Cal Women's Basketball: Bears Put a Scare into No. 10 Arizona

Cal held a lead in the fourth quarter but could not hang on for the upset

Cal's women's basketball team put itself in position for what might have been the biggest upset in women's college basketball this season. Ultimately, though, the Bears remained winless with a 59-50 loss to 10th-ranked Arizona Friday afternoon in Berkeley.

The Bears (0-14, 0-11 Pac-12) had not played a game since Feb. 7, but they held a one-point lead with 6:54 left in the fourth quarter before the Wildcats (15-2, 13-2) jumped ahead to stay. The Bears trailed by just three points with 2:21 remaining but that was as close as they would get the rest of the way.

"Today we had something else in our bones, in our blood, like, 'We can do this,'" said Michelle Onyiah in the video above after finishing with 13 points and 10 rebounds. "'We are a really good team and we've just got to prove it.' And today we proved it really well."

Arizona had defeated Cal by 36 points on Jan. 3 in Tucson, but with freshman Dalayah Daniels leading the way with 24 points and 10 rebounds, the Bears played the Wildcats even through most of the game.

"Their team definitely wasn't ready for what we brought to them today," Daniels said. "I think this definitely was a statement tonight, although it wasn't how we wanted it [to end]"

Dalayah Daniels' postgame comments:

Coach Charmin Smith had been telling her players all week they were capable of beating Arizona, so she was not stunned when Cal took a 46-45 lead on an Onyiah free throw with 6:54 to go. She was more disappointed that the Bears could not finish it off.

"It was 'Oh shoot, dang it, don't want it to slip away' [rather] than any time prior to that being, 'Oh, we might be able to win,'" Smith said.

Cal committed 18 turnovers compared with just six for Arizona, but it was an improvement over the previous game against the Wildcats, when the Bears turned the ball over 31 times.

Coach Charmin Smith's postgame comments:

The Bears have been hampered by injuries and postponements all season. They have had nine games postponed so far.

Cal has two regular-season games left before the Pac-12 tournament. The Bears host Arizona State on Sunday, and Cal lost to the Sun Devils by just three points back on Jan. 1. The Bears finish up with a game at Stanford on Feb. 28.

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Follow Jake Curtis of Cal Sports Report on Twitter: @jakecurtis53

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