfless and somehow found a way again when the chips were down to fight their way back and finish it.”

TMU trailed 52-44 at the end of the third quarter. But behind 10 points from Belle Hernandez and nine from Marin Lenz, the Lady Mustangs out-scored the Lions 24-13 in the final 10 minutes to come away with the 3-point championship win.

Momentum for the game swung depending on the quarter. Vanguard had the lead at the end of the first quarter 17-12, but The Master’s won the second 23-13 to take a 35-30 lead into the locker room.

Vanguard came out hot in the third, hitting 9 of 14 (64%) in the frame while holding the Lady Mustangs to 4 of 14 (28%) to grab that 8-point lead going into the fourth.

That’s when Hernandez and Lenz took over to win the championship for TMU.

Nicole Chuang led the scoring for TMU with 19, followed by Hernandez with 17 and Lenz with 15. Maddie Cooke pulled down 10 rebounds and added eight points and a block.

“I am grateful to all the parents who sacrifice and travel so well,” Zamroz said. “I’m also grateful to the men’s volleyball team (they played at Menlo earlier in the day) for adjusting their plans to support us. I’m just so proud and thankful to be a part of it.”

With the win, The Master’s automatically qualified for the NAIA Women’s Basketball National Championship Tournament. They will find out where they will go for the opening rounds on Thursday, March 7 at 5 p.m., when the NAIA will announce all 64 qualifiers on the selection show presented on YouTube.