2024-25 Women's Basketball Roster - Austin Peay State University Athletics

I predict that the Bears will handle the Governors on Sunday afternoon, 80-50. Once again, I'm guessing that Cal will be flat for this game following the tremendous throttling of Stanford on Friday night. If they can play well, the victory margin could be larger (85-45).

This game is not a good matchup for Austin Peay (3-5). They have a 13-player roster with ten guards and three forwards. Their coach rotates 8 players between 15 and 29 minutes per game. No one stands taller than 5-11. Surprisingly-the Governors play four guards and a forward while only getting outrebounded by 3 per game. Opponents have outscored AP by 11.8 ppg and forced them into an average of 20.6 turnovers.

The team from Clarksville, Tennessee could have a bright future, however, because their top three performers are youngsters. Their top offensive threat is 5-11 freshman forward, Sa'Mya Wyatt, who averages 12.4 points and grabs 5.8 rebounds per game. This young lady can shoot with a 56.4 FG% The ASUN Conference's freshman of the year in 2023-24 was La'Nya Foster. She's a 5-9 sophomore wing that scores 9.4 points and corrals 7.3 boards per contest. She's quite athletic, leading the team in shot blocks (14) and steals (12)! Frosh SG, 5-10 Anovia Sheals, contributes 9.4 points and 4.4 rebounds.

Two seniors round out their starting lineup. Abby Cater, a 5-7 guard, registers 7.9 points and 3.1 rpg. Their 5-2 point-guard is Nariyah Simmons (3.1 ppg). Two players to watch off of the bench are 5-5 frosh SG, Briana Rivera. She is the team's designated three-point shooter, hitting 11 out of 34 attempts. Junior SG, Anala Nelson, was the 2nd leading scorer last season and scored in double figures on 19 occasions. This year she appears to be struggling (30 turnovers), tallying only 3.4 points per game.

2024-2025 Austin Peay State University Women's Basketball (PDF) - Austin Peay State University Athletics

This is the smallest team that the Bears have faced this season. Cal should run their offense through entry passes into the post. This will force the Governors to provide help defense and double team. This will provide Cal a choice to go inside or pass back outside to open three-point shooters. Natalia Ackerman (6-1) and Gabrielle Abigor (6-3) should also have good games. It will be interesting to see how Charmin Smith's five freshmen compare to the young talent of Austin Peay. GO BEARS!

Hopefully this is a game where Cal can get our bench involved a lot … our freshmen rotation players of Lola, Gabrielle and King need more court time. Maul can also help us this season and needs PT to build confidence.

The other players just need PT as this maybe the last opportunity for them to get primetime minutes (Anastasia scored her first college basketball)

Schroeder71 said:

---

2024-25 Women's Basketball Roster - Austin Peay State University Athletics

I predict that the Bears will handle the Governors on Sunday afternoon, 80-50. Once again, I'm guessing that Cal will be flat for this game following the tremendous throttling of Stanford on Friday night. If they can play well, the victory margin could be larger (85-45).

This game is not a good matchup for Austin Peay (3-5). They have a 13-player roster with ten guards and three forwards. Their coach rotates 8 players between 15 and 29 minutes per game. No one stands taller than 5-11. Surprisingly-the Governors play four guards and a forward while only getting outrebounded by 3 per game. Opponents have outscored AP by 11.8 ppg and forced them into an average of 20.6 turnovers.

The team from Clarksville, Tennessee could have a bright future, however, because their top three performers are youngsters. Their top offensive threat is 5-11 freshman forward, Sa'Mya Wyatt, who averages 12.4 points and grabs 5.8 rebounds per game. This young lady can shoot with a 56.4 FG% The ASUN Conference's freshman of the year in 2023-24 was La'Nya Foster. She's a 5-9 sophomore wing that scores 9.4 points and corrals 7.3 boards per contest. She's quite athletic, leading the team in shot blocks (14) and steals (12)! Frosh SG, 5-10 Anovia Sheals, contributes 9.4 points and 4.4 rebounds.

Two seniors round out their starting lineup. Abby Cater, a 5-7 guard, registers 7.9 points and 3.1 rpg. Their 5-2 point-guard is Nariyah Simmons (3.1 ppg). Two players to watch off of the bench are 5-5 frosh SG, Briana Rivera. She is the team's designated three-point shooter, hitting 11 out of 34 attempts. Junior SG, Anala Nelson, was the 2nd leading scorer last season and scored in double figures on 19 occasions. This year she appears to be struggling (30 turnovers), tallying only 3.4 points per game.

