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Kristine Anigwe Closes Regular Season with Performance for the Ages

March 3, 2019
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Kristine Anigwe has already broken many records this season, including becoming #1 in the Cal record books for scoring and rebounding.

But on Sunday, the senior post put together a performance for the ages.

Playing in Pullman against the Washington State Cougars, Anigwe hit for 32 points and 30 rebounds.

With the 30 rebounds, Anigwe:

  • out-rebounded the entire WSU team (30 to 22) for the game
  • broke Cal’s single-game rebounding record (26, Gennifer Brandon)
  • tied the Pac-12 single-game rebounding record (with Chantel Osahor)
  • became the first player since in over 16 years (Jennifer Butler, UMass, December 28, 2002) to have 30 points and 30 rebounds in a game.
  • extended her streak of double-doubles to 30 games, which breaks the Pac-12 record (29--Jillian Alleyne, Oregon). The streak is the fourth longest in Div 1 history; Courtney Paris (Oklahoma, 2005-2009) holds the record with 112 games in a row.
  • now has 476 rebounds on the season, putting herself within range of the Pac-12 (519, Osahor) and NCAA Div 1 (539, Courtney Paris) records for most rebounds in a season.
  • increased the season average to 16.4 rpg, which leads the nation.

With her 32 points, Anigwe increased her season average to 23.1 ppg (top 10 nationally). Should her averages hold, she will become only the 2nd player in the last 20 years (along with Courtney Paris)--man or woman--to average 22+ ppg and 15+ rebounds per game.

In addition, Anigwe continues to make her mark on the Pac-12 and Cal record books. She is top-5 in Pac-12 history in: points, rebounds, rebounding average, field goals made, free throws attempted, and free throws made. She also needs two more blocks to grab the Cal career record (198, Charlotte Luscchen, set in 1986).

Anigwe is up for a plethora of national awards, including the Wooden Award (National Player of the Year)--Final 20; Lisa Leslie Award (best center)--finalist; Senior CLASS (Celebrating Loyalty and Achievement for Staying in School®) Award--finalist;  and Naismith Defensive Player of the Year--semifinalist.

Anigwe’s performance helped lead the Bears to the 80-58 victory over Washington State. Cal’s fourth victory in a row improved their record to 18-11 and 9-9 in the Pac-12, good for 6th place (tied with Utah) in the conference.

Anigwe and Cal will head to Las Vegas as the seventh seed in the Pac-12 Tournament, taking on the same Washington State team (10th seed), on Thursday 3/7, at 6pm, with the winner taking on 2nd-seed Stanford Friday 3/8, at 6pm.

 

 

 

Discussion from...

Kristine Anigwe Closes Regular Season with Performance for the Ages

7,384 Views | 6 Replies | Last: 5 yr ago by HoopDreams
concordtom
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All the fans of the men's team should have shifted to women's so they could say they watched her when....

Perhaps the silver lining in getting into the NIT rather than the NCAA is that she get more games so she can break those records.

Those numbers/stats are eye-popping. Congrats!
wvitbear
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They will get into the NCAA's. Pac 12 is one strong conference for the women. Maybe the strongest.

As many as 8 teams could make it. The question is where will be seeded?
BearBint
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"All the fans of the men's team should have shifted to women's so they could say they watched her when...."

Agreed. Long sigh--although I'll be grinning smugly when I measure kids on our (autographed) Anigwe growth chart.

"Don't get distracted, myself. Don't get distracted." Self-talk from a young relative
ncbears
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She was amazing before this year but to do what she's done this year is astounding. As others have noted, she is the center and focus of all opposing teams' game plans. She is double and triple teamed constantly. And, yet, she has scored relentlessly. She has only fouled out of 4 games (Stanford twice; the first USC and second Arizona) and those were all, I think, near the end of the games. So, she's stayed on the Court a lot more this year.
We will see #31 in the rafters some day.
Schroeder71
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I would say her freshman and senior seasons have been her best at Cal. Anigwe has in some ways been an enigma at times. Her first season, she was semi-automatic at the free throw line (approximately 75%) but has never been close to that level since. She is streaky but hovers around 50-65%. Down the stretch this season she has been making 1 out of 2 regularly

https://calbears.com/documents/2016/10/25//Combined_Stats.pdf?id=8224

The doubling of her rebounds from her junior season to her senior campaign is utterly amazing. She leads the nation. It appears she added some weight/muscle and has a determination not to be intimidated by the physicality of opposition defenses. Bottomline: KA has matured into a young woman this year. In her middle years she would become an emotional wreck during games and could barely stay on the floor at times without fouling out. I still have never received a career explanation why she did not play in Cal's NCAA game last season. I believe that was a game or two after she fainted on the bench and to be escorted to the locker room.

Perhaps she visited a sports psychologist, found religion or something because she's a different person in 2018-2019. Her career monster game (32/30) in her regular season finale basically speaks volumes...I think she's ready to become a Cal graduate and progess onto a successful career in the WNBA. Congrats, Kristine.
GO BEARS!
HoopDreams
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KA has also passed out of the post better

that has a lot to do with Cal's wins
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