Friday, Dec. 30
vs. Cal State Monterey Bay (7-1, 4-0 CCAA)
Pioneer Gym - Hayward
4 p.m.
Live stats
HAYWARD, Calif. – Coming off a 10-day break from competition for the holidays, the Cal State East Bay women's basketball team will get back into conference play when it plays host to defending CCAA champion Cal State Monterey Bay on Friday at 4 p.m. The Pioneers (4-6, 1-3 CCAA) will be looking for their second league win after splitting the last pair prior to the break.
East Bay picked up its first victory of the conference season with a 62-50 win over Cal State Dominguez Hills on Dec. 18 before falling to Cal State LA on Dec. 19. The Pioneers also matched last season's overall win total with the win over the Toros. The team ranks fourth in the CCAA in scoring defense, allowing just 57.5 points per game and is second in the league in field-goal percentage defense, holding the opposition to just 37 percent shooting from the field.
Freshman
Micah Walker leads Pioneers with 10.3 points per game, ranking 22nd in the CCAA. Walker has been on fire of late, scoring in double figures in each of the last three games, including back-to-back 16-point performances against Notre Dame de Namur and Cal State Dominguez Hills. Junior
Marlene MacMillan is leading the East Bay rebounding efforts, pulling down 8.1 boards per game to rank sixth in the conference. The Tracy native is also fourth on the team in scoring, averaging 7.2 points per game and posted her first double-double of the season in the loss to the Golden Eagles.
Junior
Lauren Lucchesi is second on the team in scoring with 8.4 points per game, while
Sarah Finlay is averaging 7.8 points per game. Freshman
Hege Blikra has scored in double figures in three of the last four games and is shooting 50 percent from three-point range.
Cassie Coble has been key off the bench for the Pioneers, averaging four rebounds and six points per game.
The Pioneers will have their hands full on Friday, when they meet the defending CCAA regular season champion Otters. Cal State Monterey Bay has just one loss on the record this season, to Simon Fraser, and ranks among the league leaders in nearly every statistical category. While East Bay is second in the league in scoring defense, Monterey Bay is second in scoring offense, averaging more than 71 points per game. Friday's matchup will also pit the second-best rebounding team against the second-best rebounding defense in the league, as the Otters are pulling down 40.4 boards per game and the Pioneers are allowing just 35.4 rebounds per contest to their opponents.
If last season's matchup at Pioneer Gym is any indication, the meeting will be another interesting matchup. During the 2010-11 campaign, Cal State Monterey Bay eventually picked up a 52-21 victory in Hayward, but not before the Pioneers held the Otters to just 16 points and 18.8 percent shooting in the first half. The tables turned in the second half, however, as East Bay went ice cold from the field and Monterey Bay finished shooting over 60 percent in the final 20 minutes to secure the win.
Scouting the Otters
Cal State Monterey Bay makes its first trip away from home on Friday and enters the game tied for first place in the CCAA with a 7-1 overall record and a 4-0 mark in league play. The Otters have won five straight games and rank third in the league in scoring offense, field-goal percentage, rebounding margin and assist-to-turnover ratio. Monterey Bay is averaging 72 points per game and shooting 43.1 percent from the field and has hit the most three-pointers in the conference so far. Brandi Stephens' 13.1 points per game rank among the top 15 in the CCAA and lead the Otters, who also have Stefanie Corgel, Erika Ward and Brittani Jefferson averaging double figures in scoring. Jefferson also leads the team in rebounding with 8.5 per game, ranking fifth in the league. Ward is averaging 2.8 three-pointers per contest, which leads the CCAA. Last season, Cal State Monterey Bay took both games of the season series, but the Pioneers held the Otters to one of their worst halves of the year in the first half at Pioneer Gym.
Looking Ahead
The Pioneers will return to action next week when they hit the road for the first time during the CCAA campaign, traveling to Cal Poly Pomona on Jan. 5. East Bay then returns to the Bay Area for the first installment of the Battle of the Bay at San Francisco State on Jan. 7.
