https://gomatadors.com/boxscore.aspx?path=wbball&id=13472

The Matadors have played six of eight games to date on the road and are at a .500 record. Northridge handled Washington State convincingly in their home opener, 65-52 (see box score above). They are led by a 6-4 senior, Channon Fluker, who averages 16.9 ppg and 13.3 rpg, respectively. This will be the first game this season that the opponent's best player is the opposing center. A critical factor might turnout to be which of the stars gets into
early foul difficulty.

The Cougars jumped out to a nine point first quarter lead but thereafter it was the Matadors taking over the game.
They outrebounded the Pac 12 opponent by 19 and their guards handled the ball much better, too. CSUN had 17 assists as compared to only 11 turnovers. Wazzu was kind of the inverse ratio.

Most of their games have been competitive and close. Cal needs to come out in the 1st half with some energy and put this mediocore opponent away. The Bears need to get ready to play @ Saint Marys next. The Gaels have
played tough games versus the Bears over the last two seasons.

Tonight CSUN visted Santa Clara and their post scored over half of the Matadors points in a 53-38 victory. She scored 27 points and dominated the glass with 20 boards. Once again their backcourt played well with more assists than turnovers...
https://gomatadors.com/boxscore.aspx?path=wbball&id=13475
GO BEARS!

Assuming Anigwe doesn't get in foul trouble, i think their center will have her stats more adversely effected than our center.

CSUN defeated Santa Clara tonight in the South Bay, 53-38. Fluker had 27 points, 20 rebounds. Three of their losses have been on the road by double digits. The fourth loss was a home game against Harvard, 75-55. Cal plays Harvard at Haas at the end of December.

I believe Fluker is a very strong big-bodied center, the type that I believe Kristine has struggled with in the past.

Fluker's cousin, 6'5" Tyesha Fluker, and ranked as high as #2 for the class of 2002 I believe, and chose Tennessee over UCLA. She had a decent career and maybe played a couple years in the WNBA but definitely lacked the athleticism to really make a big impact. I believe she played HS at the same school Eliza Pierre went to, Pasadena Muir(?)

I was surprised Channon Fluker wasn't more well known in HS and not more heavily recruited. She was putting up pretty cumbersome numbers from day 1 at Cal State Northridge so she must have shown at least some of that potential in HS.

Nevertheless, I'm very pleased and excited about how Kristine has started off her season, and this matchup should bode well for her continued progress.

Unless KA gets into early foul trouble, she will dominate, outscore and outrebound the Northridge center leading to Cal's comfortable double digit victory.

Go Bears!

Anigwe played a great 11 minutes offensively but picked up 3 PFs. CSUN's Fluker didn't do too much but only has one personal foul. The Bears only score 11 points in the 2nd quarter without KA for most of it. Nobody other than Kiana Smith has scoring with 8 points. She has the team's only two treys (2-9). Cal is two points above its season average of 29 first half points. The Matadors (4-4) have been in many low scoring games so they are
right on schedule.

Jaelyn Brown continues her poor play and is 1-6. She missed left-handed layups and close-in gimmees. Her one three point attempt was a brick. CJ West has been outplayed by Fluker. CJ is 1-4 from the floor from 2-3 feet.

For some reason Asha Thomas has failed to take a shot and is scoreless. Recee Caldwell is 0-2 and also scoreless. Alaysia Styles missed two wide-open ten foot shots in the key. Kenzie Forbes is 0-1.

I would open the second half with CJ West on Channon Fluker and allow KA to attempt to stay away from an early fourth foul. Asha Thomas needs to score if Cal is going to remain undefeated. The Northridge complimentary players have outplayed their Cal counterparts in another flat opening half. Anigwe, Smith & Brown
were the only Bears to play with a lot of energy. AT was invisible.

Hopefully-Cal can keep Anigwe from fouling out. I called this game right-on-the-money again. GO BEARS!

50-34 after three. (just got to my computer to stream the game) Saw Yue in the game. Saw Forbes not hold for last shot of the period and instead get a charge - and then CSUN sink a three. But, that's a pretty good period by the stats - 19-6.

