BELLINGHAM, Wash. – A hot second quarter for Cal State San Marcos. A cold third for Seattle Pacific.
 
That made most of the difference in the women's basketball season opener for the Falcons on Friday.
 
Anna Eddy poured in a career-high 26 points, with 24 of those coming from behind the 3-point arc, but No. 12-ranked CSSM outscored the Falcons by a combined 43-25 in the middle two quarters on the way to a 70-62 victory in the West Region Crossover Classic.
 
SPU (0-1) cut what had been a 20-point third-quarter deficit all the way down to just eight with 4:50 still remaining in the game inside The Pavilion at Whatcom Community College. However, that was as close as they could get.
 
"San Marcos is a heckuva ball club. They're seasoned, experienced; they've been to the NCAAs for a reason, they've won their conference for a reason," head coach Mike Simonson said. "To go against them, you have to play 40 minutes, and that's kind of our motto always.
 
 

"Early in the year, our first game, you know you're going to have some hiccups," Simonson added. "But we made some pretty big errors in the second quarter and let them get going. Credit to them, they made a lot of good shots and took it to us. It was tough to rebound from that."
 
Eddy, a 5-foot-9 sophomore guard, hit 9 of 16 from the field, including 8 of 13 behind the arc. Her first 18 of the day were all from downtown.
 
"I think very highly of Anna's shot and just the way she plays," Simonson said. "I've been waiting for a game like this for Anna to go off, because she does it every day in practice. It was pretty awesome to see it in Game 1, and I'm excited to see her come back out (on Saturday) and the next game and the next game and string together some good scoring games back to back."
 
Eddy was one of three players in double figures for Seattle Pacific. Sophomore center Schuyler Berry came off the bench for 12 points and a team-high nine rebounds. Fifth-year guard / forward Ashley Alter added 12 points and a team-leading five assists.
 
FAST START FOR THE COUGARS
Cal State San Marcos got off to a pair of quick five-point leads at 7-2 and 9-4. The Falcons then got untracked, cutting it to 9-7 on a traditional three-point play by Natalie Hoff, then took their first lead when Lolo Weatherspoon drained a 3-pointer from the left of the lane.
 
SPU extended it to 15-11 near the end of the quarter, and were up 15-14 at the end of it. The lead changed hands four times early in the second, leaving the Falcons on top, 19-18. San Marcos, which hit 11 of 17 (64.7 percent) from the floor during the quarter (5 of 8 from behind the arc) responded with a 13-4 run to make it 31-23 on the way to taking its largest advantage of 13 at 42-29 heading into halftime.
 
SPU had a 5-0 spurt at the outset of the third, getting within 11 at 44-33. San Marcos answered back with nine straight, pushing its advantage out to 20 at 53-33 as the Falcons went frosty from the field, connecting on just 4 of 14.
 
Down by 17 at 57-40 going into the final 10 minutes, Seattle Pacific chipped away on a lay-in by Berry, and back-to-back treys by Alter and Eddy, cutting it to 58-48. It got as close as 61-53 when Eddy drained a 3 from the left of the lane. But on the next play down court, Dynnah Buckner drained a dagger of a trey for the Cougars. That expanded the margin back to 11, and they were comfortably in control the rest of the day.
 
"There's just a lot of things we can build off of," Simonson said. "You don't want to play your best basketball in your first game, and I'm glad we didn't play our best basketball. But I'm also glad we got a glimpse of what our best basketball will look like against  good team."
 
BY THE NUMBERS
--The Falcons shot 39.1 percent for the day (25 of 64). Cal State San Marcos finished at 44.1 percent (26 of 59), but the Falcons kept the Cougars below 40 percent for all but the second quarter.
-- Anna Eddy's previous career high was 21 points, last Jan. 30 at home against Alaska Anchorage.
-- Schuyler Berry's nine rebounds was a career high, topping her previous best of seven last Jan. 29 against Anchorage.
-- Overall, the Falcons had a 39-34 advantage on the boards. Of those, 14 were at the offensive end, leading to 10 second-chance points.
-- SPU had 19 assists on its 25 baskets. Each of the eight players who saw action had at least one.
-- The Falcons are now 36-12 in their 48 season openers.
-- Kelsey Forrester led San Marcos with 16 points, one of three Cougars in double figures.
 
UP NEXT
The Falcons are back at Whatcom on Saturday morning against No. 21-ranked Azusa Pacific. Tip-off is at 11:00. The two teams met last year in the Cal State San Marcos Hoops Classic, with Azusa rallying in the final four minutes to erase a seven-point deficit, then going on to win in overtime, 67-61.
 
 
NCAA WOMEN'S BASKETBALL
West Region Crossover Classic
Friday, Nov. 18, 2022
The Pavilion @ Whatcom CC / Bellingham, Wash.
 
(No. 12) Cal State San Marcos 70, Seattle Pacific 62
 
SEATTLE PACIFIC (0-1)
N. Hoff 1-9 1-1 3, M. Hoff 1-5 1-2 3, Beirne 2-7 0-0 4, Eddy 9-16 0-0 26, Alter 5-12 0-0 10, Berry 6-12 0-0 12,Marlow1-3 0-0 3, Weatherspoon 0-0 1-2 1.  Totals 25-64 3-5 62.
 
CAL STATE SAN MARCOS (3-1)
Carlson 1-4 3-3 5, Fitzgerald 3-5 0-2 6, Forrester 5-10 3-3 16, Tameilau 3-9 1-1 7, Dynnah Buckner 5-11 1-2 12, Parker 3-6 0-0 7, Korst 2-7 2-2 7, Gallegos4-7 0-0 10, Tamashire 0-0 0-0 0, Deannah Buckner 0-0 0-0 0.  Totals 26-59 10-13 70.
 
Seattle Pacific     15           14           11           22           -- 62
CS San Marcos   14           28           15           13           -- 70
 
3-point goals – SPU 9-22 (M.Hoff 0-2, Beirne 0-2, Eddy 8-13, Alter 0-2, Marlow 1-3), CSSM 8-21 (Forrester 3-6, Tameliau 0-2,Dynnah Buckner 1-3, Parker 1-3, Korst 1-4, Gallegos 2-3). Fouled out – None. Total fouls – SPU 12, CSSM 10.  Rebounds – SPU 39 (Berry 9), CSSM 34 (Parker 7).  Assists – SPU 17 (Alter 5), CSSM 16 (Carlson 5). Turnovers – SPU 17, CSSM 11.  Technical fouls – None. Attendance – 97.
 
 
Records
Seattle Pacific 0-1.
Cal State San Marcos 2-0.
 
Next game
Seattle Pacific vs. Azusa Pacific
Saturday, 11:00 a.m.
The Pavilion @ Whatcom CC / Bellingham, Wash.