BERKELEY – On a night when shots weren't falling in the first half, the Cal women's basketball team (2-0) put on an impressive defensive display, forcing Santa Clara (1-1) into 18 turnovers to secure a 71-56 win at Haas Pavilion Wednesday night. Marta Suárez continued to impress in her first season in a Bear uniform posting career-highs of 15 points and five steals, while Leilani McIntosh contributed four steals and added eight assists. McIntosh is now just two assists away from moving into the eighth spot on Cal's all-time career assists list (395). McKayla Williams scored a game-high 16 points while leading the team in rebounds for the second consecutive game with eight.
"We talked about how we needed to pick up the intensity on the defensive end," Cal head coach Charmin Smith said. "When the shots aren't falling you have to create some offense off of our defense. Marta had five steals, Leilani had four and KK [McKayla] was doing a great job pressuring the ball and those are the things that can get you going offensively."
In the first half, the Bears shot just 39.5 percent from the field and were 1-of-14 from beyond the arc but were able to turn the Broncos over 10 times (eight in the first quarter) to keep them in the game. After Santa Clara took a five-point lead with under three minutes to go in the half, Cal got a spark from Williams who scored on back-to-back layups to help the Bears finish the second quarter 6-of-10 from the field and go into the break with just a one-point deficit at 33-32.
Cal's offense got it going in the second half opening the third quarter with back-to-back 3-pointers from Kemery Martín and Williams to spark an 8-2 run. The defense continued to fluster Santa Clara, holding the Broncos scoreless for a three-minute stretch in the quarter, allowing the Bears to open a 10-point lead midway through. The Broncos cut the lead to just five points with eight minutes to go in the fourth quarter before Ioanna Krimili and McIntosh hit on back-to-back layups. A Krimili step-back jumper with 3:41 to go gave Cal a 64-52 lead and allowed the Bears to coast to the victory.
The Broncos were led by Tess Heal's 16 points and Marya Hudgins' 13 rebounds.
The Bears finish off their three-game homestand on Nov. 13 against Cal Poly at 3 p.m.
After the last four losing seasons, any win, even a win against a team that we should beat, is good news. So, congrats. Maybe, after four bad losing seasons, we are finally moving in the right direction.
But, the important thing is how we compete against our peers: PAC-12.
. What is the current overall PAC-12 record of Coach Charmin Smith?
Where is your season ticket located. Might talk sometime. We made the NCAA's witha 6 and 12 record in the Pac 12. There will be teams this year in the Pac 12 that go to the dance with losing records inside the conference.
There is no question this team is better. They are athletic, have depth, and are really hustling to defense.
I don't know what the other Pac teams have, so can't predict anything regarding conference standings/outcomes, but this team is going to be fun to watch. Every single player has a role and so far, it looks like they have embraced their role and Charmin is using various lineups on the court very strategically.
If they can be aggressive and strong under the basket, I think this will be a very successful year.
