AZUSA, Calif. – The No. 19/NR Cal State San Marcos women's basketball team (3-1) held off a late charge by Westminster (2-3) to record a 59-56 victory on Friday afternoon at Felix Center on the campus of Azusa Pacific.
 
TOP PERFORMERS
Shasta Parker – 17 points | 72.7 FG% | 8 rebounds | 2 assists
Dynnah Buckner – 12 points | 6 rebounds | 2 steals
Mina Tameilau – 6 points | 4 rebounds | 2 assists
Katie FitzGerald – 8 points | 4 assists | 2 steals

HOW IT HAPPENED

• The Cougars took a quick 14-4 lead with Parker and Dynnah Buckner contributing five points, forcing Westminster to take a timeout.
• CSUSM led 26-12 following the first quarter after shooting 62.5% (10-of-16) from the field and 57.3% (4-of-7) from the 3-point line.
• The Cougars held the Griffins scoreless in the final 4:29 of the second quarter while closing out the half with six unanswered run to take. 43-21 lead into the break.
• In the first half, CSUSM finished with a 53.1 (17-of-32) field-goal percentage and 40.0 (6-of-15) 3-point field percentage while 27.6 (8-of-29) and 12.5 (1-of-8), respectively.
• The Griffins outscored the Cougars 19-6 in the third quarter, closing it out with an 11-0 run to make it 49-40.
• CSUSM shot just 3-of-18 (16.7%) from the field and went 0-of-11 from beyond the arc in the third quarter while Westminster recorded a 53.8 field-goal percentage while going 3-of-4 (75%) from the 3-point line.
• The Griffins cut CSUSM's lead to just two points (55-53) with 3:41 on the clock after Rae Falatea converted a turnover for a layup.
• The Cougars responded with a Parker jump shot and layup by Dynnah Buckner to give CSUSM a 59-53 lead with 2:40 remaining.
• Westminster's Mailey Ballard sunk a 3-pointer to cut CSUSM's lead to 59-56 for the final basket of the game with 1:30 left in the game.
   

FAST BREAKS

• CSUSM led for 39:01 and trailed for just 16 seconds in the opening minutes of the game.
• The Cougars scored 20 of their points off Westminster's 15 turnovers while the Griffins only collected nine points off CSUSM's 13 turnovers.
• CSUSM went 4-of-5 at the free throw line. The last time the Cougars went to the charity line five or less times was on Nov. 23, 2019 against San Francisco State when CSUSM went 2-for-2.
• Westminster had a slight edge in rebounds at 37-36 while the Cougars had the advantage on the offensive side at 9-8.
• Parker's 17 points and eight rebounds were career highs.
• This was the first-ever meeting between CSUSM and Westminster.

UP NEXT
The Cougars will start their conference schedule on the road next week, beginning with a stop at Stanislaus State on Thursday, Dec. 1 at 5:30 p.m.