Cal Wins At Arizona State 72-61

By Cal Athletics

February 11, 2023

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Tempe, Ariz. – California used a strong defensive effort in the third quarter to put away Arizona State and earn its first Pac-12 road victory this season with a 72-61 win at Desert Financial Arena Friday night. The win gave Cal the season sweep over Arizona State for the first time since the 2007-08 season and marked the first win in Tempe since the 2014-15 season.

Two milestones were achieved in the game as Jayda Curry broke the Pac-12’s record for consecutive regular season games (46) with a made 3-pointer and Leilani McIntosh’s fourth assist of the night broke her into Cal’s top 10 list for career assists with 346.

“It's good to get another win,” Cal head coach Charmin Smith said. “We really want to try to build some momentum here and see if we can string together a streak. It would be nice. I’m happy that Jayda [Curry] got the record for 3-pointers made. I thought it was a solid team effort.”

Cal off to a rough start turning the ball over nine times in the first quarter and sending Arizona State to the free-throw line 10 times. A stretch of four straight Cal turnovers with about two minutes left was ended with a Kemery Martín 3-pointer to give the Bears a one-point lead before Arizona State responded with a 7-2 run to end the quarter up four. The Sun Devils went up by six points in the second before Curry’s 3-pointer brought the deficit to just one point midway through. Michelle Onyiah scored back-to-back layups to give the Bears a five-point lead late in the quarter, but Arizona hit on back-to-back layups to go into the break down just one.

Both teams struggled early in the third quarter as neither team scored until Onyiah scored a layup at the 6:46 mark. Cal was able to take control of the game in the quarter by going on a 7-0, sparked by a Curry fastbreak layup, run over the last two minutes while holding Arizona State to just three points and one made field goal to take a 15-point lead into the final quarter. Cal was able to maintain control of the game in the fourth, never letting the lead go below nine points to cruise to the victory.

The Bears grabbed 49 boards, a season-high for a Pac-12 game this season and the most against a Pac-12 opponent since they had 55 rebounds against UCLA on Feb. 9, 2020.

“There were moments where we were really dialed in and did a great job keeping them off the boards,” said Smith. “I thought we made a conscious effort to crash offensively. Karisma [Ortiz] had some huge boards for us. So I can see that we're paying attention and just have to keep working to get better every game on it.”

The Sun Devils were led by Tyi Skinner’s 17 points.

UP NEXT

California: The Bears play at No. 17 Arizona on Sunday, February 12 at noon.