HAYWARD, Calif., -- The Cal State East Bay women's basketball team will play their final home game of the 2018-19 regular season with a California Collegiate Athletic Association matchup against Cal State Monterey Bay on Saturday afternoon, February 22 in Pioneer Gymnasium.
 
The Pioneers will honor their three seniors: Courtenay Brown, Savannah McGill and Elayshia Woolridge before the start of Saturday's contest.
 
East Bay enter the weekend carrying a 12-13 mark on the season with a 9-10 showing in CCAA action. CSUEB has won five of their last seven games to gain better positioning in the league standings the playoff approach.
 
The Pioneers picked up two points in the "Battle of the Bay's" earlier this season after their 64-55 victory in Seaside to close the 2018 calendar year.
 
WEEK IN REVIEW
The Cal State East Bay women's basketball team fell to visiting San Francisco State in overtime on Thursday by a final score of 87-82.
 
The Pioneers erased a 12-point first-half deficit to force the extra period, but they came up just short as the Gators turned in an impressive offensive effort.
 
CSUEB dominated the glass with a 52-37 rebounding advantage and they were excellent at the free throw line (24-for-30), but the Gators out-shot them 49 percent to 36 percent for the game.
 
The Pioneers, who lead the CCAA in scoring defense, played their best defense of the evening in the fourth quarter, limiting SF State to just 13 points. But East Bay simply couldn't get enough shots to fall in overtime, going 3-for-15 from the field in the five-minute period.
 
Regina Sankey led the way with 23 points and grabbed 10 rebounds to post her first double-double of the season. She did much of her offensive damage at the free throw line, where the junior went 11-for-12.
 
Senior Savannah McGill also notched a double-double -- her 10th of the year -- with 15 points and 13 boards. Elayshia Woolridge scored 12 points on 5-for-11 shooting, while Courtenay Brown and Faith Turner added eight points apiece off the bench.
 
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.
 
PIONEER POINTS
Savannah McGill leads the Pioneers in minutes, rebounding, free throws made and blocks on the season, and she's one of just six CCAA players currently averaging more than 10 rebounds per game. McGill is second in the conference and tied for 9th in the nation with 11.6 rebounds per game and ninth in the CCAA with 21 blocks. She has 10 double doubles on the season including seven double doubles in league play and has grabbed 13 or more rebounds in nine of the last 13 games.
 
Elayshia Woolridge has come on strong over the last two months. Woolridge leads the Pioneers with 11.4 points in CCAA action including double figures scoring in 14 of the last 18 games. She is first on the team with 2.4 assists through 30.0 minutes per outing.
 
Junior transfer Regina Sankey has played well of late for Cal State East Bay. Sankey has notched double figures in seven of the last 10 contests, including back to back games with 20 plus points. She is averaging 10.6 points and 5.1 rebounds on 43.5 percent shooting through 21.3 minutes per game off the bench in league play.
 
Pioneers ranks as the top defensive team in the CCAA. They're first in the league in scoring defense (60.1 ppg) and in opponent field goal percentage (.361). They have also been effective defending the three-point arc, holding teams to 28.4 percent. East Bay has performed impressively on the glass, they are third among the 13 CCAA schools in rebounding defense (36.5) and rebounding offense (40.0). The Pioneers are second in the league in total rebounds with 1041.
 
SCOUTING CAL STATE MONTEREY BAY
The Cal State Monterey Bay Otters enter the matchup against the Pioneer with a 1-22 mark on the season and a 1-18 showing in CCAA play after falling to Sonoma State before picking up their first win of the season over San Francisco State last week. Jordana Price leads the Otters with 11.3 points and 4.0 rebounds per game. Yolanda Ealy is adding 9.7 points and 5.1 rebounds per outing for Monterey Bay.