HAYWARD, Calif., -- The Cal State East Bay women's basketball opened their final home stand of the season with a tough, 59-46 loss to the No. 25 UC San Diego Tritons Thursday evening, Feb. 20, inside Pioneer Gymnasium.
 
With the loss, the Pioneers drop to the fourth spot in the California Collegiate Athletic Association (CCAA) carrying a 12-7 mark in conference action and a 16-9 record overall on the season.
 
Despite the outcome, East Bay played a solid overall game against the top team in the league. The deciding factor for the Pioneers was their struggles converting shots, as CSUEB shot a season-low 29.3 percent from the field.
 
But defensively the Pioneers held the second-highest scoring team in the conference to just 59 points, 12 points lower than their season average. CUSEB forced UC San Diego into 14 total turnovers than turned into 10 points for the Pioneers. East Bay did however commit 16 turnovers that translated into 10 points for the Tritons.
 
Junior Madison Schiller paced the Pioneers with nine points, four rebounds, a block and a steal. Junior Morgan Greene added five points while grabbing a team-best eight rebounds to go along with a team-high four steals. CSUEB only registered 14 points inside the painted area to 28 from UC San Diego (21-4, 17-3). The Pioneers did however outrebound the Tritons 33-31 for the contest.
 
The East Bay reserves were tremendous for the home team as they outscored the UC San Diego bench 26-21 for the ballgame. Freshman Mina Tameliau tied the team lead with nine points with four rebounds in 22 minutes. Senior Regina Sankey turned in a solid performance with eight points on 3-for-5 shooting, including 2-of-4 from three-point range. Sankey chipped in two rebounds and two steals. Freshman Celeste Almendarez finished with seven points and three rebounds on 3-for-6 shooting from the floor in 13 minutes.
 
The Pioneers will wrap up their 2019-20 home schedule with a Saturday Senior Day matchup against the visiting Cal State San Marcos Cougars. Tipoff is scheduled for 1 p.m. inside Pioneer Gymnasium.