HAYWARD, Calif. – A comfortable lead turned to a dicey finish but Cal State East Bay defended home court in a 58-55 triumph over Cal State Stanislaus on Saturday night. The Pioneers pounded the boards as starters Tori Breshers and Stephanie Lopez both finished with 12 rebounds to complete their double-doubles.

"Stanislaus completely took us out of our comfort zone tonight. They were relentless with their energy and passion," said East Bay Head Coach Suzy Barcomb. "We lost our composure, but were able to pull out the win. We haven't been able to do that in our last three closely contested games."
 
Cal State East Bay led by its largest margin of 15 following a stretch of 12 unanswered points early in the second half. Back-to-back fast break layups from Micah Walker and Bianca Littleton forced a Warriors timeout. Shannon Bland then scored the next five points and dished to Laci Effenberger for one her three 3-pointers on the night to cap off the run.
 
The comfortable advantage slowly dwindled down as Stanislaus (5-11, 3-9 CCAA) went to the free throw line 18 times in the second half. It would eventually come down to free throws in the waning moments of the game as the Warriors had two different offensive possession to tie the game.

In the final 30 seconds of regulation CSUS trailed 55-52 with the ball. Lopez blocked a layup attempt and was eventually fouled. The team's most proficient free throw shooter on the season missed a rare attempt at the line and split the pair.

A quick full court trip ended in a Warriors layup which cut the deficit in half at 56-54 with 6.3 seconds remaining. Stanislaus' Erika Larsen stole the ensuing East Bay inbound pass and dished off to Riley Holladay who was fouled with 2.3 seconds remaining.

Larsen's first of two attempts was half way in and bounced out off the back iron, on the front of the rim, and outside the cylinder. She made the second as the Warriors trailed by one and were forced to foul.

Alyssa Palma calmly stepped to the line and knocked down both free throws to push the lead back to three with 0.9 left. The Warriors were unable to get a shot off and the Pioneers escaped with the victory.

"The (California Collegiate Athletic Association) is a complete grind on Saturday's and tonight was no different. I would rather win ugly than lose pretty. We will take tonight's win and move on to the second round of league play," following back-to-back wins.

Cal State East Bay controlled the glass throughout the night finishing with a 42-24 rebounding advantage including 16 offensive boards.
 
"Stephanie and Micah were tough on the defensive glass tonight and that was vital in limiting Stanislaus second chance points," Barcomb complimented of Lopez's 10 defensive boards and Walker's four which were the highest totals on the team.
 
Cassidy Curry-Sanders finished with team-highs of 14 points and 11 rebounds. Curry-Sanders, Holladay, and Alysa Valentine combined for 39 of the team's 55 points on 14-of-23 (.609) shooting from the field. The rest of the squad scored 16 points on 3-of-23 (.130) shooting from the floor, including only two bench points on the night.
 
Cal State East Bay (11-7, 6-6 CCAA) will travel to UC San Diego (9-8, 7-5 CCAA) on Friday, Jan. 30. The Tritons dropped both weekend games and lost to the Pioneers 74-57 in their first meeting back on Dec. 6, 2014.