So, has anyone asked Gottlieb while the Bears don't seem to turn it on until the second half. Is that part of the strategy - to wear the other team down in the first half, and then after a little rest and hope, beat them down?

Caldwell makes one bad pass after another. She's in too much of a hurry. This needs to get fixed.

So, looks like Gottlieb put KA in just to get her 10th rebound. Mission accomplished. KA takes a seat.
Why is West playing so little?
And no Cayton?

And with 1:37 to go, and a 67-40 Bears lead after a Mosely 3! - it's bench time.

Forbes is running the point in the last minute.

Absolutely lockdown D by the Bears in that 2nd half

67-42. Palms of Victory.
KA 26/10
Smith 14/5R/2A
Forbes 7/4/4
Brown 5/5/2
Caldwell 4/4/9
West 4/2/0
Styles 4/9/0
Mosely 3/2/2
Thomas 0/0/1 (didn't take a shot)(played only 20 minutes) Did she get hurt?
Yue 0/4/0
Richey 0/0/0
Olsen 0/0/0

CalFanatic said:

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Absolutely lockdown D by the Bears in that 2nd half

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CSUN scored 14 points for the half. 2 of 14 shots.

Does anyone know why Asha Thomas and CJ West did not participate in the second half? Asha played the entire first half but was invisible. Was she ill? CJ West only played 11 minutes in the game matching Chen Yue's PT.
KA only play 19 minutes but maximized her output with 26 points, 10 rebounds & 4 PFs.

Cal won in a laugher by 25 points but still didn't play well. Only two players, KA & KS, scored in double figures. The duo shot a combined 18 of 29 or 62% from the floor while the rest of the team shot 29% (10 of 34). Bears were terrible from three point land as well as the free throw line (58.6%). I also agree w/ IzzyBear above that
Recee Caldwell is in too much of a hurry especially with her long passes. She reminds me of Mikayla Cowling
from last year's team in that regard...

The perfect record (7-0) will be on the line in Moraga against the Saint Mary's Gaels next weekend. I hope that Asha Thomas, CJ West & Micole Cayton can return to health for that tougher matchup. GO BEARS!

I only watched the beginning of the 2nd half but I believe it was AT who went down with what looked like an ankle injury 1-2 minutes into the 2nd half. I was watching the stream and it went to a commercial when she went down and didn't show what happened.

S71, I know you tend to look at things glass half empty, but for the few minutes I watched, the team moved the ball extremely well, penetrated with a purpose, made good passes, and finished pretty well at the rim. There was 1, maybe 2 turnovers trying to force the ball in, but nothing like I've seen in the past. This team looks pretty good to me.

Thomas looked to be hurt pretty badly. i thought it was her knee since she knows what that feels like. The male coach carried her off the floor and she never tried to stand. She never returned to the bench after going to the dressing room. I feel she could be out the season. She made a steal, and immediately hurt it. Like her sneakers didn't slide.

wvitbear said:

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Thomas looked to be hurt pretty badly. i thought it was her knee since she knows what that feels like. The male coach carried her off the floor and she never tried to stand. She never returned to the bench after going to the dressing room. I feel she could be out the season. She made a steal, and immediately hurt it. Like her sneakers didn't slide.

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Please, not that! Her senior season! If she is significantly hurt you can kiss the Sweet Sixteen goodbye.

It's her knee. How serious is to be determined.

Schroeder71 said:

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Only two players, KA & KS, scored in double figures. The duo shot a combined 18 of 29 or 62% from the floor while the rest of the team shot 29% (10 of 34).

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I'm pleased that the players who were taking the most shots were the players who were hitting their shots. In any game some players will be hot and others cold so I'm don't focus on those who are cold unless they put up too many shots.

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Recee Caldwell is in too much of a hurry especially with her long passes.

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Recee did have 9 assists so at least 9 of those passes were fine.

OTOH I thought Jaelyn could have slowed down just a bit, some of her shots looked a little wild.

