AZUSA, Calif. – The No. 19/NR Cal State San Marcos women’s basketball team (3-1) held off a late charge by Westminster (2-3) to record a 59-56 victory on Friday afternoon at Felix Center on the campus of Azusa Pacific.
TOP PERFORMERS
Shasta Parker – 17 points | 72.7 FG% | 8 rebounds | 2 assists
Dynnah Buckner – 12 points | 6 rebounds | 2 steals
Mina Tameilau – 6 points | 4 rebounds | 2 assists
Katie FitzGerald – 8 points | 4 assists | 2 steals
HOW IT HAPPENED
The Cougars took a quick 14-4 lead with Parker and Dynnah Buckner contributing five points, forcing Westminster to take a timeout.
CSUSM led 26-12 following the first quarter after shooting 62.5% (10-of-16) from the field and 57.3% (4-of-7) from the 3-point line.
The Cougars held the Griffins scoreless in the final 4:29 of the second quarter while closing out the half with six unanswered run to take. 43-21 lead into the break.
In the first half, CSUSM finished with a 53.1 (17-of-32) field-goal percentage and 40.0 (6-of-15) 3-point field percentage while 27.6 (8-of-29) and 12.5 (1-of-8), respectively.
The Griffins outscored the Cougars 19-6 in the third quarter, closing it out with an 11-0 run to make it 49-40.
CSUSM shot just 3-of-18 (16.7%) from the field and went 0-of-11 from beyond the arc in the third quarter while Westminster recorded a 53.8 field-goal percentage while going 3-of-4 (75%) from the 3-point line.
The Griffins cut CSUSM’s lead to just two points (55-53) with 3:41 on the clock after Rae Falatea converted a turnover for a layup.
The Cougars responded with a Parker jump shot and layup by Dynnah Buckner to give CSUSM a 59-53 lead with 2:40 remaining.
Westminster’s Mailey Ballard sunk a 3-pointer to cut CSUSM’s lead to 59-56 for the final basket of the game with 1:30 left in the game.
FAST BREAKS
CSUSM led for 39:01 and trailed for just 16 seconds in the opening minutes of the game.
The Cougars scored 20 of their points off Westminster’s 15 turnovers while the Griffins only collected nine points off CSUSM’s 13 turnovers.
CSUSM went 4-of-5 at the free throw line. The last time the Cougars went to the charity line five or less times was on Nov. 23, 2019 against San Francisco State when CSUSM went 2-for-2.
Westminster had a slight edge in rebounds at 37-36 while the Cougars had the advantage on the offensive side at 9-8.
Parker’s 17 points and eight rebounds were career highs.
This was the first-ever meeting between CSUSM and Westminster.
UP NEXT
The Cougars will start their conference schedule on the road next week, beginning with a stop at Stanislaus State on Thursday, Dec. 1 at 5:30 p.m.
