Cal Surges Late In 74-61 Win Over Arizona State

BERKELEY, Calif.  In what was a tale of two halves, Cal (10-4, 1-2) used a strong defensive second half to earn its first Pac-12 victory of the season in a 74-61 win over visiting Arizona State (7-7, 0-3). Michelle Onyiah led all scorers with 16 points and added 11 rebounds for her second double-double of the season and the sixth of her career. For the second time this season, five Bears scored in double-figures. Claudia Langarita provided a big boost off the bench with a season-high 15 points on an impressive 7-of-8 shooting. Leilani McIntosh dished out a season-high eight assists, just two shy of tying her career-high.

“I’m just really happy that we woke up and played how we’re capable of playing in that second half,” said Cal head coach Charmin Smith. “We got some really nice contributions from Michelle and Claudia off the bench. It was really nice to have a post presence. Leilani continues to be consistent and do what she does every single day for us. It was a real difference maker.”

Cal got off to a slow start and didn’t score a field goal until McIntosh hit a floater at the 6:06 mark, followed up by a 3-pointer to fuel a 7-0 run that gave the Bears their first lead of the game in the first quarter. A McIntosh layup extended the lead to four points late in the quarter, but an Arizona State bucket and two free-throws knotted the game at 20-20 going into the second.  Cal got cold again in the second quarter shooting just 23 percent from the field and had a four-minute scoring drought and missed 8-of-9 shots to end the half, but were just down three points going into the break.

The Bears turned it around in the second half shooting 60 percent from the field, hitting six of their first eight shots including back-to-back triples from Jayda Curry and Langarita. The game went back and forth for most of the third and two free throws from Onyiah to end the quarter gave Cal a two-point lead heading into the final quarter. The Bears clamped down on defense in the fourth, holding the Sun Devils to just eight points on 15 percent shooting that included an 0-11 stretch. Back-to-back field goals from both Langarita and Evelien Lutje Schipholt fueled a 15-3 run that Cal used to take control of the game and secure the win. Arizona State didn’t register its first field goal of the quarter until the 1:21 mark.

The eight points given up in the fourth quarter were the lowest quarter total Cal has held a Pac-12 opponent to since it limited Washington State to just seven points in the fourth quarter during a game on March 7, 2019.    

With her two 3-pointers in the game, Curry extended her streak of consecutive regular season games with at least one triple to 36 games, which leads all active Pac-12 players and is just two away from tying the second-best Pac-12 streak of all-time which is held by former Washington Husky Kelsey Plum at 38 games.

Arizona State was led by Jaddan Simonns and Tyi Skinner with 14 and 13 points respectively. The 13 points were the second lowest of the season for Skinner who came into the game second in the Pac-12 in scoring (23.0 ppg) and leading the conference with eight 20-point games.

UP NEXT

California continues conference play at home taking on No. 2 Stanford on Jan. 8 at 4 p.m.