FULLERTON – Senior Amira Austin, the reigning Great Southwest Athletic Conference Defensive Player of the Week, registered a 17-point, 15-rebound double-double to propel Hope International women's basketball to a 60-53 victory against The Master's on Tuesday at Darling Pavilion.
Austin notched her third straight double-double and sixth on the season, with the 15 rebounds representing a career-best. Eleven of those boards came on the defensive end. She tied her career high with four assists for the second straight game, adding two blocks and a steal in 35 minutes.
All five Royals starters played at least 33 minutes in a battle between two teams undefeated in GSAC play. The Royals (10-3) won their seventh straight game and moved to 4-0 in conference play, while the Mustangs fell to 7-6 overall and 3-1 in the GSAC.
Aliyah Gonzalez just missed a double-double, finishing with 14 points and nine rebounds. Guard Dre Javier collected 12 points on 4 of 7 shooting.
The Royals shot 41.1 (23 of 56) percent overall while limiting the Mustangs to 29.9 (20 of 67) efficiency. Both teams shot 4 of 19 from distance.
Alli VanKooten led TMU with 15 points and 10 rebounds.
The Royals played perhaps one of their best quarters of the season to open the game, breaking out to a 24-8 lead. Gonzalez scored eight straight points to give HIU a 10-4 lead.
HIU held TMU without a point for four minutes and crafted a 13-0 run, with a Javier jumper creating a 20-4 advantage.
However, the Mustangs recovered in the second period after falling behind by 19 points, when Austin's jumper opened a sizable 30-11 HIU lead. The Mustangs shaved off a majority of the deficit thanks to a 14-0 run, getting contributions from a variety of players.
The Royals went scoreless for over five minutes, and finally broke the spell on Javier's jumper which gave HIU a 32-25 lead. VanKooten's bucket trimmed the deficit back to five at halftime.
The Mustangs tied the score at 32-32 after scoring the first five points in the third quarter. The Royals steadied themselves and responded with an 8-0 run, four of those points coming from Gonzalez. VanKooten got TMU within 42-39 on another bucket, but the Royals notched the final seven points in the period to build a 49-39 lead.
HIU maintained the double-digit lead for most of the fourth period, holding the Mustangs to 5 of 18 shooting. Ella Hoover's basket whittled the deficit to 58-51 with 46 ticks remaining, but the Royals hit a pair of free throws to finalize the scoring.
HIU sits in first place in the GSAC with its 4-0 record. The Royals host Benedictine Mesa – one of three teams tied for second in the league at 3-1 – on Saturday at noon.
