Cal Rallies To Take Down Santa Clara, Advance In WBIT

BERKELEY – Down by eight points with eight minutes to go in the fourth quarter, the California women’s basketball team stormed back behind a number of clutch plays led by Sakima Walker and Lulu Twidale to come away with a 72-68 win over Santa Clara in the opening round of the NCAA Women’s Basketball Invitation Tournament on Thursday night at Haas Pavilion. The win marked the Golden Bears’ (20-14, 9-9 ACC) sixth straight over the Broncos (24-10, 13-5 WCC) as they advanced to the second round on the WBIT for the second time and reached the 20-win mark for a second straight season.

Twidale finished with her second-career double-double behind 27 points and a career-high 11 rebounds which were a game high. It marked her eighth 20-point performance this season and third in the last six games. She also knocked down two 3-pointers which puts her three away from taking first place on Cal’s all-time single-season list and four away from first on the all-time career list.

Walker scored four consecutive field goals to spark the fourth quarter comeback and ended up with 19 points, six rebounds and three blocks. Taylor Barnes hit a 3-pointer with the Bears down by four with 4:09 to go and then down by one at the 3:23 mark, Mjracle Sheppard intercepted a perimeter pass and took it the distance for a layup that put Cal back on top. The Bears caused two turnovers on the Broncos' next three possessions including one where both teams scrambled for a loose ball, but Gisella Maul was able to knock it over to Twidale who went coast to coast for a 3-point play layup that put Cal up by four with 1:03 left on the clock. The Broncos were able to cut the lead to two with 52 seconds left but turned it over on their next possession and were forced to foul. Twidale knocked down a pair of free three throws with 13 seconds left and the Bears hung on for the win.

Santa Clara went up 11-7 in the first quarter aided by a Cal two-minute scoreless stretch before Puff Morris found Walker under the basket for a layup midway through the quarter. Twidale later drove to the hoop for a layup to tie the game at 11-11 with 3:22 to go. The Bears were able to hold the Broncos to 1-of-10 from the field to end the quarter and took a 16-13 lead going into the second quarter.

Santa Clara scored on back-to-back possessions to open the second quarter to take the lead back, but Sheppard was able to connect with Lola Donez for a 3-pointer to spark an 8-0 run that put Cal up 26-19 with 5:22 to go. Back-to-back triples from Twidale and Morris extended Cal’s lead to 32-23 and the Bears would end up taking a 36-29 lead into the break.

After Cal went up by nine with 8:18 to go in the third quarter, the Bears went cold and hit just one field goal over the next four minutes to allow the Broncos back into the game. Santa Clara went on a 6-0 run during that span to get within 42-39 before Twidale knocked down another triple at the 4:16 mark. A Bronco 3-pointer eventually gave them a 48-47 lead with 2:23 to go and Santa Clara finished the quarter going 6-for-6 from the field and a 55-49 lead going into the final frame.

“I felt like this wasn't going to be an easy one and I think Santa Clara is a really good team,” Cal head coach Charmin Smith said. “They play extremely hard,

and we scrimmaged them, so we had an idea of what was coming. But I'm really proud of how resilient we were down the stretch and the fight that we showed in wanting to continue our season, wanting to play another game. A lot of times, you see upsets at this point because people are just like, eh that's okay, I'll go on spring break. I'm glad that was not our mentality. We could have let go and we didn't. We found a way to win, we found a way to earn 40 more minutes and another practice, another road trip with this team and I'm really excited about that.”

Santa Clara was led by Ava Schmidt and Ashley Hawkins who posted 18 points each.

NEXT UP

Cal advances to the second round of the WBIT and will face No. 2 seed Kansas State on Sunday at 4 p.m. PT/7 p.m. ET.