Box Score

After more than a year of preparation and anticipation, Coach Sheri Jennum's inaugural Cal State San Marcos women's basketball team played its first regular season game on Friday, and came within a single point of upsetting NCAA Division II opponent Sonoma State on the road.  The Cougars would ultimately fall 62-63.

CSUSM drops to 0-1 on the season.  The game officially counted as an exhibition for Sonoma State, due to CSUSM being a member of the NAIA.

Coach Jennum's Cougars were put right to the fire early, as Sonoma State opened the game with a 10-0 run.  But far from being out of it, the Cougars showed the kind of resiliency against a good opponent that is rare among teams playing in their first games of the season (much less the first game in program history), and battled back to actually briefly take a 35-34 lead before settling for a 35-39 halftime deficit.

As predicted, the middle of the paint was the strength of the Cougars, as post players Gabriell Munsch and Danielle Cooper gave Sonoma State all it could handle.  Munsch recorded 14 points on 5-7 shooting, while Cooper tallied a team-high 15 on 7-of-10 shooting and added 5 rebounds.  Point guard Sidney Dobner led all players with 9 assists to go along with her 6 points and 5 boards, while wing Justine Chacon chipped in 13 points and shot 3-of-7 from behind the arc.

As a team, CSUSM shot 49% for the game.

Coming out of halftime, Sonoma State would once again assert itself, going on a run to take a 10 point lead.  But once again, Coach Jennum's Cougars gradually battled back, closing the gap to 5 with 2 minutes remaining after Cooper got her own rebound and passed to Munsch for a layup.  A Sonoma State turnover led to a Cooper layup off a Dobner pass, cutting the lead to 63-60.  The team would trade turnovers, and a foul on Sonoma State with 30 seconds left sent Dobner to the line.  She calmly knocked down both to cut the lead to 1, and after a Sonoma State miss and Munsch board, Jennum took timeout with the ball and 30 seconds to win the game.

But it was not to be, as Munsch's jumper went begging and the home team was able to run out the remaining 6 seconds to preserve the 63-62 final.

Things won't get any easier for the Cougars.  Tomorrow the squad will face CSU Humbolt.