HAYWARD, Calif. – Despite scoring the opening 11 points on Saturday night the Cal State East Bay women's basketball team suffered a 71-63 defeat to Cal State Los Angeles inside Pioneer Gymnasium. The Golden Eagles pulled ahead late in the first half and hit key shots throughout the second half to hold its lead for good.

Stephanie Lopez and Sharissa Estremera combined to score all 11 Pioneer points during the game's opening run. Cal State L.A. (5-7, 4-4 CCAA) did not make a field goal until more than eight minutes into the game and opened the contest 0-for-5 shooting with five turnovers.

CSULA then took advantage of East Bay collapsing the boards and found early fast break scoring chances. The Golden Eagles scored 12 fast break points in all and forced 20 Pioneer turnovers.

CSUEB countered several Golden Eagle runs in which the visiting side pulled within a single possession. However Lopez left the floor after picking up her third foul with 6:28 left until halftime and CSULA made its push.

Cal State L.A. outscored Cal State East Bay (9-5, 4-4 CCAA) 17-7 during that final stretch including a 9-0 scoring run that took over the lead with 2:20 left in the half. Seven different Golden Eagles scored in the half and as a team they knocked down 13-of-14 free throws.

Aiwekhoe Okungbowa led the charge finishing with 15 points and 10 rebounds. She was perfect at the charity stripe connecting on all nine attempts. CSULA went 22-of-29 at the line while holding CSUEB to its lowest totals in makes and attempts at the foul line (11-of-16) this season.

Cal State East Bay battled until the bitter end knocking down six second half 3-pointers, including four over the final two minutes. Lopez's 3-pointer near the 15-minute mark cut the Pioneer deficit to its lowest point at 37-35.

Cal State L.A. followed that basket with a 10-2 run of its own to pull ahead by double figures for the time in the game. The CSULA bench outscored the starting lineup contributing 40 of the team's 71 points. The team's season leading scorer Kaija Powell finished with 11 points and Franeka Hall led the reserves with 14.

"We failed to get stops in 'crunch time' and fundamentally didn't follow thru with our game plan," said East Bay Head Coach Suzy Barcomb. "Our 20 turnovers put us in a challenging spot. Cal State L.A. took advantage of every single turnover tonight."

Alyssa Palma hit from distance on back-to-back possessions in the final two minutes to contest late. Estremera connected from near NBA range, and Lopez hit her third triple in the final seconds.

Lopez led all players with 24 points and five assists. Tori Breshers led the Pioneers with seven rebounds to go along with 10 points. Micah Walker finished with an efficient eight points and team-high two steals.

Cal State East Bay will travel to the league leader Humboldt State (12-1, 8-0 CCAA) on Thursday, Jan. 15.