Claudia is listed as a game time decision on the availability report.
Syracuse has no one out.

We are 3.5 points underdogs.

Winner of this game gets Louisville.

I hope that Naya Ojukwu stays out of foul trouble and gets lots of minutes today. She was the high scorer in triple OT with 25 points. Ojukwu made 50% of her shots. GO BEARS!

I'm not seeing Claudia warming up

Yep... Claudia is not in the warmup line..
Sakima got a late tape job but is in

Not the best start - sloppy passes, an inbounds violation, giving up offensive rebounds ....
and well, 13-4 Syracuse ahead at first medai timeout.

Soft 4 foot bounce passes in the lane aren't gonna cut it.

6 TO's in 5 minutes, Puff with 3. Exact opposite of what we need.

bruh what the heck happened I just got the game on and we are already down 17. Lock in!!

Cal allows 15 points off turnovers in one quarter. That's really hard to do. They look shook out there.

Bad defense. On offense unable to execute and horrendous decision making with the ball.

crazy how many times they've hit the floor driving into the paint

Not sure what's gonna happen in this game but Charmin needs to revamp her staff and add someone to work with the guards. Sheppard and Morris are too careless with the ball, and there is no offensive discipline. Maul taking pull-up 28 footers like she's Steph. This team has talent but they are far too undisciplined to compete with quality teams consistently.

They are being outclassed by a better coached team.

The second quarter was not really better - 9 points which is better than 7 but 16 for a half? jeesh.
Here are the stats and it tells the story

Looking at the team stats, we don't have a single positive category.

Bears with some fight. With 447 to go, Cuse lead down to 13 - 42-29 as Cuse turns the ball over a few times. If Bears could just get this to single digits by end of quarter....
The collision with Sheppard was/is brutal.
But, Twidale missing an open three just before the media timeout - just telling of today's play so far. She still only has 2 points on free throws. 0-5 from three and Cal is 1-13.

Twidale with a lay-up but then misses another open three. Just not what we normally see from her.
42-31.

Thank you, Puff.

a 23 point quarter and Cal goes into the fourth down 10.
Game is within reach.
Several keys in third - forcing Cuse into turnovers (cuse now has 16 to Cal's 14) - more pressure - and Uche with only two points on a (lucky) bounce - fewer turnovers.
Go Bears!

Ok not over yet.

Now down to a 5 pint game with 6:16 left...
Let:s Gooooo!!!

Drat. Cal in a 3 minute drought and Uche hits back to back shots and now it's a nine point deficit.

Uche is just carrying Cuse in this quarter. Darn.

Lulu with another open miss and then a travel. Bears are running out of time and wasting the stops.

and Walker fouls out with Bears down 6 and only 1:05 to go. Sigh.
NOPE. It's on McCallop - so Walker stays in. Hopefully that helps!

and another turnover as Sheppard steps on the line. 21st turnover, but seems like 5 in the last few minutes.
51.7 to go and Cal down 9.
Now is the time to regain the sharpshooting on three pointers. (Well, it was time before now but really reallly really now)

aargh. Maul has shot roll off and just gets shooting foul.
Cal down 8

Just too big of a hole. Cal got within 4 and just couldn't get closer.
Twidale had 14 but Cal was uncharateristically 3-19 on three pointers.
After cutting turnovers down in the third and half of the fourth, ended with 7 in the fourth and 21 overall.
Uche was scoreless in third but 9 in the fourth.
Cal has no field goals in last 2:30.
Sigh.
Bears will go for WBIT Championship.

Darn!!! Did not just roll over and had Suravise getting tight. .. Just couldn't quite get enough stops and make some shots at the end....

Great second half effort!

21-point halftime deficit too much to overcome.

On to the WBIT! Hopefully a home game or two.

I have not watched the game yet. I recorded it on my dvr. Why did Naya Ojukwu play only 3 minutes? She scored 25 points in 24 minutes last time. Taylor Barnes was the other major factor in this loss. She scored 16 points and grabbed 11 rebounds in the triple OT loss. Today, she was invisible with one basket and a single rebound in 19 minutes. The team really missed the offensive contributions of these two tonight. Only two Bears had more than two field goals...Cal committed 21 turnovers and grabbed only 27 boards (season low)? Why did Charmin change the team's approach today with an extra guard playing the entire game? It was not a tight game over three overtimes with that lineup. It was a 37-16 blowout at halftime. I would like to hear her explanation for changing the team's gameplan for this game and not being competitive. Everyone was saying that the previous game between the two teams was one of the best in the ACC all season.

I would imagine that Naya will transfer after not being used in a sixteen-point first half. The team desperately needed offense and did not give her an opportunity to shine against the team that she had her best game against.
The HC's message was loud 'n clear!

Women's Basketball vs Syracuse on 1/15/2026 - Box Score - California Golden Bears Athletics