WOMEN

After two halves of hard-fought basketball, The Master’s College women’s basketball team faced its first GSAC loss of the season Tuesday night in Santa Barbara.

With the 54-59 loss to the 14th-ranked Warriors (12-6, 3-2 GSAC), the ninth-ranked Lady Mustangs’ 2013-14 record now sits at 16-4 and 4-1 in conference play.

“Losing is never fun, but I’m confident that this game revealed some of the areas that we still need to progress in. We will better because of this,” assessed fifth-year Lady Mustang basketball head coach Dan Waldeck.

Early in the first half, the Lady Mustangs started things with a minor 8-6 lead when Whitney Best (Snohomish, WA) scored off a jumper with 14:41 left to play.  But, the Warriors answered back with Kelsie Sampson tying the game moments later at the 14:19 mark.

It was at that point that the Warriors began to pick apart the Lady Mustangs’ offensive and defensive efforts by slowly extending their lead to 31-21 at the break.

At the half, the Lady Mustangs shot 7-28 (25%) from the field, 1-6 on three-pointers (16%) and 6-10 (60%) on free throws.  Also at the break, TMC scored 8 points in the paint, while the Lady Mustang’s bench matched the Warrior’s bench by scoring 5 points.

Attempting a second half comeback, Best drained a three-pointer four seconds into play bringing the score to 31-24.  But the Warriors had no intentions of letting the Mustangs back in the game which was exemplified by maintaining a hearty 8-12 point lead.

However, with 8:04 left on the clock Kelly Burns (Yorba Linda, CA) drove in a layup that cut the Warrior’s lead to six points.  Zoe Scott (Spokane, WA) made it a three-point game off a three-pointer with 7:36 left to play.  After a Jacquelyn Marshall (San Clemente, CA) layup, Burns put TMC ahead by one point (48-47) off another layup with 5:51 left to play.

But, the Warriors answered back a minute later, sparking a decisive 10-6 run that ultimately ended with a 59-54 loss for the Lady Mustangs.

At the end of the night, Marshall earned a double-double by scoring 14 points and yanking down 13 rebounds. Best scored 13 points, while Scott followed with 7 more.  As a team, TMC went 19-54 (35%) from the field, 3-12 (25%) behind the arc, and 13-19 (68%) from the charity stripe.

“To be able come back and take a lead, when it seemed like there was a lid on the basket, speaks to character of this team,” further assessed Waldeck. “I thought we missed a lot of shots at the rim that we need to finish, but glad we kept getting to the rim even when we couldn’t get into the bonus in the second half, but that’s life playing on the road.”

Now, the Lady Mustangs will look to rebound on Saturday in El Cajon against San Diego Christian (10-8, 1-4 GSAC) in a 5:30 p.m. GSAC showdown.

GSAC Women’s Basketball News:

In other GSAC action, No.1 Vanguard took down Concordia with a 99-55 victory, San Diego Christian beat Arizona Christian 58-50, and Hope International edged Biola 82-70 in La Mirada.

MEN

The Master’s College men’s basketball team’s 2013-14 record dropped to 13-7 (1-4 GSAC) after falling to Westmont College 50-58 Tuesday night in Santa Barbara.

Starting things off, Westmont’s Marcus Farrand scored 6 of the Warriors’ opening 9 points before TMC’s Bernard Ireland (Rialto, CA) put the Mustangs ahead 10-9 with 15:36 left to play.

Moments later, Billy Keller put Westmont ahead off two successful free throws until Chris Patureau (Houston, TX) answered back by giving TMC its final lead of the night off a layup, bringing the score to 12-11.

And while minimal at times, Westmont maintained its lead over the Mustangs in the following 14 minutes, going into the half with a 28-23 advantage.

At the break, the Mustangs shot 8-28 (28%) from the field, 1-8 on three-pointers (12%) and 6-6 (100%) on free throws.  Also at the half, TMC scored 12 points in the paint. Notably, the Mustangs’ bench matched the Warrior’s reserves by scoring 8 points.

Even though Derrick Fain (Dallas, TX) and Korey Anderson (Clovis, CA) tied the game early in the second half at 28-28, Westmont’s Jason Ritchey answered back with a layup, bringing the score to 30-28.  Ricthey’s layup sparked Westmont’s second half scoring barrage that eventually proved to be too much for the Mustangs to handle.

On multiple occasions in the second half, the Warrior’s led the Mustangs by a game-high 13 points. And while TMC vied for a late comeback, Westmont ultimately bested the Mustangs 58-50.

At the end of the night, Fain led TMC in scoring with 11 points while Jason Logan (Spartansburg, SC) and Zach Stalin (Bellingham, WA) each put up 8 more.  As a team, TMC went 19-59 (32%) from the field, 3-12 (25%) behind the arc, and 9-11 (81%) from the charity stripe.

Now, the squad looks to earn its second GSAC victory on Saturday in El Cajon against San Diego Christian (6-8, 2-3 GSAC).  Tipoff is set for 7:30 p.m.

GSAC Men’s Basketball News:

In other GSAC action, No. 23 Vanguard took down No. 8 Concordia with a 94-79 victory, San Diego Christian fell to No. 13 Arizona Christian 88-76, and Biola beat Hope International 88-76 in La Mirada.