Cal Women's Basketball: Bears' Long-Shot NCAA Hopes Take Another Hit
Buried by an avalanche of second-quarter turnovers, the Cal women’s basketball team fell hopelessly behind by halftime on the way to a 87-68 home defeat to Arizona on Sunday afternoon that seriously dents the Bears’ postseasons hopes.
Cal had 11 turnovers and just four baskets in the second quarter, the giveaways leading to 23 points as the Wildcats streaked to a 52-28 halftime lead in the Bears' regular-season home finale.
Arizona made its first nine shots of the quarter and wound up outscoring the Bears 32-11 in the period.
“I’m just frustrated that we didn't handle the pressure better," Cal coach Charmin Smith said. "Turnovers really get us in the first half. I think they had 23 points off of our turnovers, so really hard to compete.”
Cal, which entered the game averaging a conference-worst 15.4 turnovers, had 16 by halftime, leading to 10 made layups by the Wildcats. Arizona shot 74 percent in the second quarter, thanks to so many easy ones off Cal turnovers.
The Bears fell to 16-12 overall and 6-10 in the Pac-12 after winning three of their previous four games. ESPN’s Charlie Creme listed them as the last of the Next Four Out in his most recent NCAA tournament bracket, meaning they already were eighth in the waiting line to secure one of the 68 available spots, according to his projections.
They are sure to drop from there, as will their their NET computer ranking, which was at No. 62 entering the day.
Cal closes the regular season next week on the road with games Thursday vs. Oregon and Saturday vs. Oregon State before the Pac-12 tournament, March 6-10 at Las Vegas.
Arizona (16-12, 8-8) is a solid team and was coming off a 68-61 upset of third-ranked Stanford on Friday night. But this defeat was self-inflicted, as was the Bears 63-55 loss to the Cats a month ago, when they had 23 turnovers against an Arizona defense that leads the Pac-12 with 19.3 takeaways per outing.
Cal wound up with 22 turnovers in this one.
Lulu Laditan-Twidale, a freshman guard from Queensland, Australia, led the Bears with a season-high 24 points, including 6 for 7 on 3-point attempts.
“Lulu is consistent in practice with her effort, with her energy and just being coachable," Smith said. "She is always trying to do the right things and we definitely believe she's capable of nights like this and I'm glad that she had it here. I know that there are many more nights where she will perform in this way.”
Kemery Martin and Michelle Onyiah each scored 11 points. Ioanna Krimili, the Bears’ leading scorer at 14.7 points per game, was held to two points, including 0-for-4 shooting from the 3-point arc.
Arizona’s Esmery Martinez had 20 points, nine rebounds and seven assists to go with the 20 points she scored in the first game against Cal. Freshman Jada Williams, who scored 23 points to spark the win at Stanford, had 18 against the Bears along with three of their 12 steals.
There were seven lead changes in the first quarter, after which Arizona led 20-17. But the Cats dashed away in the second period, outscoring the Bears 19-4 over the first five-plus minutes to forge a 39-21 lead. Cal never got closer than 17 points the rest of the game.
The Bears had just one turnover in the third quarter, but Arizona remained comfortably in charge, entering the final period with a 68-46 lead.
Cover photo of Lulu Laditan-Twidale by Kelley L. Cox, KLC fotos
Follow Jeff Faraudo of Cal Sports Report on Twitter: @jefffaraudo
