It was a game that deserved a bigger and more enthusiastic crowd. Until the very end fans seemed to be treating it like a game against San Jose State. Maybe this win will motivate more people to come out, especially with Stanfurd coming up.
Michelle really earned her first four fouls but that last one was a horse manure call. Marta and Kayla really came through and the Bears' defense was absolutely stellar. Ioanna nearly gave me a heart attack by missing those three free throws before nailing the clincher. Don't know if I've ever seen Charmin more jazzed after a win. She had a right to be happy. Kudos to the team and the coaching staff. Hopefully this is a preview of more to come. GO BEARS!!!

that team plays really hard. what a satisfying game to watch.

Finnish Oski said:

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It was a game that deserved a bigger and more enthusiastic crowd.

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Certainly bigger, but the bleachers were shrieking.

Palms of Victory! I think we have a team here.

I was screaming! So happy for these young women and Charmin (and her staff). Very satisfying all around! Go Bears.

The ugly: it seems Cal wins in this fashion. A win is a win...but wow. Krimili misses 3 out of 4 FTs...I guess she the most critical one to give the Bears the final margin, so...all's well that ends well. When Michelle missed two layups at the start, I thought "uh oh". All-in-all, not a lot of ugly.

The bad: Michelle, at times, reverted back. Two of her fouls were probably not the best...both off the ball, one on a rebound in the first half, one on offense jostling with #21 in the paint. I didn't see it, but most likely an elbow or a clear out with her arm? I guess in fairness, #21 was chucking elbows too...Michelle has done a better job of not taking the bait lately, but tonight she got caught up in it. Marta had 5 TOs in the final box score but one was an offensive clear out foul and only two on questionable drives. Still bad...but not as bad.

The good: Marta and Kayla played inspired. And...Michelle made a difference in the 2nd half. Negated Alabama's post for the most part. Kayla made some very difficult shots (that reverse layup was a killer) and played as well as she could in a difficult matchup. When Marta was switched on to #14, I was concerned but she did make it a bit tougher. Take away #14's move to the right, and you probably have a chance. This Bear team plays hard and plays with grit. Noble, again with nothing in the box score that jumps out but she made a difference again on the positive side. A good 'glue' player that does the little things that contribute to winning. Cal did not let #3 (to date, Alabama's best player) and #32 go off - they did not make a 3 between them.

Tactical note: I'd like to see Marta get position to where it's one or two power dribbles then shoot or hit a cutter. When she drives from the 3 point line or goes coast to coast...I cringe.

I thought Cal did a better job in the 2nd half with straight-line drives. Against a defense that switches a lot, it's tough to on offense to screen off defenders...

A nice win (and a fun one) but the coach in me asks how does this team handle it? Play down to the opponent's level in the net game? In my mind, Cal needs to beat Pacific emphatically going into the Stanford game...and then beat Stanford. Doing so will speak volumes.

annarborbear said:

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Didn't foresee Kayla leading us in three pointers. She has stepped up.

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Kayla had a couple of high-scoring games earlier in the season. I wondered whether Lulu's mild injury (?) was slowing her down, and so Kayla was told to go shoot.

BearBint said:

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annarborbear said:

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Didn't foresee Kayla leading us in three pointers. She has stepped up.

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Kayla had a couple of high-scoring games earlier in the season. I wondered whether Lulu's mild injury (?) was slowing her down, and so Kayla was told to go shoot.

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My opinion is it was tough from Lulu to get open looks because Alabama tends to switch everything...and their players are as tall or taller than Lulu (and as quick or quicker). So no space. As a result, most of Lulu's shots were contested. I thought Lulu took #3 away for the most part (no small task). In the pregame chalk talk, it was said Lulu's assignment was #3. I'll have to look at the game replay to see but either way, whatever player Lulu defended did not go off. #14 and #21 did most of the damage.

