Cal Sets Program Record For Home Wins Against Miami
BERKELEY – It was a special win on a special day as the California women’s basketball team honored its graduating class and set a program record earning its 16th home win of the season surpassing the previous record set in 2012-13. The Golden Bears defeated Miami, 82-63, with two of the seniors being honored, Michelle Onyiah and Marta Suarez, posting double doubles. Onyiah had a career-high 26 points, hitting her first 10 shots, to go along with 10 rebounds while Suarez had 16 points and 10 rebounds. It marked Onyiah’s 10th and Suarez’s fourth double doubles of the season and Onyiah’s second-straight 20-point, 10-rebound game.
Ioanna Krimili knocked in three 3-pointers and moved into 10th place on the ACC’s all-time single-season top 10 list (94) passing NC State’s Aislinn Konig. Lulu Twidale tied her career high with six assists for the second-straight game. Cal (24-7, 12-6 ACC) shot 50.0% from the floor and 42.9% from deep and had a 39-26 rebounding advantage over the Hurricanes (14-15, 4-15 ACC).
Cal went to work inside early, scoring its first eight points in the paint to open the game on an 11-2 run. After a Suarez triple put the Bears up 14-2, the Hurricanes responded with a 6-0 run to get back in the game. Cal however, connected on its last three field goals of the quarter to take a 21-15 lead.
Kayla Williams’ second triple of the game put Cal up 26-17 with just over eight minutes to go in the quarter. Onyiah followed up with back-to-back layups to increase the Bears’ lead to 11. Suarez gave Cal a 14-point lead after hitting a triple followed by a layup later in the quarter.
In the third quarter, Onyiah was a perfect 10-for-10 from the field when she scored her 20th point of the game with 8:09 to go. Krimili was fouled when she hit her second 3-pointer and converted the four-point play to put Cal up 53-36 with 6:53 to go. Lulu Twidale nailed her second 3-pointer to extend the Bears’ lead to 22 with 2:16 to go in the quarter. The Bears never let the lead slip below 19 points from there on out and went up by as many as 26 points when Krimili hit her third 3-pointer with 8:09 left in the game.
Miami was led by Haley Cavinder’s 16 points.
NEXT UP
Cal heads to the ACC Women’s Basketball Tournament in Greensborough, North Carolina and will play the winner of Pitt/Virginia on Thursday at 2 p.m. PT.