In response to earlier questions, Mi'Cole didn't suit up. Obviously, she is not completely rehabilitated yet. Hopefully, it is mostly a decision that we are likely to win all of the remaining pre-UConn games without her, so let her get maximum rest. But that's just guesswork on my part.

C.J. played significant minutes in the first half but appeared to have a back problem which kept her out for most of the second half. She remained on the bench but with a pad behind her back. I noticed Wendell Farrow go by and pat her on the knee with a sympathetic look. Maybe related to her recent injury that kept her out of the last game?

Anyway, with Mi'Cole, C.J. and Asha all injured and Kristine with four fouls, Lindsay had to dig deep into the bench - hence extended minutes for Chen and Mo. Admirably, the Bears extended their lead considerably during the approx. 8 minutes before Kristine went back in to notch her double/double.

I didn't see Asha go down, but it was obviously a knee injury of some sort. The only good sign is that she did not appear to be in terrible pain (unlike Mi'Cole last year and Courtney five [?] years ago).

I just read how seriously it appears that Asha Thomas is hurt. This is simply heart-breaking news! As Kristine Anigwe stated [ to paraphrase]: "AT is the heart and soul of the team." I hope that her knee turns out not to be as seriously injured as it initially appears. GO BEARS!

if Asha is out for the season, some serious adjustments in expectations will be needed. Hope it's only a strain, and she will be back before conference starts.

As for Cayton, I was concerned that she'd be back full strength given some clues in the off season. It was a relief to see her play in a couple games, but I'd rather she come back slowly to assure a full recovery. A few spot minutes will be great for her to regain her feet, but nothing too fast.

Not sure about CJ, but we desperately need her this year as we are already thin/small at the spot. It concerns me that a big is having back issues, as that's something that won't necessarily completely heal within the season. Just too much physical play for that to be realistic.

This team has great potential, but we need just about everyone healthy to get there.

Time for some of the role players, including Chen to help this team

Schroeder71 said:

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I just read how seriously it appears that Asha Thomas is hurt. This is simply heart-breaking news! As Kristine Anigwe stated [ to paraphrase]: "AT is the heart and soul of the team." I hope that her knee turns out not to be as seriously injured as it initially appears. GO BEARS!

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It is heart breaking. Wish her the best and hope it isn't as serious as they fear.

When posting about serious matters, such as player injury, if at all possible, please leave a link to actual facts, as opposed to opinion or assumption. This is the way rumors get started.

In the meantime, best wishes to Asha and her teammates.

BearBint said:

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When posting about serious matters, such as player injury, if at all possible, please leave a link to actual facts, as opposed to opinion or assumption. This is the way rumors get started.

In the meantime, best wishes to Asha and her teammates.

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https://bearinsider.com/s/1038/no-15-bears-beat-csun-67-42

GATC said:

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BearBint said:

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When posting about serious matters, such as player injury, if at all possible, please leave a link to actual facts, as opposed to opinion or assumption. This is the way rumors get started.

In the meantime, best wishes to Asha and her teammates.

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https://bearinsider.com/s/1038/no-15-bears-beat-csun-67-42

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No update yet on Asha's injury.

At the postgame press conference yesterday, I believe Gottlieb and the players when they said they are waiting for what the doctors will tell them. In other words, they didn't know anything definitive. But it looked to me that Gottlieb--who is almost unrelentingly positive--seemed shaken up.

So personally, I'm worried, but hoping for the best, of course.

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So personally, I'm worried, but hoping for the best, of course.

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Yeah, me, too. Having learned pragmatism from being a parent, I found myself thinking, "Thank goodness Caldwell got all those assists today. Now if only Mi'cole is in good shape soon, Cal has a decent chance at an exceptional season, and we might have Asha leading the team next season, when we'll really need an experienced senior." (Assuming Asha wants to do this.)

But I'd far rather have her out there right now, her usual steady self.

The Bears have not had much success recruiting bigs under Gotlieb since Kristine Anigwe, except CJ West, so I don't hold out much hope with their efforts pursuing Flucker, if any.