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• February 6, 2010

HAYWARD, Calif. - The Cal State East Bay women's basketball team put up a strong effort but could not stop a hot-shooting Cal State Dominguez Hills team, falling to the Toros 84-69 on Saturday night. Coming off their first win of the season, the Pioneers (1-19, 1-14 CCAA) were led by freshman center Lauren Lucchesi and junior guard Claudia Nelson in the loss.

"We played well in some spots tonight," CSUEB Head Coach Toni West said. "Dominguez Hills has some experienced players who took them through the playoffs last year and we are lacking that area, which hurt us tonight."

The first half saw Cal State Dominguez Hills jump out to an early eight-point lead while holding the Pioneers without a field goal for the first four minutes of the game. After two jumpers from Lucchesi and a three from Nelson, East Bay closed the gap to five, 18-13, with 12 minutes remaining in the first frame. The Toros answered, however, with a 15-7 run to notch their largest lead of the half, 33-20, at the 6:15 mark.

The Pioneers took back momentum, putting together a 13-2 run to close the gap to just two with 1:31 remaining in the half. The run was sparked by a three from sophomore guard Frieda Li and capped by a jumper from junior guard Andrea Rodriguez. Though the Toros regained a six-point lead with 13 ticks left, East Bay finished the half with a Rodriguez trey at the buzzer to cut the Dominguez Hills advantage to three, 41-38, at the half.

The Toros came out of the break looking to take hold of the momentum once again, and did just that, building a 13-point lead at the 14:29 mark after hitting four three pointers in the first six minutes of the second stanza. Junior guard Neka Mixon quickly began to build on her 11 first-half points, knocking down two threes to open the second frame.

Despite the Pioneers' best efforts, the Toros matched them basket-for-basket over the next five minutes, holding onto a 13-point lead, 61-48, with just under 10 minutes to play. From there, East Bay started a comeback push, going on an 8-1 run to cut the lead to six with 6:45 left.

With its advantage cut to 62-56, Dominguez Hills found its shooting touch again, re-opening a 13-point lead over the next six minutes, despite the Pioneers closing the gap to seven three times during that span. The Toros knocked down nine of their 10 free throws down the stretch to hold onto the lead and maintain the win.

Nelson and Lucchesi led the Pioneers with 15 points apiece, with Lucchesi going 5-for-10 from the floor and a perfect 5-for-5 from the free throw line while pacing the team on the glass with eight rebounds. Rodriguez joined the pair in double figures with 13 points on 3-for-5 shooting. East Bay got 21 points off the bench, including a combined 15 from Li and senior forward Colleen Cooley. The Pioneers, who are still playing without the help of freshman guard Jasmine Smith and junior forward Amaris Sanders, shot 36.5 percent for the game and had one of their best nights of the season from the charity stripe, knocking down 80 percent of their free throws.

"Once we are more consistent in our execution of our offense and defense we will be a tough opponent in the CCAA," West said. "We're definitely missing Jasmine as a back up ball handler and Amaris in the post, but we had some people step up off the bench tonight and that helped us. We are getting closer to having a strong set of 10 players."

Mixon doubled her first-half total in the second frame for Dominguez Hills, pouring in another 22 and finishing with 33 points and 13 boards in her fourth double-double of the season. The Long Beach native's night was among the best in Toro history as she went 12-for-17 from the field, including four treys. Junior guard Brandie McCann and sophomore guard MacKenzie Mathias added 17 and 13, respectively. CSUDH had a quality shooting night, hitting 44.4 percent of their field goals, going 8-for-16 from beyond the arc.

The Pioneers will return to action next week, as they head out for their final five-game road trip of the season. Cal State East Bay will travel to Chico State on Feb. 12 in the first of five games in eight days.