The CSU East Bay women’s basketball team will enter this week’s matchups with the vision of making it to the California Collegiate Athletic Association (CCAA) playoffs.

The Pioneers currently find themselves in a three-way tie with Sonoma State and CSU San Bernardino for seventh place in the CCAA with only two spots remaining in the championship bracket.

Although all three teams stand in with 8-12 conference records and will end the regular season with losing records regardless of what happens in their final two games of the season this week. Two of the three will earn a playoff spot as the top eight of twelve teams in the conference earn the right at a playoff spot every year.

If the teams are still tied following the end of the regular season after head-to-head record, the next tiebreaker is their records against teams already seeded in the tournament, beginning with the number one seed and moving down. If the tie remains, the next tactic would be looking at records against teams not in the tournament, beginning with the ninth-place team, according to Pioneer Athletics.

The Pioneers will travel to CSU Stanislaus tonight, then to Chico State tomorrow night, who has already clinched a playoff spot.
The Pioneers split the series over the weekend at home against CSU San Bernardino and UC San Diego.

On Friday, Feb. 17, the Pioneers entered a must-win game against San Bernardino, one of the contenders for the final two playoff spots. Led by a 19-point scoring attack by Micah Walker, the Pioneers were able to defeat the Coyotes, 58-52.

The following night, the Pioneers welcomed the undefeated and first place team in the division in UC San Diego. Despite leading by a point at the half, the Pioneers could not hang on as they fell to the Tritons by a final score of 57-75.

“We played three games in five days with nine players,” said head coach Suzy Barcomb.  “Challenging to say the very least.  We had to beat San Bernardino, to even out our series at 1-1 and we accomplished that.  For CSUEB to be leading the number one team in the nation at half time and be in the game was a major accomplishment.”

Despite starting the year with a losing record, the Pioneers have significantly turned things around with a winning record for the second half of the season.

This year, the Pioneers have accomplished quite a few milestones that had yet to be met since their move to Division II. This year they have the most wins as a Division II program (10) and most wins as a CCAA member (seven), with two more games still to be played. The Pioneers got their first win against a nationally ranked opponent, which came against Cal Poly Pomona on Feb.11, and their first sweep of a CCAA opponent versus San Francisco State. They also accomplished the longest winning streak of four games, which is also the second longest in the CCAA this year, and Barcomb picked up her 250th career win on Feb. 10 against San Francisco State.

Currently the Pioneers are ranked first in defensive rebounding, averaging 33.3 per game and second in scoring defense, only giving up 57.9 points per game.

“The season has been a tremendous success.  If you consider our overall record our record in the CCAA and the fact that we have beaten some of the top ranked teams in the CCAA, we definitely have achieved several milestones,” said Barcomb. “Especially when you consider all the obstacles we have overcome in terms of injuries and illness. Our roster has been depleted and we at present have 9 active players.  The CCAA is challenging enough, but considering we have a very short bench what we have accomplished is even more meaningful.”

Leading scorers Marlene MacMillan and Micah Walker, along with Brianna Terrance, have been pivotal pieces in the Pioneers mid-season turnaround that have allowed them to be in the playoff hunt.

According to Barcomb, the three have stepped up tremendously in the Pioneers’ run towards playoff contention and they, along with the rest of the team, look to keep the momentum rolling heading into their final two games of the regular season.

“Our number one goal all season long was to earn a CCAA play-off spot,” said Barcomb. “For our program to be in last place in the CCAA in 2010-11 and for us to be fighting for a play-off spot, shows that we are moving this program in the right direction.

All we can control is how we play, our effort, our intensity and our focus.  We can’t worry about anything but CSUEB and how we play.”