Bears Defeat ASU, 67-55
BERKELEY, Calif. – The California women’s basketball team took control of the game early and never let up on the way to a 67-55 win against Arizona State on Friday night at Haas Pavilion. The Golden Bears (16-11, 6-9 Pac-12) held the Sun Devils (11-16, 3-12) to just 38.1% from the field, the second-lowest shooting percentage of any opponent during conference play and split the season series.
Leilani McIntosh’s first bucket of the game put her over 1,000 points for her career and she ended up with 12 on the night while dishing six assists and grabbing seven rebounds. McIntosh’s six assists also moved her past Mazetta Garrett for third on Cal’s all-time career assists list.
Michelle Onyiah had her third double-double of the season with 17 points (7-of-10) and 11 rebounds and Marta Suárez nearly had her own double-double with 21 points (conference play season high) and nine rebounds, while adding a career-high five assists.
“The two things that we really wanted to focus on were playing better defense from the last time we faced them and making better decisions, Cal head coach Charmin Smith said. “I thought we did both of those things. I love their aggressiveness offensively. Marta started us off, just really attacking her player, creating for others as well and it was a good team effort.”
In the first quarter, Ioanna Krimili, Suárez and McIntosh fueled a 10-0 run on three straight triples to give the Bears an 18-9 lead at the 4:25 mark. Cal ended the quarter going 6-for-9 from the field to take a 26-13 lead into the second quarter.
Kemery Martín nailed a triple to cap a stretch of three straight field goals for the Bears, giving them a 33-20 lead midway through the second quarter. The Sun Devils responded with a 10-0 run to get within three points with four minutes to go in the quarter. Cal was able to regain control with a 6-0 run to go up 39-30 with under two minutes to go in the half. Suárez scored a layup with three seconds left to give Cal a 41-32 lead going into the break.
McIntosh and Lulu Twidale hit consecutive triples to open the third quarter and extended Cal’s lead to 13 points early in the period. Both teams went cold midway through the quarter with Cal and ASU going on a two and three-minute scoring drought respectively with three minutes left in the quarter, although the Bears held a 14-point lead at the point. Suárez would hit a spinning layup on the Bears’ last possession of the quarter to give Cal a 56-46 lead going into the final frame.
Suarez opened the game up for Cal with a 3-pointer at the 6:39 mark to go up 15 points. The Bears went on a 7-0 run and held the Sun Devils to just two points through the first five and a half minutes of the quarter and led 65-48 at the 4:38 mark – a lead that would be their biggest of the game and allowed them to cruise to the victory.
Arizona State was led by Jalyn Brown’s 18 points.
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Cal hosts its home finale, taking on Arizona on Sunday at Noon PT.