ANCHORAGE, Ala. -- The Cal State East Bay women's basketball team's remarkable 2016-17 season came to an end on Friday with a 74-48 loss to No. 16 Western Washington in the first round of the NCAA Division II West Regional tournament at Alaska Airlines Arena.

The California Collegiate Athletic Association (CCAA) tournament champion Pioneers finish the season with a 22-9 record, the program's third straight 20-win season. WWU (26-5) advances to the West Regional semifinals to take on either California Baptist or Point Loma. 

CSUEB's nine-game winning streak was halted with the loss, as the Vikings out-shot the Pioneers 50 percent to 29 percent from the field. Western Washington also finished with a 39-26 rebounding advantage, despite 10 boards by All-CCAA freshman Morgan Greene. 

For Greene, it was her ninth straight game with double-digit rebounds. She closed the season averaging 10.2 per contest, the highest rebounding average by a Pioneer in the CCAA era. She is also the first East Bay player in the CCAA era to record 300 rebounds in a season, finishing with 317.

Senior Shomari Harris, who already made history this season becoming the first CSUEB female athlete in any sport to capture the CCAA's Player of Year award, played all 40 minutes and led all scorers with 23 points in the game. Harris finished the season averaging 17.0 points per game, and she became the second CSUEB player in the CCAA era to score 500 points in a single season, joining Stephanie Lopez in 2014-15.

Harris went just 1-for-5 from three-point range, however, which was emblematic of East Bay's shooting woes against a big, athletic Western Washington squad. The Pioneers were just 2-for-17 from long distance, preventing them from staging any sort of comeback in the second half. 

The Vikings were hot from the opening tip, jumping out to a 9-0 lead to start the game. The Pioneers were on their heels much of the first quarter, which ended with a 20-7 lead for WWU.

The Pioneers played the Vikings much tighter the rest of the way, but they couldn't manage to make an extended scoring run to cut into their deficit. East Bay trailed 34-18 at halftime, and despite a 10-2 run early in the third quarter, they weren't able to get closer than 16 points in the second half. 

Wetsern Washington had three players score in double figures, led by 18 points each from Tia Briggs and Taylor Peacocke, the leading scorer in the nation.

Elayshia Woolridge scored eight points off the bench, going 6-for-7 at the foul line, and senior Shonatalene Trudeau added six on 3-for-6 shooting. 

Remy Puou had four points and three boards in her final game as a Pioneer. The All-CCAA honoree finished her career ranked third in program history in blocks (87) and field goal percentage (.478), and sixth in rebounds (563) and made field goals (320).

After starting 5-6, the Pioneers closed the season by winning 14 of their final 16 games, and 17 of their last 20 under first-year head coach Shanele Stires, who joined the program in October. CSUEB out-performed every expectation to repeat as CCAA Champions and return to the NCAA DII Tournament.

Harris and Puou will be gone next year, but this is an otherwise young East Bay squad that started three freshmen this season. Given the hurdles these women had to overcome over the last 12 months, their 2016-17 season will stand as one of the most impressive accomplishments in program history. But Coach Stires and the returning Pioneers will head into 2017-18 with even higher aspirations, as they look to build Cal State East Bay into a yearly contender in the CCAA and the West Region.