HAYWARD, Calif. – Cal State East Bay women's basketball hosted Sonoma State at Pioneer Gymnasium on Saturday evening. The Seawolves won a back-and-forth contest, 69-65 over the Pioneers.
 

GAME SUMMARY

The Pioneers started the game on a 14-2 run capped by a pair of Jaela Richardson free throws with 3:53 left in the quarter. The Seawolves outscored the Pioneers 7-5 over the remainder of the quarter as the Pioneers led 19-9.
 
The lead for CSUEB was its largest of the game, 26-11 on a layup by Brooke Donnelly with 6:32 left in the half. A 14-7 run by Sonoma State for the rest of the half cut into CSUEB's lead, as it was 33-25 at halftime.
 
The run by Sonoma State spilled into the start of the second half, as the Seawolves outscored East Bay 24-13 in the third quarter, as the run capped by an Alli McDonald 3-pointer with 44 seconds left, for a 49-46 lead.
 
Although the Seawolves led by as much as six points in the fourth quarter, the Pioneers would come as close as one, at 62-61, on a three-point play by Richardson with 1:05 left. However, CSUEB did not come any close as Sonoma State won 69-65. 
 

NOTABLE STATS

• Richardson scored a season-high 29 points for the Pioneers as she went 10-for-13 from the floor and 9-for-11 from the free throw line.
• Also reaching double-figures in scoring was Payton Sterk with 16 points as all four of her field goals were from beyond the arc.  
• Taylor Linzie had a team-high 11 rebounds for the Pioneers. 
• McDonald scored 20 points for the Seawolves.
• Cal State East Bay shot 45.7 percent from the floor to the Seawolves' 45.1 percent.
• The Pioneers outrebounded the Seawolves 35-23.

POSTGAME QUOTE

Cal State East Bay head coach Jenny Thigpin following Saturday's game:
"We had a great start and played extremely hard in the first half. In the end we put ourselves in position to win the game but came up short."
 

RECORDS

Cal State East Bay: 10-17, 8-13 CCAA
Sonoma State: 16-12, 11-10 CCAA
 

UP NEXT FOR CAL STATE EAST BAY

The final game of the 2023-24 season for the Pioneers takes place this coming Thursday with a home matchup against San Francisco State. Tipoff is set for 5:30 p.m. Prior to tipoff, a Senior Night Ceremony will be held at Pioneer Gymnasium. On December 31, the Gators defeated CSUEB, 68-61.