Facing an eight-point deficit early in the fourth quarter, the California women’s basketball team got to within two with 2:31 left but was unable to complete the comeback and fell 58-50 to Auburn in its second game of the Hoopfest Women’s Challenge in Frisco, Texas on Wednesday evening. The loss was the Golden Bears’ (6-2) first to the Tigers (8-0) after winning the previous two matchups each of the last two seasons.
Lulu Twidale led all scorers with 18 points and for the third time this season nailed four 3-pointers. Three Bears had at least eight rebounds led by Taylor Barnes who grabbed nine and Mjracle Sheppard and Sakima Walker who had eight each.
Twidale wasted no time heating up as she hit her first two 3-pointers of the game and scored the first eight points of the first quarter. Both teams shot 50% or better but cooled off with neither team scoring for the last three minutes of the period and Auburn took a 14-13 lead into the second quarter.
The shooting slump continued into the second quarter as neither team hit a field goal until Walker grabbed an offensive rebound for the putback which retook the lead for the Bears. After the Tigers took their biggest lead of the game at seven points, Twidale nailed her third triple of the game with :06 remaining to get Cal back within four points at 28-24 heading into the break.
The Tigers extended their lead to eight points early in the third quarter before Sheppard drilled a 3-pointer to end the Bears’ scoring drought with 7:34 to go. That spurred an 8-0 run capped by Twidale’s fourth triple which tied the game, 32-32, at the 4:23 mark, but Cal would take a 43-40 deficit into the final frame.
A Gisella Maul 3-pointer from the top of the arc brought Cal to within three points with under five minutes to go. Maul then got Cal to within two points on a layup at the 2:31 mark but the Bears would only score one point the rest of the way and were unable to complete the comeback.
“I thought we've been inconsistent for some time now and Auburn was able to make us pay in a way that other teams haven't recently, so it’s unfortunate,” Cal head coach Charmin Smith said. “We need to be playing better, and hopefully we'll grow from this and be ready for our trip to Missouri. I thought we had a lot of open looks that we are capable of making and didn't take advantage of them. In the second half I thought they changed some of their matchups and made it a little bit tougher, but we still had opportunities for people, and we weren't able to convert. Credit to them for playing with a level of intensity throughout the game and it's something that we need to do.”
Auburn was led by A'riel Jackson’s 17 points.
NEXT UP
Cal stays on the road after the Thanksgiving break to face Missouri in the ACC/SEC Challenge on Dec. 4 at 7 p.m. PT.
