SAN MARCOS, Calif. – A little time made a lot of difference.
 
Cal State San Marcos put together a 15-0 scoring run in the final 5 minutes, 26 seconds of the second quarter on Friday, expanding a seven-point lead all the way up to 22, and Seattle Pacific couldn't cut into that margin during the second half in dropping a 71-50 decision to the host Cougars on the first day of the CSSM Hoops Classic women's basketball tournament.
 
SPU was not able to get anyone into double-digit scoring inside The Sports Center, as junior point guard Bayley Brennan led the way with nine points. Senior guard / forward Ashley Alter and senior forward Natalie Hoff added eight points each.
 
San Marcos (2-0) gave a hint of things to come late in the opening quarter when it expanded a 19-13 lead to 27-15.
 
But the Falcons (2-2) climbed back in, using an 8-2 run of their own to come from 32-19 to just 34-27 down. The last two of those eight points came on a driving lay-in by Alter at the 5:26 mark of the second period.
 
That was it for the rest of the half. SPU missed its final seven shots and turned the ball over four times. The Cougars fueled their 15-point outburst with 6-of-10 shooting from the field, getting five of their points off turnovers.
 
"I felt like we were playing well early. We had some decent momentum and we were getting some stops," SPU head coach Mike Simonson said. "Offensively, we got some good shots. But we missed a couple of lay-ups, a couple of wide-open looks. The next thing you know, we kind of unraveled a little bit, and that led to some defensive miscues."
 
Included in the decisive run by CSSM  were a pair of 3-pointers. It finished the day with 10 makes and a 30-6 scoring advantage on the Falcons from downtown.
 
"The 3-pointers that San Marcos hit were just daggers," Simonson said. "It just took the wind out of our sails."
 
The Falcons had just eight tries from behind the arc, hitting two. That was part of an overall percentage of 33.9 from the field (19 of 56). Cal State San Marcos wound up at 37.7 percent (23 of 61), and was at 40 percent (10 of 25) from long range.
 
"We are a good shooting team, but we haven't shown that in games," Simonson said. "I felt like we were doing a good job of generating high-percentage looks at the rim. But it wasn't enough to keep up with their 3-point pace."
 
The margin grew to as many as 31 and was never below 20 points during the second half.
 
BY THE NUMBERS
-- Ashley Alter's eight points on Thursday pulled her within four of 500 for her career.
-- SPU had a 39-38 rebounding edge. Alter led the way with five. Of the 12 Falcons who played, everyone had at least one rebound.
-- Junior post player Kayla Brundidge came up with four blocked shots, just one away from her career high. She also had six points on 3-of-5 shooting and pulled down four rebounds in just 14 minute of action.
-- Altogether, Seattle Pacific had six blocked shots, double its season average of three per game.
-- Another factor very much in favor of the Cougars was points off turnovers, as they outscored SPU, 24-6.
-- Kelsey Forrester led San Marcos with 18 points, getting all of them from downtown, as she hit 6 of 7.
 
UP NEXT
SPU takes on No. 5-ranked Azusa Pacific on Saturday at 1:00 p.m. Azusa fell to Western Washington in Friday's opening game, 73-57.
 
 
RECORDS
Seattle Pacific 2-2
Cal State San Marcos 2-0
 
 
NEXT GAME
Seattle Pacific vs. Azusa Pacific
Saturday, 1:00 p.m.
The Sports Center / San Marcos, Calif.