SEATTLE – After a night of hot shooting by her team, Karen Byers got a cooling-off kind of reception in the Seattle Pacific women's basketball locker room.
 
Hunter Beirne poured in 23 points on 10-of-14 accuracy as the Falcons broke into the win column with a 72-48 rout of Cal State San Marcos on the first night of the SPU West Region Crossover women's basketball tournament.
 
Madison Rubino added 13 points for SPU (1-5), and Emilia Bishop came off the bench for nine plus three rebounds.
 
All of that helped give Byers her first victory as a college head coach. Afterward, her players were waiting for her.
 
"That was great. I saw the lights were out and I thought we were just going to have some singing and dancing," a rather drenched Byers said upon returning to the gym floor in Royal Brougham Pavilion. "But then they got me with their water bottles."
 
The Falcons certainly had plenty to celebrate. Up until Friday, the best they had shot in any game this season was 36.2 percent in last Saturday's 76-41 loss at Cal State Dominguez Hills.
 




But against San Marcos, SPU hit at a 52.5 percent clip, draining 31 of 59. Along with Beirne's 10 of 14, Rubino hit 6 of 7 and Schuyler Berry was 4 of 7.
 
"It's great to be at home, and part of that was just the comfort, and we really feed off of energy" Byers said. "We talked about not playing for individuals, but playing for the team and feeding off other people's success, and you could see that in our shooting."
 
The Falcons broke to an 8-0 lead and quickly stretched it to 13-2. San Marcos (0-3), which reached last year's NCAA Division II Final Four but subsequently saw their top seven players move on, responded with a 10-0 run to get within 14-12 by the end of the first quarter.
 
With 5:47 left until halftime, the Cougars finally tied it at 22-22. But that was the only deadlock of the night, SPU closed the half on a 10-3 run to take a 32-25 lead into the break.
 
After San Marcos scored the opening basket of the second half to get within 32-27, the Falcons put the next 12 points on the board, stretching it out to 17 at 44-27. It never got closer than 15 the rest of the night.
 
"We really came and had our game plan ready and we were ready to execute," Byers said. "We really just felt from the gate that e were ready to jump out and ready to take it to them and not let up.
 
For Beirne, Friday's game was her third in the 20s. The other two were last season, both against Alaska Fairbanks: 20 at home, 28 at UAF.
 
"That's another great game for Hunter. I hope this is the start of many more for her senior season," Byers said. "As her coach, I'm totally biased, but I think she can do that every night."
 
BY THE NUMBERS
-- The Falcons put on some pressing defense, and that helped limit Cal State San Marcos to 35.2 percent shooting (19 of 54).
-- It also forced the Cougars into 22 turnovers, which SPU converted into 26 points.
-- "I was not planning to put the press on the whole time, but they were having fun doing it, so we just stayed in it and see what happens," Byers said.
 

-- For the third time in six games, Seattle Pacific won the battle of the boards. This time, it was 36-26, as sophomore guard Layne Kearns led the way with six.
-- The Falcons also dished a season-high 20 assists. Kearns handed out a career high of eight, more than double her previous best of three. That was the first time this season SPU has been in double digits for assists Its previous high was seven in the season opener against Tampa on Nov. 1.
-- The biggest lead of the season for the Falcons had been seven points, that coming in the first quarter against Cal State Los Angeles one week ago. On Friday, they had an eight point advantage (8-0) just 2:36 into the game. Their largest advantage was 72-46 with 2:01 left.
-- In addition to being the first win of the season, it was Seattle Pacific's first one against San Marcos. The Cougars the first three encounters, all of them in previous iterations of this preseason West Region tournament.
 
UP NEXT
The Falcons will tangle with No. 18-ranked Azusa Pacific on Saturday at 6:00 p.m. in the final game of the tournament. APU pulled away in the fourth quarter on Friday to beat Western Washington, 88-77. Western and San Marcos will tip off at 4:00 p.m. on Saturday.


NCAA WOMEN'S BASKETBALL
SPU West Region Crossover
Friday, Nov. 15, 2024
Brougham Pavilion / Seattle, Wash.
 
Seattle Pacific 72, Cal State San Marcos 48
 
CAL STATE SAN MARCOS (0-3)
Slover 3-4 0-0 6, Okonkow 2-2 1-1 5,Hetrick 5-140-0 12, Bobadilla 4-9 1-1 9, Morse 1-6 2-2 4, Tamashiro 2-8 0-0 4, Beall 0-1 3-4 3, Lowenberg 0-1 0-0 0, Leiva 2-8 0-0 5, Ramirez 0-0 0-0 0, Gorbushin 0-1 0-0 0.  Totals 19-54 7-8 48.
 
SEATTLE PACIFIC (1-5)
Rubino 6-7 1-3 13, Berry 4-7 0-0 8, Ohta 1-2 0-0 2, Beirne 10-14 1-2 23, Kearns 2-7 0-0 5, Leasure 2-8 2-3 6, Weatherspoon 2-3 0-0 4, Turley 1-4 0-0 2, Bishop 3-5 3-3 9, Mertens 0-1 0-0 0, Sharp 0-1 0-0 0, Bergevin 0-0 0-0 0, Lavigne 0-0 0-0 0.  Totals 31-59 7-11 72.
 
Cal State San Marcos         12           13           10           13           -- 48
Seattle Pacific                     14           18           22           18           -- 72
 
3-point goals – CSSM 3-21 (Hetrick 2-4, Bobadilla 0-3, Morse 0-3, Tamashiro 0-3, Lowenberg 0-1, Leiva 1-6, Gorbushin 0-1), SPU 3-19 (Ohta 0-1, Beirne 2-5, Kearns 1-5, Leasure 0-2, Weatherspoon 0-1, Turley 0-3, Mertes 0-1, Sharp 0-1).  Fouled out – None. Rebounds – CSSM 26 (Hetrick 7), SPU 36 (Kearns 6).  Assists – CSSM 8 (Bobadilla 3), SPU 20 (Kearns 8).  Turnovers (points allowed) – CSSM 22 (26), SPU 18 (13). Total fouls – CSSM 16, SPU 16.  Technical fouls – None.  Attendance – 364.
 
 
Next game
Azusa Pacific at Seattle Pacific
Saturday, 6:00 p.m.
Brougham Pavilion / Seattle, Wash.