AZUSA, Calif. – The Seattle Pacific Falcons were hoping for a better start on Saturday night. But once again, the better start was by the opposing team.
Cal State San Marcos, ranked No. 22 nationally, bolted to a 21-3 lead in the first quarter and just kept going from there on the way to a 74-44 victory against SPU on the final day of the Cougar Shootout at Azusa Pacific.
The teams traded the first two baskets of the game in the Felix Event Center – a 3-pointer by San Marcos, and a lay-in by SPU's
Lolo Weatherspoon – before the Cougars ran off 18 straight points.
"San Marcos is a really good team, coming off a really big win against Western Washington (73-68 on Friday night), head coach
Mike Simonson said. "I thought they made some really tough shots. They made it really hard on our defense. They're very tough to prepare for in one night without practice, and we kind of paid a price that way."
Grace Leasure
Redshirt freshman
Grace Leasure posted her second straight career-high performance for SPU (1-3). This time, it was 16 points on 7-of-11 shooting, along with three assists and two rebounds. She had 12 points against Azusa on Friday.
Junior center
Schuyler Berry added 12 points on 5-of-10 shooting plus five rebounds. Junior forward
Olivia Mayer grabbed seven rebounds and handed out four assists.
With that early 18-0 run, San Marcos had a 21-5 lead by the end of the first quarter, and the game never got closer than 15 points after that.
Mike Simonson
"Our offensive struggles need to change," said Simonson, whose team saw Azusa Pacific go on an 18-0 third-quarter run on Friday in a 69-57 loss. "How we're shooting the ball, we're not going to beat many people. We have to improve, and our team knows that. We've gotten really good shots. Today we didn't get the best shots early, as we have in other games, but we've gotten pretty good shots that our team can make. We just have to improve our skillset."
Saturday's game marked the end of a season-opening four-game stretch of games against teams that qualified for last season's NCAA West Regionals.
BY THE NUMBERS
-- Seattle Pacific shot 32.8 percent from the field (19 of 58), but was just 1 of 12 (8.3 percent) from 3-point range.
-- Cal State San Marcos hit at a 52.8 percent clip (28 of 53), with 40 percent accuracy (6 of 15) from downtown. Jordan Vasquez led the Cougars with 22 points, making 9 of 12 from the floor, and made it a double-double with 12 rebounds.
-- The Falcons committed a season-low 12 turnovers.
UP NEXT
The Falcons head to Colorado next weekend for a pair of games. They visit
Colorado Christian on Friday at 2:00 p.m. Pacific time, then travel to Denver on Saturday to face
Metro State at noon PST.
NCAA WOMEN'S BASKETBALL
Cougar Shootout
Saturday, Nov. 18, 2023
Felix Event Center / Azusa, Calif.
(No. 22) Cal State San Marcos 74, Seattle Pacific 44
SEATTLE PACIFIC (1-3)
Weatherspoon 2-7 1-4 5, Mayer 2-8 0-0 4, Berry 5-10 2-3 12, Marlow 1-2 0-0 2, Beirne 0-8 0-0 0, Leasure 7-11 2-3 16, Kearns 0-3 0-0 0, Ohta 0-5 0-0 0, Bishop 1-2 0-0 2, Carlisle 1-2 0-0 3. Totals 19-58 5-10 44.
CAL STATE SAN MARCOS (2-2)
Vasquez 9-12 4-7 22, Reilly 1-4 0-0 2, Mastora 0-4 0-0 0, Gallegos 8-14 1-1 19, Tameilau 2-4 3-3 7, Ranson 1-3 2-4 4, Fitzgerald 1-2 0-0 3, Buckner 1-1 1-1 3, Nicolosi 1-2 0-0 3, Johnson 2-3 1-1 5, Morse 2-4 0-0 6. Totals 28-53 12-17 74.
Seattle Pacific 5 15 11 13 -- 44
Cal State San Marcos 21 19 11 23 -- 74
3-point goals – SPU 1-12 (Weatherspoon 0-2, Mayer 0-2, Beirne 0-1, Leasure 0-4, Kearns 0-1, Ohta 0-1, Carlisle 1-1), CSSM 6-15 (Mastora 0-2, Gallegos 2-4, Tameilau 0-1, Ranson 0-2, Fitzgerald 1-2, Nicolosi 1-2, Morse 2-2).
Fouled out – None.
Rebounds – SPU 29 (Mayer 7), CSSM 40 (Vasquez 12).
Assists – SPU 12 (Beirne 3, Leasure 3), CSSM 18 (Reilly 5).
Turnovers (points allowed) – SPU 12 (14), CSSM 14 (13).
Total fouls – SPU 17, CSSM 13.
Technical fouls – None.
Attendance – 87.
Records
Seattle Pacific 1-3.
Cal State San Marcos 2-2.
Next game
Seattle Pacific at Colorado Christian
Friday, Nov. 24 2:00 p.m PST
CCU Event Center / Lakewood, Colo.