Cal Knocks Off Notre Dame

Six minutes into the ballgame, the California women's basketball team took a lead and never looked back and came away with an 80-69 win over visiting Notre Dame at Haas Pavilion on Thursday evening. The Golden Bears (13-9, 4-5 ACC) had their most proficient shooting night in recent memory from long distance going 10-of-14 – their highest percentage with at least 10 attempts since Jan. 27, 2019 when they went 11-of-14 at Colorado. The win marked the first for the Bears against the Irish (13-8, 5-5) and the third conference win in a row and second straight Quad 2 win.

Mjracle Sheppard led the way for the Bears with her first career double-double as she finished with 18 points (tied career high) and a career and game-high 10 assists to go along with a game-high four steals. Lulu Twidale and Gisella Maul each went 3-for-5 from downtown on the way to 19 and 16 points respectively. Sakima Walker narrowly missed out on a double-double with 12 points and nine rebounds while adding three blocks.

Twidale is now just 24 points away from becoming the 29th player in program history to reach 1,000 career points.

Cal got to the free throw line 33 times – its most since attempting 40 free throws at Oklahoma on Dec. 20, 2016. Notre Dame was held to just 39.7% from the field, below its average of 47.3% coming into the game and the 80 points given up were the fifth most this season.

The Bears built an 11-point lead with just over eight minutes to go in the fourth quarter, but the Irish used an 8-0 run to get within three with 5:48 left. At that point, Cal turned up the defensive pressure holding Notre Dame without a field goal for the next three minutes while going on a 10-1 run to take control of the game. A key play came during the run when Sheppard found Lola Donez in the corner for her second triple that put Cal up 10 points with 3:24 remaining and the Bears never let the Irish get closer than eight points the rest of the way.

A Maul triple gave Cal its first lead at 7-5 with just under seven minutes to go in the first quarter and the Bears extended their lead to 15-8 on a four-point play from Taylor Barnes. After the Irish tied the game at 15-15, Cal responded with a 6-0 run behind a 3-point play from Twidale and a triple from Donez.

Maul's second triple put Cal up 32-24 with 7:08 to go in the second quarter. She stayed hot and hit her next triple to put the Bears up 38-29 midway through the quarter. Cal held Notre Dame to just one of its last seven field goals to end the quarter and shot 64% from the field in the half to take a 43-33 lead into the break. Maul led all scorers with 12 points including a perfect 3-of-3 from deep at the break.

In the third quarter, after the Irish cut the deficit to four points, Sheppard found Walker for an alley-oop layup at the 4:53 mark. Notre Dame then cut the Bears' lead to two points, but Twidale was able to respond with a triple with just over three minutes left in the quarter. Sheppard and Twidale then knocked down back-to-back triples to extend Cal's lead to 58-50 and it took a 60-52 lead into the final frame.

"I think this is just a great win for our program," Cal head coach Charmin Smith said. "We have so much respect for Hannah Hidalgo and Niele Ivey, what she's done in Notre Dame with that program. To be able to get this win, and have so many people play well and contribute, I think it's just a really good day for Cal basketball."

Notre Dame was led by Hannah Hidalgo's 22 points and six assists.

NEXT UP

Cal stays home to face No. 7 Louisville on Sunday at 11 a.m. PT.