COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. -- The Cal State East Bay women's basketball team suffered its first loss of the season on Friday night in its first road game, as the University of Colorado-Colorado Springs came from behind to defeat the Pioneers 67-62 in non-conference action.

East Bay shot 42.9 percent from the field and 43.8 percent from long distance -- solid figures, but it was a tale of two halves. The Pioneers shot 56.5 percent in the first two quarters, led by as many as 14 points, and carried a 40-28 lead into halftime.

Despite being out-shot and out-rebounded, the Mountain Lions took advantage of 21 East Bay turnovers to erase their deficit. The Pioneers also got a few key players into foul trouble and cooled off shooting the ball, hitting just 30.8 percent of their shots after the break.

"It's a disappointing loss because we didn't play to the standard we expect," said head coach Suzy Barcomb. "What we did well in the first half, we didn't execute with the same efficiency in the second half. We got caught up too much on what wasn't going our way, rather than focusing on getting stops, boxing out, finding shooters."

Senior Laci Effenberger paced the Pioneers with 18 points, three assists, and three steals. She also grabbed sox boards. The Alaska native did all her damage from long range, going 6-for-11 on three-pointers.

Tori Breshers notched 17 points and six rebounds. Most of her damage came in the first half, when she was 5-for-8 from the field for 12 points. But she picked up her fourth foul just after halftime and had to spend most of the third quarter on the bench as UCCS climbed back in the game.

"We had players in foul trouble all night and it really impacted us on both ends of the floor," Barcomb noted. "We also didn't adjust well to their style of play, and it resulted in easy baskets or trips to the free throw line. Laci and Tori kept us in it, but we needed somebody else to step up. We won't win many games with just two scoring in double digits." 

Junior Ashleigh Anderson posted seven points, three assists, and a team-high eight rebounds. Fellow junior Katrina Bacovcin added seven points and four boards, going 3-for-5 from the field.

Senior Shannon Bland finished with five points and six rebounds. Junior Remy Puou scored four points, and she and senior Madison Craig both grabbed four boards. 

"This was not our game, but we need to bounce back somehow tomorrow night against Metro State," Barcomb said.

After finishing strong in both games at home last week, East Bay was out-scored by 17 points in the second half tonight. The Pioneers will attempt to get back to their winning ways on Saturday evening when they take on the Roadrunners at 4:30 p.m. in the second game of their weekend in the Rockies.