No. 1-ranked Masters held Westmont to one field goal over the fial six minutes and pulled away to a 64-55 win over the fourth-ranked Warriors in a Golden State Athletic Conference first-place showdown at Murchison Gym on Saturday.
With the victory, Master’s claimed sole possessions of first place in the Golden State Athletic Conference at 7-0 and improved to 19-0 overall. Westmont is 13-3 and 6-1.
Stephanie Soares had 25 points and a season-high 24 rebounds for the Mustangs, who are off to the best start in program history.
“Insane,” Hannah Ostrom, who added 12 points, said of her teammate. “Who else does that?”
Ostrom and Sabrina Thompson, both senior guards, made critical baskets down the stretch to help the Mustangs pull ahead in a back-and-forth game.
Master’s had not won at Westmont since 2014, and the Mustangs had lost to the Warriors in 10 of the teams’ last 11 meetings overall.
Ostrom banked in a 3-pointer with 4:45 to play, breaking a 51-all tie. And Thompson hit a pull-up jumper moments later to extend the lead to five.
Thompson also made three free throws in the final 2:11. She finished with seven points.
Gabriella Stoll knocked down a straight-on 3-pointer with five seconds remaining in the first half to lift Westmont to a 29-28 lead at the break.
The Mustangs did an adequate job defending the three-point arc over the game’s first 20 minutes, but that didn’t stop the Warriors, the NAIA’s most prolific three-point shooting team entering the night, from remaining on pace to match their season average.
The Warriors averaged an NAIA-best 12.3 threes per game entering the night, and Lauren Tsuneishi and Iyree Jarrett each hit a pair in Saturday’s first half. Westmont made 6-of-16 tries as a team up to that point and 9-of-31 for the game.
Master’s answered by feeding the ball to Soares in the paint, with the 6-foot-6 center drop stepping and finishing around the rim. Soares made 6-of-8 shots in the first half for 13 points to go with 11 rebounds, already good enough for her 13th double double of the year.
The Mustangs dominated the boards, outrebounding Westmont 42-27
Jarrett scored 15 points to lead Westmont in scoring, while Stephanie Berberabe had 11 and Stoll 10.