Box Score Box score

CARSON, Calif. – Despite shooting 45.7 percent from the field and leading for the final 10 minutes of the second half, the Cal State East Bay women's basketball team fell to Cal State Dominguez Hills, 56-55, on a three-pointer at the buzzer on Saturday night. The Pioneers (4-20, 4-16 CCAA) had three players in double figures and shot 83.3 percent from the free-throw line, but the Toros were better in the final two minutes, out-scoring East Bay 11-4 during that span.

“This was a heartbreaking loss,” CSUEB Head Coach Suzy Barcomb said. “This is a very tough game to swallow and not constantly second-guess yourself. We had some costly turnovers in the final four minutes that prevented us from putting the game away.”

Kristina Lin paced the Pioneers with 12 points on 5-of-8 shooting from the field, while seniors Azizi Dotson and Amaris Sanders each added 10 points. Sanders went 8-for-8 from the charity stripe and Dotson was perfect from the field and grabbed four rebounds while shooting 4-for-5 from the free-throw line. Marlene MacMillan led the Pioneer rebounding efforts with 14 boards and added nine points for East Bay. The Pioneers committed 26 turnovers that led to 19 points for CSUDH.

“Amaris had one of her best games of the year,” Barcomb said. “She played great defense, was outstanding from the free-throw line and her breakaway layup gave us the two-point lead with 15 seconds left.”

Tiffany Smith led the Toros with 18 points and eight rebounds, while Hilarie Grant's buzzer-beating three was the game winner for CSUDH. Cal State Dominguez Hills shot just 32.7 percent from the field and 65.4 percent from the free-throw line and matched the Pioneers on the boards with 31 rebounds.

Though the Pioneers gained a small lead early on in the first half, the Toros responded and built a solid lead that increased to as many as nine points in the half. Smith scored 11 of her 18 in the first frame, while East Bay committed 16 turnovers despite shooting 41 percent from the field. The Pioneers finished the first half with a five-point run that sent them to the break trailing 25-21.

Cal State East Bay opened the half by chipping away at the Toro lead, tying the game at 33 on a pair of free throws from Sanders with 12:27 to play. MacMillan's layup with 11:20 left gave the Pioneers their first lead in nearly 25 minutes of play. After Cal State Dominguez Hills regained a one-point lead, East Bay answered back with a 9-0 run, sparked by Maria Dinesen's pair of free throws with 10:14 to play. The run saw the Pioneers hit five shots from the charity stripe, a layup and a three to take a 45-36 lead with 7:46 remaining.

Cal State Dominguez Hills closed the gap to just two, 47-45, with 5:14 to play, but East Bay answered right back with four straight points to regain a 51-45 lead with just two minutes remaining. The Toros fought back to tie the game for the sixth time, 53-53, with 22 ticks left on the clock. Sanders' breakaway layup with 15 seconds to play gave the Pioneers a 55-53 advantage before the Toros missed a jumper with two seconds left and grabbed the offensive board to set up Grant's game-winning three at the buzzer.

Cal State East Bay returns to play next weekend, when it returns to Southern California for its final road trip of the 2010-11 campaign. The Pioneers will meet Cal State San Bernardino and Cal Poly Pomona to cap the season.