March 17, 2006

JACKSON, Tenn. - Second-seeded The Master's College (Calif.) defeated Montana State University-Northern 67-62 in the second round of the 26th annual NAIA Division I Women's Basketball National Championship at Oman Arena.

The Master's overcame a seven point deficit (58-51) with five minutes to play to score nine unanswered points and take a 60-58 lead on a 3-point basket by Angela Gimeno with 3:30 to play. MSUN tied it moments later on a pair of free throws by Jaci Heny, but the Lady Mustangs held back Skylights to advance.

Montana State-Northern trailed 18-13 at one point in the first half, but fought back to tie it at 22 with 4:37 to play in the opening period. The Lady Mustangs held on to a two point margin at halftime (31-29), but the MSUN pushed ahead (36-35) with 14:22 left to play on a basket by Ashley Trulock. The Skylights mostly maintained the lead for the next 11 minutes until Gimeno's 3-point basket.

Jessica Seyler led The Master's with 17 points, while Kinsley Mittel followed with 16 points. Courtney Jackson collected a double-double 13 points and 10 rebounds.

Montana State-Northern was led by Heny's 17 points, while Michelle VanDyke and DeLayne Johnston added 11 points each. Camille Gardner added 10 points, while Johnston collected 10 rebounds for a double-double.

The Master's improves to 27-7 on the season and advances to their first quarterfinals appearance Saturday at 6 p.m. to face top-seeded Freed-Hardeman University (Tenn.) (32-2).