Bears Stay Hot With 71-45 Win Over Austin Peay

BERKELEY - After their big 20-point win over rival Stanford Friday night, the Bears stayed sharp with a 71-45 win over Austin Peay Saturday afternoon at Haas Pavilion.

The Bears were led by point guard Kayla Williams with 18 points on a nearly-perfect 7-for-8 from the floor and 3-for-3 from the line. Cal played 13 players in all, with eight scoring at least 5 points in the win. Frosh Zahra King had an impressive game, garnering 13 points and 3 rebounds in just 17 minutes on the floor, going 4-for-5 for the game and 2-2 from the line, with no turnovers.

"I'm just playing with confidence really, kind of looking for my teammates and then getting the looks that were given to me and just knocking them down," Williams said after the game.

"You know, it's hard coming off of such a huge win like Stanford to come in and match that intensity," head coach Charmin Smith said after the game. "But that was our challenge. And I thought we were better than we were in the Pacific game, so I'm happy about that. I still think we need to get better and really understand that now people are coming for us, and that takes a different level of focus. So I'd like to see us knock down our free throws. I'd like to see the turnovers down and take better shots at times. Ultimately, it was a big team win, and we are stepping forward gradually with progress." 

The game got off to a bit of a slow start for the Bears as they trailed the visitors from Tennessee five minutes into the game. However, back-to-back-to-back treys from Ioanna Krimili and a pair from Williams followed by a fast break layup by Gabrielle Abigor after a pair of blocks on defense forced the turnover and a beautifully executed series of passes followed by a Gisela Maul banked 3-pointer at the first quarter buzzer put the Bears up 21-13 to end the first quarter.

The second quarter saw the Bears extend their lead with a 16-7 run to close the quarter on back-to-back Williams layups and two straight 3-point plays by King to go into the locker room with a 42-28 lead. Forward Marta Suarez was also big on the board in the opening half, corraling 6 rebounds for the Bears.

The play was a little sloppy on the offensive end in the third quarter with just 20 total points scored and six more turnovers by the Bears but Cal extended their lead to to 20 at 55-35 with frosh Abigor scoring the last three points of the quarter. Center Michelle Onyiah tied her career high of 5 blocks in the quarter, as well.

The fourth quarter saw the Bears play much of their bench throughout much of the final stanza as they continued to add to their lead till the final buzzer.