HAYWARD, Calif. – The Cal State East Bay starting five provided all but two points of the team's scoring during Saturday's 76-59 league victory over Cal State Monterey Bay inside Pioneer Gymnasium. Tori Breshers finished with a career-high 27 points and teammate Stephanie Lopez completed her double-double with 18 points and 11 rebounds.

Cal State Monterey Bay (2-6, 0-3 CCAA) led 32-31 at halftime in large part to a 6-of-13 shooting performance from three. However the Otters shot just 35 percent from inside the arc and did not attempt a first half free throw with the Pioneers committing only one team foul.

"We came out weaker than we should have (to start). We could have played more as a team and communicated much better," said Breshers of the team's first half performance. "Overall in the second half we started talking and that played a big role in our win."

It was the second straight game Cal State East Bay (6-2, 2-1 CCAA) would open the second half on a lengthy scoring run to take the lead and pull away for good. Lopez scored all 15 of her second half points during a 23-9 run over the opening seven minutes after being held to only three first half points.
 
"We started playing better defense in the second half. The momentum changed and it (transitioned) into our offense," Lopez stated.

Breshers added 15 second half points of her own to keep the Pioneer advantage at double figures over the final 15 minutes of regulation. Remy Puou efficiently finished with 12 points as the volume of shots came from Breshers and Lopez in the second half.

"We wanted to score inside with our bigs or on attacks. I thought Tori had one of her best offensive performances tonight and she got on the glass. We tried to ride the hot hand as much as we could tonight," East Bay Head Coach Suzy Barcomb said of Breshers' 10-of-16 shooting effort from the field.
 
Meanwhile the Otters struggled from distance knocking down just 2-of-13 attempts in the second half. CSUMB's Stephanie Sack was nearly unstoppable making 6-of-7 shots including 4-of-5 from distance to finish with a team-high 16 points.

"We focused our efforts on Jenna Bandy and McKenna Hill, and lost Sack way too often. (Sack) made us pay from the 3-point line," said Barcomb.

Bandy finished with just four second half points. She made only 5-of-17 from the floor overall including 2-of-9 from distance. Hill did not fare much better with only two second half points on a 1-for-5 shooting effort.

East Bay's Micah Walker added 10 points and seven rebounds. Shannon Bland contributed seven points, five rebounds, and a team-high four assists in the victory.

Cal State East Bay will host Holy Names (2-6) on Tuesday, Dec. 16, at 3 p.m.