Game Recap By Don Gilmore, TMU Assistant SID

Two days after winning its first-ever GSAC regular-season championship, The Master’s University women’s basketball team really got to celebrate Saturday evening.

After beating No. 9 Vanguard 67-52 on Bross Court and then waiting for the men’s game to finish, the Mustangs cut down the net off the north basket to cap thrilling 48-plus hours of basketball.

The postseason starts next weekend for the Mustangs at the GSAC Tournament at Menlo College. As the tournament’s No. 1 seed, Master’s received a first-round bye.

It will face the winner of William Jessup-Vanguard in a semifinal on Friday at 7:30 p.m.

Saturday’s win was sweet.

“Tonight was extremely special,” said head coach Dan Waldeck. “To send off this quality group of seniors with such a great win excites me.”

Thursday evening the Mustangs beat Life Pacific to win the conference’s regular-season crown.

Saturday evening, the Mustangs beat the perennial powerhouse Lions in convincing fashion.

It started where it has since December.

On defense.

The nation’s third-stingiest club in scoring defense (50.2 points per game entering the contest) spotted the Lions the game’s first three points, then held them without a point for the next 8:26 while reeling off 20 straight points to take a commanding 20-3 lead.

A three-pointer from Brooke Bailey and back-to-back treys from Rebekah Throns highlighted the run.

The Mustangs led 22-8 after one quarter.

That was a nice cushion to have because the Lions sliced into the Mustangs’ second-quarter, 14-point advantage, closing to within 24-14 before The Master’s closed the half on an 8-3 skein to lead 32-17 at the break.

It was the 10th time this season the Mustangs have held an opponent under 20 points in the first half.

They limited the Lions to 5-of-23 accuracy from the field over the opening 20 minutes.

Vanguard never got closer than 12 points the rest of the way while the Mustangs used another surge to put the game away.

Up 37-24 with 6:33 left in the third quarter, the Mustangs used a trio of Anika Neuman (pictured above) free throws to ignite an 8-0 run to forge a 21-point margin. Stephanie Soares added a layup and Hannah Forrar‘s three-pointer capped it.

The Mustangs led 50-34 after three.

The lead mushroomed to 61-36 when the Mustangs started the fourth quarter with an 11-2 burst, nine of those points coming from a trio of shots from behind the arc.

The club went 7-of-16 from long distance.

“We shared it well, (17 assists on 21 baskets),” Waldeck said. “We defended well (limiting Vanguard to 30.2 percent accuracy), we rebounded well (43-35 advantage), and made key plays.”

Neuman led a trio of Mustangs in double figures, tying for game-high honors with 13 points. Soares, the country’s top rebounder (12.6 rebounds per game) notched her nation-leading 25th double-double with 11 points and 13 rebounds.

“I’m so proud of what this group has accomplished this far,” Waldeck said. “We will need more games like this as we move into the postseason.”