Cal Defeats UC San Diego 75-61
BERKELEY, Calif. – The Cal women’s basketball team (8-2) overcame a slow shooting start to earn a 75-61 win over UC San Diego (2-6) at Haas Pavilion on Friday night. In the win, Michelle Onyiah recorded her fifth-career double-double finishing with 15 points and 11 rebounds, seven of which came on the offense end, helping the Bears to 15 second-chance points. Jayda Curry led all scorers with 22 points on 8-of-16 shooting, for her second 20-point outing of the season.
After UC San Diego scored the opening bucket, Cal went on a 13-0 run over the opening six minutes capped off by a Curry jump shot and three-point play. The Tritons, however, got back in the game with a 9-0 run, helped out by four Cal turnovers, that included three consecutive 3-pointers in the closing minutes of the quarter to only be down 15-14 going into the second. Cal would shoot just 35.3 percent in that quarter.
The Bears got hot in the second quarter, shooting 75 percent, led by Curry who had 11 points in the quarter. The Tritons went on a 7-0 run midway through the quarter to take a two-point lead which was ended with a Leilani McIntosh jumper. The jumper helped fuel an 11-1 Cal run to end the quarter which included three consecutive 3-pointers to give the Bears a 37-29 advantage going into halftime.
Onyiah had a dominating third quarter scoring 11 points, which included nine of the team’s final 11 points to end the quarter, and adding five rebounds. Her three offensive rebounds surpassed UC San Diego’s total for the quarter. Starting the fourth quarter with a 12-point lead, the Bears would control the game the rest of the way extending the lead to 17 points on a Jadyn Bush second-chance layup with 7:31 to go before coasting to the win.
Evelien Lutje Schipholt nearly had a double-double with 11 points and nine rebounds, while Kemery Martín had 15 points to join Curry and Onyiah in double-digit scoring. Peanut Tuitele tied her season-high with nine rebounds to help the Bears with a 52-23 advantage on the boards.
The Tritons were led by Parker Montgomery’s 19 points.
The Bears stay home to play Florida A&M as part of the Pac-12/SWAC Legacy Series on Dec. 18 at noon.