HAYWARD, Calif., -- The Cal State East Bay women's basketball team concluded their Homecoming weekend slate with a 59-49 victory over Sonoma State Saturday afternoon, February 16 in Pioneer Gymnasium.
 
With the crucial win, East Bay moves to 12-13 on the season with a 9-10 mark in California Collegiate Athletic Association (CCAA) action.
 
The Pioneers used dominate defense after the intermission to secure the comeback victory. After falling behind 20-5 after the opening quarter of action CUSEB bounced back to outscore the visiting Seawolves 21-12 in the second quarter. Despite that East Bay still trailed Sonoma State 32-26 at halftime.
 
After allowing the Seawolves to shoot 40 percent in the first half of play the Pioneers defense held their opponents to just 29 percent accuracy in the second half of action. Sonoma State only scored 17 second half points including no double digit scoring quarters in the second half of action.
 
Junior Regina Sankey (San Jose, Calif.) notched a career-best 25 points in 30 minutes off the bench. Sankey went 9-for-19 from the field while knocking down the team-high three three-pointers and connecting on four of five foul shots. She grabbed eight rebounds and secured a career-high six steals.
 
Sankey scored 25 of the Pioneers 32 total bench points as the CSUEB outscored Sonoma 32-5 in reserve production. East Bay also held a clear advantage in the fast break points outscoring Sonoma State 10-0.
 
Cal State East Bay was narrowly edge out in the rebounding category 45-42. It was just the ninth time all season that the Pioneers have been outrebounded by their opponents. East Bay did however outscore the Seawolves in paint points 30-24.
 
Senior point guard Elayshia Woolridge (Oakland, Calif.) led all CUSEB starters with 10 points through 28 minutes. Woolridge added five rebounds, two assists and a steal. Fellow senior Savannah McGill (Lacey, Wash.) corralled a team-high 11 rebounds to go along with six points.
 
The East Bay defense forced the Sonoma State into 22 turnovers which led to 16 points for the Pioneers. Kayley Hsiung (Bakersfield, Calif.) collected two steals for CSUEB as she also tallied a team-high four assists to go along with six points and four rebounds. Madison Schiller (Ridgecrest, Calif.) also nabbed two steals with five points on 2-for-4 shootings and two rebounds.
 
The Pioneers will host Cal State Monterey Bay for Senior night on Saturday, February 23 in Pioneer Gymnasium.