OCEANSIDE, Calif. – Senior Alex Alvarado scored the go-ahead layup with just 0.7 seconds left in the game, lifting the Cal State San Marcos women's basketball team to 51-50 victory over San Diego Christian.  This marks the second time the Cougars have pulled off a 1-point victory over the Hawks this season as CSUSM defeated SDCC 54-53 on Dec. 20 in El Cajon. 
 
"Very proud of how hard we fought tonight," said interim head coach Crystal Harris. "We were up and down, but we continued to fight.  Not sure if there is a better way to end your career than on a buzzer beater layup to win the game. So happy for Alex and our seniors that we could end their home careers with a win."
 
Alvarado's game-winning layup gave her eight points in the game, coming on 3-for-5 shooting from the field and a perfect 2-for-2 at the charity stripe.  Senior Cassie Damyanovich sunk three 3-pointers and finished with a team-high 13 points.  Junior Brianna Higgins added 11 points and five rebounds. Senior Heather Thompson finished just shy of a double-double, recording eight points and a game-high 11 boards. She also nabbed four blocked shots while Higgins and senior Kimberly Kipp each collected a block on the night. Senior Mackenzie Harnett finished with five points and eight rebounds.
 
The two teams traded the lead for much of the first half, with neither the Cougars nor the Hawks leading by more than six points.  Damyanovich sunk a 3-pointer with six seconds remaining in the first half to give CSUSM a 29-26 lead at the break. 
 
CSUSM opened the second half with a 5-0 run for the largest advantage of the game at eight points (34-26).  The Hawks responded with a 9-0 run to retake the lead at the 14:43 mark.  The Cougars once again pulled away, taking a 47-41 lead on a Higgins' layup with 5:55 remaining.
 
SDCC evened the game at 49-49 on Gabrielle Concepcion's 3-pointer at 2:49.  Concepcion made the backend of her two free throw attempts to put the Hawks up 50-49 with 8.4 seconds on the clock.
 
Alvarado received the inbound pass from Harnett and dribbled the length of the court to score the game-winning layup.
 
The Cougars (12-15) conclude their regular season with at trip north to take on UC Santa Cruz on Saturday, Feb. 28. Tip-off is 7 p.m.