2024-2025 Austin Peay State University Women's Basketball (PDF) - Austin Peay State University Athletics

This is the smallest team that the Bears have faced this season. Cal should run their offense through entry passes into the post. This will force the Governors to provide help defense and double team. This will provide Cal a choice to go inside or pass back outside to open three-point shooters. Natalia Ackerman (6-1) and Gabrielle Abigor (6-3) should also have good games. It will be interesting to see how Charmin Smith's five freshmen compare to the young talent of Austin Peay. GO BEARS!

---

Get the lead up to 20 and then put in the subs. No sense risking injuries in a game like this.

Final Cal 71 AP 45

Cal limits AP to 28% shooting
King (7), Mafua (2) and Ackerrman (2) (and williams(4)) with Cal's 15 4th quarter points.
Cal only credited with 10 shots in the quarter. 3 more turnovers.

King with a career high (ok early career) 13 points and 4 rebounds. No credited assists, but not for lack of trying!

and, oddly, Cal had zero second chance points off 6 offensive rebounds.

Considering a midday Sunday game vs an unknown and middling opponent, I thought attendance was decent. Implies momentum for acc season?

I was glad to see the subs get a fair amount of time on the court. Cal will need that bench depth in conference as the schedule will get brutal soon.... King is very speedy and Abigor had some nice plays too. Both are going be good players for the team moving forward.... I was happy to see the Bears finally take it to the basket....Defensive stalwart Donez was out with a thigh bruise so I hope she's back by next weekend. Overall a game that I sort of expected....working out stuff, giving players rest and others experience.

Schroeder71 said:

---

I predicted a 30-point victory margin (80-50) but the Bears could only muster 26. I grade this game as a C-.
Has Cal had a more mediocre performance so far this season? The only Cal frosh that look as if they might contribute next season appear to be #3 King and #33 Abigor. The Bears scored less today than they did against the Pacific Tigers (74) on the road. Fifteen assists against 18 turnovers against a weak opponent.

---

Ummmm....the "only" Cal frosh who "might contribute next seaons???????"....give me a break...King, Abigor and did you forget Donez is a frosh too. She was out with an injury but has played a fair number of minutes for the Bears thus far. Mafua will come along....and Bowes is a freakin' walk on. You know it's a drag to be so negative when there's actually good things happening....

Sure, the starters could have executed better but this was a game scheduled so that the bench could play, etc....I'm sure there was a huge letdown after Friday's game. Not an excuse, but geeze, cut 'em some slack.

Attendance 1428. Better than expected. We were flat.

I have always like Zahari, but she hasn't played much. Very athletic and can shoot. Early in the season, when practicing against the male practice players she did a lot of one handed passing off the dribble. Charmin called her over and told her to quit that as she was turning the ball over too much. I noticed she didn't do that today.

Thee biggest thing i got today was their poor try at a zone defense. we gave up a lot of layups. Looks like we haven't practiced it much. We have never in the past played the zone well but it was especially hideous today.

Abigor played well. She is very athletic.

It is always fun being at the game. Nothing like live basketball.

Any victory less than two days after an intense historic rivalry game is a good win.

You are right. Every one knows we would be flat today. It is not worth criticizing the team. Might as well not watch as it will be a self fulfilling prophecy.

Unlike certain regular poster -- mentioned above -- I'm looking for positive in today's performance. I believe we got a preview of what Zahra King can bring to the table. She looks a lot more poised than she did earlier in the season. She's good on the dribble drive and can be a force on defensive. Gabriele is going to play a significant role this season as well and I see improvement in Kamryn too. I'm pleased that given the Stanfurd game "hangover" we coasted to an easy win. So sorry that they didn't hit the 30-point mark and ruined a pre-game prediction, shame on them.
Final note, maybe they should be called the Austin Peay Walkers. I counted at least seven traveling violations, quite a lot for this level.

Finnish Oski said:

---

Unlike certain regular poster -- mentioned above -- I'm looking for positive in today's performance. I believe we got a preview of what Zahra King can bring to the table. She looks a lot more poised than she did earlier in the season. She's good on the dribble drive and can be a force on defensive. Gabriele is going to play a significant role this season as well and I see improvement in Kamryn too. I'm pleased that given the Stanfurd game "hangover" we coasted to an easy win. So sorry that they didn't hit the 30-point mark and ruined a pre-game prediction, shame on them.
Final note, maybe they should be called the Austin Peay Walkers. I counted at least seven traveling violations, quite a lot for this level.

---

Nailed it!

Even Kamryn Mafua looked a bit more confident. Likewise, Anastasia.