From the pregame talk I had expected more offense from Alabama but after we got over our opening jitters we played hard thereafter. In the end only two Alabama players made half of their shots. We had enough scorers they just couldn't cover all of them.

I had to miss a few games but I don't recall seeing our starters play so much. Even so our bench got more minutes then Alabama's, that might have been the difference in a close game. I thought Natalia and Jayda played particularly well in their few minutes.

Great win, I'm getting ready for votes in the polls!

as gljone pointed out, Lulu shut and others shut down their top scorers down

I think it was also our defensive strategy. Two other players scored big points but you gotta pick your poison. I doubt their center would have scored so much if Michelle wasn't in big foul trouble.

The key was putting Marta on Green the second half. Shut her down in the third period and away we go. She also got three fouls on her then.

gljone said:

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The ugly: it seems Cal wins in this fashion. A win is a win...but wow. Krimili misses 3 out of 4 FTs...I guess she the most critical one to give the Bears the final margin, so...all's well that ends well. When Michelle missed two layups at the start, I thought "uh oh". All-in-all, not a lot of ugly.

The bad: Michelle, at times, reverted back. Two of her fouls were probably not the best...both off the ball, one on a rebound in the first half, one on offense jostling with #21 in the paint. I didn't see it, but most likely an elbow or a clear out with her arm? I guess in fairness, #21 was chucking elbows too...Michelle has done a better job of not taking the bait lately, but tonight she got caught up in it. Marta had 5 TOs in the final box score but one was an offensive clear out foul and only two on questionable drives. Still bad...but not as bad.

The good: Marta and Kayla played inspired. And...Michelle made a difference in the 2nd half. Negated Alabama's post for the most part. Kayla made some very difficult shots (that reverse layup was a killer) and played as well as she could in a difficult matchup. When Marta was switched on to #14, I was concerned but she did make it a bit tougher. Take away #14's move to the right, and you probably have a chance. This Bear team plays hard and plays with grit. Noble, again with nothing in the box score that jumps out but she made a difference again on the positive side. A good 'glue' player that does the little things that contribute to winning. Cal did not let #3 (to date, Alabama's best player) and #32 go off - they did not make a 3 between them.

Tactical note: I'd like to see Marta get position to where it's one or two power dribbles then shoot or hit a cutter. When she drives from the 3 point line or goes coast to coast...I cringe.

I thought Cal did a better job in the 2nd half with straight-line drives. Against a defense that switches a lot, it's tough to on offense to screen off defenders...

A nice win (and a fun one) but the coach in me asks how does this team handle it? Play down to the opponent's level in the net game? In my mind, Cal needs to beat Pacific emphatically going into the Stanford game...and then beat Stanford. Doing so will speak volumes.

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This analysis is spot on. (My first chance to comment since I was at the game.)
Early we came out flat, missed some easy open looks. Not sure if it was anxiety due to the opponent, or the eight day layoff. The two early fouls on Michele hurt, took away our leverage of the inside game and made it even tougher for us to get our usualy 3 point looks.
Second half we played more like us. And as stated, the real key was Charmin switching it up, first putting Marta on Zaay Green,(who was really a handful), and then during crunch time inserting Jayda into the game to guard her. As I've stated earlier, Jayda is really emerging as the X factor of this team. Her defensive intensity is really something special. And in this game, the victory was ultimately acheived on the defensive end of the court. Hopefully Saturday we come out sharper, and as usual need Michele to stay on the court. Go Bears!

I love Jayda. There was one rebound she got on a missed free throw that was amazing.

Talked to her after the second open practice and her dog's name is the same as mine.

My name is not wvit. but that is another story. It stands for West Virginia institute of Technology where I went to undergraduate school. Only two schools in the USA have a golden Bear for a mscot. University of California and West Virginia Tech. Tech was a small engineering school. I did post graduate work at Cal but that is not the reason I go to the games. I am a basketball fan and they are very close to my house. I live in Albany.