HAYWARD, Calif. --  Shannon Bland hit a tough jumper at the buzzer to lift the Cal State East Bay women's basketball team to a crucial win over Cal State Dominguez Hills on front of an outstanding Homecoming crowd at Pioneer Gym on Friday. In the process, the Pioneers broke the program record with their 22nd win of the season,

With a overall record of 22-4, CSUEB breaks the previous mark of 21 set twice in 2002-03 and 2003-04. 

The Pioneers entered the fourth quarter down 44-36 and outscored the Toros 23-13 to win their 16th conference game against just two defeats. The Toros fall to 15-2 in the conference and 17-8 overall.

The win puts CSUEB in a tie for first place in the conference with UC San Diego at 16-2. The Toros drop a ½ game behind in third place at 15-2.

The Pioneers hung close to the Toros in the first half, but was behind most of the opening half and trailed 26-19 heading to the locker room.

The Toros were able to extend their lead to 40-28 with 3:32 left in the third quarter before the Pioneers were able to get it down to eight heading to the fourth.

The fourth quarter started off looking like the first three quarters, as CSUDH got the first five points of the fourth to build their largest lead of the game at 49-36 lead.

The Pioneers were down 51-41 with 6:55 remaining when their comeback would begin. They would go on an 8-0 run capped-off by a Bland three pointer to make it a two-point game.

The Pioneers had to keep fighting to get the game tied at 57 when Bland hit a layup with 45 seconds.

The biggest defensive play came next when Laci Effenberger stole the ball from the Toros Breanne Garcia with 20 seconds left. The Pioneers called for a timeout to set-up the final possession of regulation.

"In the last timeout I said, basically, to win it at the buzzer, but whatever you do don't give them any time on the clock to score," said Head Coach Suzy Barcomb. "Shannon got a great look at the hoop and banked it in for the win."

After Bland hit the game winner, the homecoming crowd went nuts in one of the biggest victories in school history.

"The homecoming crowd gave us energy and we loved being able to share this big win with so many fellow Pioneers," said Barcomb.

Tori Breshers led all Pioneers with 17 points on 8-15 from the field. Effenberger led all-rebounders with eight. Effenberger also had five assists and three steals.
Nine of Bland's 13 points came in the fourth quarter.  Bland also had four assists.

Bianca Littleton came off the bench and had seven points, four rebounds, and two steals.

"I thought Bianca gave us a huge lift off the bench tonight and allowed us to contain a bit better on defense, " said Barcomb.

Cal State East Bay shot 51% (25-49) for the game compared with 44.9% (22-49) for the Toros. The Pioneers held a sizable advantage in rebounding, winning the category 35-22. CSUEB had eight steals to CSUDH's three.

The Pioneers closes out Homecoming Week on Saturday when they host against Cal State L.A. in the penultimate game of the regular season.

Tip-off is set for 5:30 P.M.