Given that there were at least 4 freshmen on the floor for virtually the entire 4th quarter, I couldn't be prouder of their effort. They didn't allow Austin Peay to make any kind of run. And they maintained the advantage the Bears had when Kayla left the game.

Boo-hoo not a 30-point win. The experience gained is priceless.

We're 11-1!!!

My favorite part of the game was when the refs made a bad call on a ball that bounced out of bounds of an AP player's knee, and Charmin started arguing and then slipped and then called for the famous floor wiper guy to come wipe the floor where she fell and as he ran over, Charmin did his signature floor slide in front of him and laughed. it was in the middle of game action too. Shows how relaxed and confident Charmin and the team are right now, I think!

Meanwhile, over in USC land Gottlieb had her starters in the game in the final quarter with 5 minutes left and her team leading by 50 points over Elon! And then, JuJu went down with an injury...rolled her ankle. I'm glad Charmin is our coach.

https://www.si.com/onsi/womens-fastbreak/news/fans-question-usc-star-juju-watkins-remaining-in-blowout-amid-apparent-ankle-roll-01jf6bv9pcde

Gottlieb has JuJu chasing Clark's scoring record, but still, it's just crazy imho. I think these huge margins are ridiculous if your starters are still playing.

Schroeder71 said:

---

Cal has given up mostly layups, turned the ball over several times unforced & has been out hustled and rebounded by a lineup of 5-11 players or shorter. Onyiah, Krimili, Twidale & Suarez have played in slow motion on defense and missed some of the easiest cripples that I have ever seen.

The two freshmen Sheals (#4) and Wyatt (#20) have scored easily to tally 11 & 9 points, respectively, at halftime and the soph Foster (#10) has 6.

Cal's two PGs, Williams and King, are 7-7 from the floor and are the only players performing at a high level. The other starters should be absolutely embarrassed w/ their lackadaisical efforts.


Twidale has had two of her shots blocked and Suarez (6-3) one. Onyiah had the ball ripped away from her a couple of times. The Governors are exhibiting much more effort than the Bears. Cal could only score 13 points in the 3rd quarter. Only one starter has double figures against Austin Peay. The Governors held the Bears to 29 points in the second half. The leading rebounder for the Bears was our 5-7 PG, Kayla Williams, with 8.

I predicted a 30-point victory margin (80-50) but the Bears could only muster 26. I grade this game as a C-.
Has Cal had a more mediocre performance so far this season? The only Cal frosh that look as if they might contribute next season appear to be #3 King and #33 Abigor. The Bears scored less today than they did against the Pacific Tigers (74) on the road. Fifteen assists against 18 turnovers against a weak opponent.

---

Schroeder71, first let me say that I really appreciate your pregame summary/scouting reports on the upcoming opponents. They are usually very informative and the fact that you post them indicates that you are a true Cal fan.

That being said, I know this purpose of this forum is for all of us to express our opinions. And you are definitely entitled to yours. But since you give yourself the leeway to sometimes be very blunt when you express your opinions, I will in turn be blunt with a couple of my own.

You stated that today except for Kayla the other four starters should be embarassed with their efforts.

I feel that as someone who analyzes these games, there are times when you should be embarassed by some of the things you say. Many of these comments are over simplified. I seriously question whether you have played the game at any level. First of all, even though you mentioned that the four starters were a step slow, in most cases your analysis tends to focus only on the offensive end of the court, (it's only half the game.) Lulu had two of her shots blocked and Marta one, so what? What does that have to do with effort? It's basketball and that stuff happens. The Bears scored less points today than they scored against Pacific. So what? They also happened to allow 21 less points than they did against Pacific. That's part of the deal, right?

The other night when I got home from the furd game I read your half time analysis from the game thread. You made it a point of emphasis that our bench players, whom were used primarily in the second quarter did not score a single point. So what? The fact is our team outscored the Furd 19-12 in that quarter. Charmin and any other coach would take that every time. The bench does not have to score to be effective. You pointed out that Jayda threw up a 3 point airball. So what? Anyone with a bit of aptitude for this team would know that Jayda quite often is our most valuable player on the court because of her defense. She doesn't necessarily have to score a single point in any given game and she may still be a factor in a Cal victory.

So again, say whatever you want to say here, but as a fellow poster and a guy that knows a little bit about the game, I take exception when you state that players should be embarassed when their game is substandard. I've seen LeBron miss a layup. 52 years ago I saw Brooks Robinson make three errors in one game. In the athletic world, just like life, sometimes sh*t happens.