It wraps up a stretch of three straight home contests to begin the California Collegiate Athletic Association (CCAA) schedule, which will be followed by a three-game road trip over the next two weeks.

WEEKLY RECAP
East Bay played its final non-conference tune-up last Tuesday on the road at Cal Maritime, running away with their third victory of the season by a final of 71-33. Senior Savannah McGill picked up her second double-double with 14 points and 10 rebounds, going 6-for-7 from the field. Junior Kincso Kelemen had a good shooting day, knocking down 4-of-6 from three-point range. She and junior Jojuan Carrington both added 12 points in the win.

Head coach Shanele Stires was able to dig deep in her bench, with every active player logging at least 15 minutes. The lone exception was junior Morgan Greene, who sustained an injury seven minutes into the contest. It appears likely that Greene, the nation's second-leading rebounder a year ago, will be sidelined for the remainder of 2018-19.

The Pioneers returned home following the Thanksgiving holiday to host Cal State San Marcos last Saturday in the CCAA opener. They held a lead after one quarter, and played a very talented Cougar team close overall as Kayley Hsiung (11 points), Regina Sankey (13 points), and Madison Schiller (12 points) all shot the ball well to keep East Bay in the game. But ultimately, they weren't able to come back from a big second-quarter run by San Marcos in a 68-58 loss.

BATTLING THE BEST IN THE WEST
The Pioneers have played an extremely difficult schedule so far in the young season. All three of their losses are to teams currently ranked in the top 10 in the D2SIDA West Region poll, including Alaska Anchorage, the no. 4 team in the country. The Seawolves, Concordia Portland, and CSUSM have a combined record of 14-2. 

The slate doesn't necessarily get any easier this week either. After tangling with an athletic Dominguez Hills squad on Thursday, the Pioneers welcome in Cal State LA, which is undefeated and also holds a spot in the West Region top 10.

TOP NOTCH DEFENSE
CSUEB has been taking care of business on the defensive end for the majority of the season, and when they're playing well, they've been extremely difficult to score on. Twice the Pioneers have held opponents under 50 points, and they rank third in the CCAA overall allowing just 59.8 points per game. East Bay is also fourth in the conference in opponent field goal percentage, second in opponent three-point shooting, and third in rebounding defense. 

TRACKING THE TOROS
Despite some inconsistency on offense, the Pioneers are well ahead of Cal State Dominguez Hills this season in field goal percentage by a margin of .361 to .342. The Toros will be playing their first CCAA contest Thursday after a four-game non-conference slate that included wins over Concordia Irvine and Biola and losses to Alaska and Alaska Anchorage. Dijour Ledbetter has been CSUDH's best player thus far, averaging 12.3 points and 8.0 rebounds on 60 percent shooting. The Pioneers and Toros split their two meetings in 2017-18, with Dominguez squeaking out a one-point win in Carson and East Bay returning the favor with an 11-point victory in Hayward.

LOOKING AT L.A.
The Golden Eagles are off to a great start under head coach Cheryl Miller, earning wins over Biola, Concordia Irvine, and Stanislaus State by an average of 10 points per game, holding opponents under 34 percent shooting. CSULA is led by Rachel DiRegolo, who's averaging 16.0 points and 10.3 rebounds while shooting 63.3 percent, as well as Madison 
Adams, who's scoring 14.0 points per game on 47.4 percent shooting from three-point range. Point guard Christine Delapina is also dishing out 6.3 assists per game. CSULA has won three of the last four meetings against the Pioneers over the last two seasons.