The CSU East Bay women’s basketball team concluded their regular season with an emotionally charged, hard-fought overtime win against the CSU Stanislaus Warriors Friday night.

The Pioneers, who saw their nine-game winning streak halted Thursday against Chico State, were not quite mentally or physically prepared for the battle against the 2-24 Warriors, who came to East Bay Friday night.

“I think we were emotionally exhausted from our loss last night against Chico,” said Head Coach Suzy Barcomb. “We couldn’t shake it and I thought Stanislaus played with more heart and more composure than we did and it almost cost us.”

Sloppy play with lots of turnovers was rampant throughout the game for both the Warriors and Pioneers, with both teams committing 24 turnovers each.

“We did not execute at all,” said a clearly frustrated Barcomb. “We did not execute at all tonight.”

Along with the turnovers and sloppy play, both teams shot the ball very poorly. The Pioneers only shot 33.3 percent from the field and could only muster one three-pointer for the game.

The Warriors shot 40.8 percent for the game and, much like the Pioneers, only made one three pointer the entire game.

With the sloppy play from both teams and the biggest lead of the game being only five points, the teams found themselves neck and neck coming down the stretch.

With less than a minute to go in the game and the score tied at 46, the Warriors came up with a huge steal, called a timeout and seemed to be in a prime situation to get the win with only 15.1 seconds left in the game.

Coming out of the timeout and with seconds clicking off the clock, the Warriors drew a foul with only 2.2 seconds left and were going to the foul line where a Warrior win seemed imminent.

With the entire Pioneer Gym rumbling and cheering, Stanislaus sophomore Erin Godde came to the line with pressure building and needing only one free throw to seal the win for her team.

Godde missed the first, which further frenzied the crowd, and with pressure building exponentially, Godde missed the second and the game moved on to overtime.

Sloppy play continued into overtime and the Pioneers only prevailed due to a couple of plays by their seniors.

“I think we hit one or two more free throws than they did,” said Barcomb. “I think [Lauren Lucchesi] had an offensive board on a missed free throw, [Marlene Macmillan] had a board on a missed free throw and one of those led to a lay-up”

Macmillan seemed to reiterate her coach’s outlook on the game and its conclusion.

“We couldn’t buy a shot to save our life but we rebounded at the end of the game so that’s really what mattered,” said Macmillan.

Junior Micah Walker believed her team was able to prevail in the hard fought game due to other factors, along with the ones mentioned by her coach and teammate.

“When it came down to it, its just heart and battle,” said Walker. “They missed some shots but I think it was just those two rebounds that put us past them.”

The intensity of the game seemed to make quite the impression on the Pioneer players.

“It was very physical,” said Barcomb. “It wasn’t one of our best nights by far. We couldn’t buy a shot. We didn’t shoot very well. We got a lot to learn from that game.”

“We weren’t ready mentally so we had to pick it up physically,” said Macmillan. “So luckily we came through with the win.”

As the final home game, the Pioneers honored their three seniors before the game. Nia Bravo, Lucchesi, and Macmillan were presented with flowers as family accompanied them to center court for the ceremony.

As her final home game came to an end Friday night, Macmillan took a moment to think back on her East Bay career.

“I love East Bay,” said Macmillan. “I wish I had another year here.”

Her final home game was one to be proud of; Macmillan had 15 points, 17 rebounds, five steals and two blocks.

The Pioneers now set their eyes and focus on their upcoming postseason game against CSU Los Angeles on Tuesday.

Barcomb knows that her team cannot continue playing the way they have the last couple games if they want to win.

“We have to play a lot better than we played the last two nights, we have to go back to playing the kind of basketball we know how to play,” said Barcomb. “We have to handle the physicality and we have to hit free throws. It’s tournament play. You can’t make these kind of mistakes in tournament play.”

With only a couple of days to prepare, Walker and her teammates are not taking this next game against Los Angeles lightly.

“Honestly, it’s going to be a battle. L.A. is a very physical team,” said Walker. “It’s going to take a lot of composure because we are in their house. We got to elevate how we’re playing right now.”

UPDATE:

The Pioneers traveled to Los Angeles for Tuesday’s game against the Golden Eagles.  Due to poor shooting in the game and especially the first half, the Pioneers fell behind early and never seemed to catch up.

They lost the game 67-53, with their season now coming to an end.