STOCKTON, Calif.—Pacific women's basketball (1-0) opened the 2023-24 season with a 73-57 victory over Cal State Fullerton (0-1) on Friday.
 
Senior Liz Smith led the Tigers with 16 points and a career-high seven assists. Junior Anaya James tallied 12 points along with six assists. Graduate student Cecilia Holmberg and junior Elizabeth Elliott posted 11 points apiece. Elliott matched her career-high four steals for the third time while sophomore Sydney Ward matched her career-high three blocks.
 
"It was fun to be back in the Spanos Center," said head coach Bradley Davis. "I thought we had a great crowd tonight for the opening. I thought our team started off with a really good pace. Our defensive effort in the first half gave us some early options and early looks. People stepped up when they needed to, and we had a good rotation.
 
There were five ties and three lead changes in the first six minutes of the game. The Titans were up, 11-8, at the 4:55 mark before Holmberg drained a Tigers' triple that sparked a 14-4 run. Pacific took the 22-17 lead at the end of the first quarter.
 
In the second quarter, the Tigers shot 53.8% from the field while holding the Titans to just 29.4%. It resulted in a 39-29 halftime advantage for the home team.   
 
The Tigers dominated the third quarter outscoring the Titans, 27-17, putting them up by a large margin for good. Twelve of those points came from three-pointers by James, Holmberg, Smith and Ward.
 
Pacific shot 50.0% (27-54) and 41.2% (7-17) from the three-point line. Cal State Fullerton had 33.3% (22-66) overall and 14.3% (2-14) behind the arc.
 
"The way that we play, we stand together and work together," said Smith. "It showed throughout the entire game. We never gave up and came out with the dub."
 
The Tigers have a quick turnaround on Sunday as they welcome Cal State Bakersfield for CYO Night at 2 p.m. on Sunday.