Cal Handles Hawaii In WBIT Opener

BERKELEY – The California women’s basketball team got a huge effort from Lulu Twidale and a key bucket from Kemery Martín to come away with the 65-60 win against Hawaii in the first round of the inaugural WBIT on Thursday night at Haas Pavilion. Twidale scored an extremely efficient game-high 20 points on 6 of 7 from the field and 4 of 5 from deep and with the Golden Bears (19-14, 7-11 Pac-12) up two points, Martín nailed a crucial 3-pointer with 18 seconds left to help secure the victory against the Rainbow Wahine (20-11, 17-3 Big West).

Ila Lane grabbed three rebounds to put her over 1,000 for her career and became just the 18th active player in the country with career totals of at least 1,200 points and 1,000 rebounds. Leilani McIntosh hit two triples to pass Paige Bowie for seventh on Cal’s all-time career 3-pointers list while Ioanna Krimili tied Martín for seventh on the all-time single-season 3-pointers list. The Bears hit 11 from beyond the arc to give them 12 games this season with double-digit 3-pointers.

After hitting its first two shots Cal went on a three-minute scoring drought but was still only down two points with six minutes to go in the quarter, before Lane tied the game on a layup. The Bears took an 11-8 lead at the 3:45 mark on back-to-back buckets from Martín.  The Rainbow Wahine ended the quarter on a 6-0 run to take an 18-13 lead going into the second quarter.

McIntosh and Claudia Langarita fueled a 9-0 run and combined for three consecutive 3-pointers to open the second quarter to retake the lead at 22-18. Hawaii would not score its first point until 4:20 left in the quarter. The Bears only allowed four points in the quarter but only scored 10 and took a 23-22 lead into the break.

Hawaii opened the third quarter on a 6-0 run and took a 28-23 lead at the 8:14 mark before Marta Suárez ended the run with a triple. Suárez’s 3-pointer fueled an 11-1 run to give the Bears the lead back at 34-29 with under five minutes left in the quarter. A Twidale 3-pointer followed by a Suárez layup extended the Bears’ lead to 41-31 with under two minutes to go. Lane got fouled with three seconds left in the quarter and converted both free throws to give Cal a 43-34 lead going into the final frame.

Hawaii opened the fourth quarter on a 7-0 run to get within two points at the 8:31 mark, before Cal responded with four straight. Twidale hit her third triple of the game to give the Bears a 55-46 lead with six minutes to go. Hawaii got it to within five before Twidale connected on her fourth 3-pointer at the 2:50 mark. The Rainbow Wahine got back within three at the 1:31 mark before Twidale got fouled on a 3-point attempt and converted two free throws. Hawaii followed up with a triple to get within two points with 45 seconds left before Martín hit the game-sealing 3-pointer at the :18 mark. Hawaii was unable to score the remainder of the game to secure the Cal victory.

The Rainbow Wahine were led by Lily Wahinekapu’s 15 points.

UP NEXT

Cal hosts Saint Joseph’s in the second round on Sunday at 1 p.m. PT.