Cal Opens Season With 86-56 Victory Over CSUN
BERKELEY – The Cal women’s basketball team officially opened the 2022-23 season with an 86-56 win over Cal State Northridge at Haas Pavilion Monday. The Bears were led by Evelien Lutje Schipholt’s game-high 16 points (on 6-10 shooting) along with Leilani McIntosh’s 14 points (on 4-7 shooting). Peanut Tuitele posted a game-high nine rebounds while Karisma Ortiz notched three steals, one away from her career high.
“This is who we want to be,” said Cal head coach Charmin Smith. “I’m really proud of how we came out today and imposed our will. It was a big step forward.”
The game was tight through the first half with Cal leading by 10 at the end of the half fueled by McIntosh’s 11 points. The second half was a different story as the Bears shot 50 percent from the field and 42.9 percent from three while holding the Matadors to just 10-28 from the field.
“In the first half things just weren’t falling but we were taking the right shots,” said Lutje Schipholt. “If we continue to do the right things, the basket will open up and the shots will fall and we did that in the second half.”
The highlight of the game came right at the end of the third quarter as McIntosh received the inbounds pass for the final possession, dribbled up the court and swished in a shot from just beyond half-court at the buzzer to give the Bears a 66-38 lead after three.
“We have a pregame ritual where I go through half-court shots with Ornela [Muca],” said McIntosh. “We try to compete every day in practice doing those shots.”
“We’ve established that Leilani is an offensive threat,” said Smith. “I think she has really embraced that and has a lot of confidence and you’ve seen that building over the years.”
The Bears had balanced scoring all around as 12 of the 13 players who took the court scored. Sela Heide had a career-high 8 points on 4 of 5 shooting and Jayda Curry continued her streak of regular season games with at least one three-pointer made as she has now hit from distance in 23 straight and every regular season game she has played in.
Cal next hits the road to take on No. 9 Notre Dame in the inaugural Citi Shamrock Classic on Saturday, Nov. 12 at 1 p.m. PST in St. Louis, which will mark the first ever live broadcast of a college women’s basketball game on NBC.