Cal Wins Thriller Over Auburn

BERKELEY – In its toughest matchup of the season so far, the California women’s basketball team was down by six with five minutes left in the game before Lulu Twidale came to the rescue connecting on back-to-back 3-pointers to power an 11-0 run and help the Golden Bears (6-0) come away with a 63-59 win over visiting Auburn at Haas Pavilion on Friday night. The win gave Cal its second straight victory over the Tigers (3-2) after it won last year’s matchup in Auburn and its second this season over a team from last year’s NCAA Tournament as the Bears beat Gonzaga earlier in the month. The Bears have now matched their best start under head coach Charmin Smith having also started the 2023-24 season at 6-0.

One of the nation’s leading 3-point shooters, Twidale had her second 20-point outing of the year finishing with 22 points (7-of-11) and four 3-pointers (4-of-8). Ioanna Krimili knocked down three triples in the first quarter and ended up with 14 points to go along with six assists for the second consecutive game. Michelle Onyiah and Marta Suárez both brought down eight rebounds to tie for the game-high.

The Bears held the Tigers to just one made 3-pointer and their leading scorer, Taliah Scott, who came into the game averaging 27.0 points per game to just seven points.

In the first quarter, two triples from Krimili and one from Twidale gave the Bears an early 9-7 lead. Onyiah blocked a shot which led to a fast break and 3-point play by Twidale for the Bears’ fourth straight field goal to put the Bears up 14-9. Suárez hit a turnaround jumper in the paint to cap a 7-0 run and put the Bears up 10 with under two minutes to go but that would be their biggest lead of the night.

Auburn fought back and opened the second quarter on a 6-0 run to get within 23-19 at the 7:19 mark. Cal was held scoreless from the field until Kayla Williams drove to the rim for a layup at the 4:50 mark. The Tigers tied it up at 25-25 on a layup with 2:41 to go in the half. The Bears only hit two field goals in the quarter but converted six free throws. Williams was able to swipe a steal and outlet the ball to Twidale for a layup to give the Bears a 31-28 lead with under a minute to go. After the Tigers missed a layup on their last possession, Lola Donez came away with the rebound and rushed up the court and got fouled on a 3-point heave attempt, but only made one from the charity stripe giving Cal a 33-30 lead heading into the break.

After the Tigers made their first two field goals of the third quarter, Onyiah grabbed an offensive rebound and found Twidale for her second 3-pointer of the game followed by a triple from Williams to put the Bears up 39-34 with 7:31 to go. The Bears went three minutes without a field goal until Suárez grabbed an offensive rebound and made a putback to tie the game at 45-45 at the 1:16 mark. Cal would turn it over on back-to-back possessions leading to Auburn layups to close the third quarter giving the Tigers a 49-45 lead going into the final frame.

After the consecutive triples from Twidale tied the game at 57-57 with 4:16 to go, Krimili found Onyiah in the paint for a layup to re-gain the lead for Cal – one it would not give up for the remainder of the game. With the Bears up just two, Onyiah secured a steal and found Twidale who drew a clutch shooting foul with just 40 seconds left. She made 1-of-2 to put Cal up three and Williams came up with a key steal on the Tigers’ next possession forcing them to foul. A pair of blocks by Onyiah and Krimili helped keep Auburn scoreless over the final five minutes until the Tigers hit a layup down five with 16 seconds left.

“I don’t love the way we played, but I love the way we fought and finished,” Smith said. “It shows what we’re made of to play so ugly and have so many mistakes against a really good team and come away with the win. We talk about being resilient and this was exactly that. We talked about pressure, bursting pipes and making diamonds. The pipes were leaking a little bit but at the end of the day we ended up being diamonds.”

Auburn was led by DeYona Gaston’s 16 points and Celia Sumbane’s eight rebounds.

NEXT UP

Cal hits the road to play in the Acrisure Classic in Palm Springs Nov. 25-26 and faces Michigan State in the first game of the tournament.