HAYWARD, Calif. – After an opening weekend split, the Cal State East Bay women's basketball team will travel to Seattle for the SPU/Sodexo Tip-Off Classic this weekend. The Pioneers (1-1) will take on host Seattle Pacific on Friday at 5 p.m. before meeting Central Washington on Saturday at 1 p.m.

Cal State East Bay is coming off a 1-1 weekend at the CCAA/PacWest Challenge at Dominican last week. The Pioneers fell to Academy of Art to open the campaign before bouncing back the next night to down the host Penguins, 59-38. After struggling to handle the ball in the first game, East Bay turned things around, out-rebounding DU and cutting their turnovers in half. Sophomore Sarah Finlay paced the Pioneers against the Urban Knights, scoring 14 points, while junior Lauren Lucchesi and freshman Carly Bettencourt both posted 12 points in the win over Dominican.

After just two games, both Finlay and freshman Micah Walker are averaging 10 points or more per contest, while junior Marlene MacMillan's 6.5 rebounds per contest are leading the team. MacMillan led the East Bay rebounding efforts in both games, and combined with sophomore Cassie Coble to pull down 16 total boards in the win over the Penguins. The pair also helped East Bay more than triple its offensive rebounding efforts from the first game.

So far, the Pioneers are shooting relatively well from the field, hitting 31.3 percent of their shots from the floor, including 10 three-pointers. East Bay will have to step up its production from the free-throw line this weekend, though, after shooting just 56.1 percent from the charity stripe.

The Pioneers will have their hands full this weekend against a pair of teams from the Great Northwest Athletic Conference (GNAC). The host Falcons are coming off a split at the GNAC/CCAA Challenge last weekend, where they defeated San Francisco State and lost to No. 13 UC San Diego. Meanwhile, Friday's meeting with Harding will be the Wildcats' first regular season contest of the year.

The SPU/Sodexo Classic gets underway with Central Washington and Harding, followed by the Pioneers and Falcons at 5 p.m. tomorrow at Brougham Pavilion. The tournament closes out on Saturday when East Bay and CWU meet at 1 p.m., while the weekend finale will feature SPU and Harding.

FRESH FACES
Though the Pioneers return seven players, some new faces look set to make a big impact for the team this season. Among the new faces are freshmen Micah Walker, Carly Bettencourt and Hege Blikra. A 5-9 wing out of Reno, Walker is a versatile player who earned all-state honors as a prep and can play a variety of positions. Meanwhile, Bettencourt, a highly-decorated guard out of El Dorado Hills, has the skills and attitude to run the offense at point guard. Blikra joins the Pioneers from Norway and brings serious basketball knowledge and the attitude to set the tone for the team on the court. Already the three freshmen are combining for nearly 15 points per game this season.

SCOUTING SEATTLE PACIFIC
The Falcons enter the weekend tournament 1-1 on the year after a split at last week's CCAA/GNAC Challenge. Historically, Seattle Pacific has taken care of business in its own tournament, going 20-0 during the Sodexo Tip-Off Classic over the past 10 years. The Falcons were picked to finish second in the GNAC preseason poll and are led by three players averaging double-digits through two games – Katie Benson, Rachel Murray and Aubree Callen. Nyesha Sims is pacing SPU on the boards, pulling down 11 rebounds in just 17 minutes against SF State. The Falcons and Pioneers will meet for the first time in their history on Friday.

WATCHING THE WILDCATS
Central Washington is in its first season under Head Coach Shawn Nelson and is coming off an exhibition loss to Portland State last week. The Wildcats went 7-18 in 2010-11 and were led by returners senior Sophie Russell's 10.4 points per game and junior Stacy Albrecht's 6.8 boards per contest last year. Russell went 6-for-9 from the field and scored 17 points to lead the Wildcats in the exhibition loss, while sophomore Jessica VanDyke scored 14 points against Portland State.