ANCHORAGE, Ala. -- The Cal State East Bay women's basketball is in the great white north of Alaska preparing for the first round of the NCAA Division II West Regionals on Friday. The No. 6 seed Pioneers (22-8) will take on No. 3 seed Western Washington (25-5) in the first round at 1:00 p.m. from the Alaska Airlines Arena.

The winner of the eight-team Regional will advance to the Elite Eight in Columbus, Ohio for a chance to play for the national title. The Pioneers are returning the NCAA DII Tournament for the second straight season after a 28-year absence. Last season, CSUEB entered as the No. 5 seed at the West Regional in Azusa, Calif. and fell to conference rival UC San Diego in the first round.

The 2016-17 Pioneers are riding a magical hot streak into the NCAA postseason. After graduating nearly every rotation player from last year's record-setting team and going through two coaching changes in the offseason, Cal State East Bay brought in first-year head coach to take over the program in October. The Pioneers started the season with some rocky moments, and on Christmas they had just a 5-6 record. 

But the squad made some adjustments and began to show consistent improvement over the next couple months. And now a team that starts three freshmen has won 17 of its last 19 games and heads into this weekend on a nine-game winning streak. 

That streak included a 3-0 record at last week's California Collegiate Athletic Association (CCAA) Tournament in San Marcos, where the Pioneers captured their second straight CCAA championship. Senior Shomari Harris is the first Cal State East Bay female athlete ever to win CCAA Player of the Year in any sport, and after scoring 24 points in the title game against UCSD, Harris was also named CCAA Tournament Most Valuable Player. 

The development of CSUEB's front court into a dominant unit has been key to the team's recent success. Four-year Pioneer Remy Puou has taken a leap forward as a senior and has played the best basketball of her career down the stretch. The First Team All-CCAA honoree is averaging 15.1 points and 10.1 rebounds over her last seven games. 

Not to be outdone, freshman All-CCAA selection Morgan Greene has been a monster on the boards in recent weeks. The conference leader in rebounding has recorded double figures in eight straight contests, during which time she's averaging 13.5 rebounds a game.

After spending most or all of the 2015-16 postseason run on the bench, junior Bri Guillory, sophomore Elayshia Woolridge, and senior Shontalene Trudeau have all been extremely valuable members of East Bay's rotation this season. Guillory scored a team-high 20 points to lift the Pioneers in their CCAA semifinal win over Cal Poly Pomona.

Friday's first-round matchup against No. 16 Western Washington will be East Bay's first game against a nationally ranked team since falling 101-73 on the road to No. 3 California Baptist on Dec. 10.

To follow the Pioneers throughout their trip to Alaska, follow Greene's "Student-Athlete Experience" video blog at eastbaypioneers.com/videoblog.

SCOUTING THE VIKINGS
Western Washington has been even hotter than CSUEB in the latter part of the season, winning 19 of their last 21 games. Three of their five losses this year are to No. 1 seed Alaska Anchorage, and they haven't lost a game to any other team since December. WWU is led by Great Northwest Conference Player of the Year Taylor Peacocke, who leads the nation in scoring (23.4 ppg) and is one of the most deadly three-point shooters in the tournament. Cal State East Bay is 0-5 all-time against the Vikings, but the teams have not met since the 2010-11 season.