Jackie Marshall scored 21 points and pulled down 11 rebounds in the Lady Mustangs conference opener against HIU.

FULLERTON, Calif. – On Tuesday night in Fullerton, The Master’s College women’s basketball team’s 2013-14 record improved to 13-3 (1-0 GSAC) with an 84-72 win over Hope International University.

With the win over the NAIA’s 20th ranked team, the ninth-ranked Lady Mustangs are now one of three GSAC teams (No. 1 Vanguard, No. 9 TMC, No. 13 Westmont) that are undefeated in conference play.

“To start out GSAC play on the road against a very good Top 20 team really tested our resolve, and I’m proud of the way we responded,” commented head coach Dan Waldeck. “We are continuing to be unselfish which bodes well for us. We definitely need to take better care of the ball and defend better. We’ll learn from this and keep improving.”

Early on, the Royals forced the Lady Mustangs to battle back from an early deficit until an Oliva Thompson (Huntington Beach, CA) three-pointer gave TMC a 17-16 advantage. From there, the Mustangs produced a commanding 32-19 run, giving TMC a 49-35 lead at the half.

In the first half, TMC went 12-39 (30%) from the field, 2-6 (33%) behind the arc, and produced an impressive 9-10 (90%) from the charity stripe.  14 of the Lady Mustangs 49 points came in the paint.

In the second half, TMC’s offense and defense worked in tandem and never once let the Royals come close to regaining the lead.  At the end of the final twenty minutes, the Mustangs bested HIU 84-72, earning the first conference victory of the season.

In another fantastic performance, Jacquelyn Marshall (San Clemente, CA) led TMC by producing a double-double with 21 points and 11 rebounds. Both Nicole Nitake (Torrance, CA) and Zoe Scott (Spokane, WA) went 3-4 behind the arc, contributing heavily to the 11 points each athlete finished the evening with.

At the end of the evening, TMC went 31-62 (50%) from the field, 10-19 (52%) behind the arc, and went 12-19 (63%) from the charity stripe.  Notably, TMC’s bench contributed 33 points in the victory.

Now, the Lady Mustangs will look to extend their conference record to 2-0 this Saturday when the Arizona Christian Firestorm blows into Bross Court. Tipoff is set for 2:00 PM.

GSAC Women’s Basketball News:

In other GSAC action, No.1 Vanguard took down (RV) San Diego Christian with a 103-68 victory, while No. 13 Westmont edged Biola 76-52 in La Mirada.