HAYWARD, Calif. -- Senior Laci Effenberger tied a school record with seven three-pointers and the Pioneer women's basketball team needed all of them in a thrilling 73-69 overtime victory over Academy of Art on Saturday at Pioneer Gymnasium.

Effenberger had a team-high 23 points on 7-19 from the field in 42 minutes to close out the four-game "Thanksgiving Shootout" conference challenge. With the win, the Pioneers' record improves to 4-2, while the Urban Knights drop to 5-4.

"I am pleased with how we battled through adversity and came out on top for the win," said Head Coach Suzy Barcomb. "We've been in these situations before and didn't handle the end of the game well. Tonight, it was just enough to beat a very talented team."

The Pioneers came out firing in the first half as they built up a game-high 13-point lead at 33-20 in the second quarter after senior Madison Craig drained a three-pointer with 1:28 remaining. The Pioneers would go to the half up 33-24.

Academy would chip-away at the 13-point deficit throughout the second half before tying at 61-61 with seven seconds remaining in regulation.

The Urban Knights' Sha'nice Story hit a three-pointer to open overtime and the Pioneers appeared in trouble. Down by three, senior Tori Breshers would hit a jumper to make it 64-63 and then hit four consecutive free throws to give the Pioneers a 67-64 advantage. After the Urban Knights tied it again at 67, Effenberger would top-off her fantastic evening with her seventh three-pointer with 1:16 left to give the Pioneers the lead for good as the Pioneers would settle on a four-point win.

Including Effenberger's 23 points, five pioneers scored in double-figures. Breshers had 15 on 4-for-9 shooting and 7-for-8 from the charity stripe with seven rebounds in 28 minutes. Six of those points came in overtime. Craig and Shannon Bland each had 11 points and both guards hit the glass, with Craig collecting seven rebounds and Bland grabbing a game-high nine rebounds to go along with six assists.

Senior Remy Puou had 10 points on 5-for-7 shooting and five rebounds. Junior Ashleigh Anderson had seven rebounds in 28 minutes.

"Laci was pretty big for us tonight, but she had a great supporting cast throughout the game," said Barcomb. We tried to find mismatches throughout tonight. Remy had a few in the first half, Tori (Breshers) came to life in the fourth quarter and then all our guards chipped-in."

The Pioneers held the Urban Knights to 35.5 percent shooting (22-for-62), including 1-of-9 in overtime. The Pioneers shot 39.7 percent (25-for-63) for the game. They attempted a whopping 28 three-pointers and connected on 11 of them (39.3 percent). Cal State East Bay also solidly out-rebounded Academy of Art 44 to-35. Barcomb singled-out her guards in helping the Pioneers to a good defensive night.

"Shannon worked tirelessly and crashed the boards all night. All of our guards hit the glass tonight and it was much needed," said Barcomb. "We have such a short turnaround and will have to give all of our focus to our first CCAA contest."

The Pioneers will have two days off before hitting the road to open CCAA play on Tuesday at Cal State San Bernardino, with tip-off set for 5:30 P.M.
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