Cal Women Can't Hang With No. 8 Utah

Bears have played six ranked teams in their last eight games, but they were not competitive in this one

Cal is finding out how difficultit is to bulid a women's basketball program in the Pac-12.

The Bears have faced six ranked team in their past eight games, and they have lost all six, with Sunday's one-sided 87-62 loss to No. 8 Utah in Berkeley being the laterst disappointment.

Cal (10-9, 1-7 Pac-12) has lost five in a row, but unlike the Bears' previous games against top-25 foes, when the Bears were in the games until the closing moments, Utah (16-2, 6-2) took Cal out of the game early in the second half.

Now Cal head coach Charmin Smith has to worry about the team's mental state, making sure her players are remain eager and confidenct, because the Bears will play their seventh ranked opponent in a span of nine games when they host 23rd-ranked Oregon on Friday.

"It's really challenging," Smith said. "No one likes losing. I tried to point out that we are playing the toughest stretch of our schedule right now.

"I think Utah is a really talented team. These teams are where we want to be. It takes time. It takes persistence. It takes comnstant buy-in. We just have to tay stead with who we are, going back to our core values and who we want to be every day.

"Sometimes when you lose, it challenges you on that in terms of your character and work ethic. I don't think we have any quitters on this team. We'll stay with it and  look for ways to be better. We';; get the wins; it just wasn't today."

The only positive for Cal was Jayden Curry, who had 15 points and eight assists and was 1-for-4 on three-point shots, extending her streak to 41 consecutive games in which she has made at least three-pointer. That's four shy of the Pac-12 record (since 1999-2000) of 45 straight games set by USC's Shay Murphy.

It was not nearly enough against Utah, which had two players score 20 points apiece -- Alissa Pili, who was 9-for-14 from the field, and Gianna Kneepkens, who was 4-for-5 from beyond the three-point line.

Three-pointers put the Utes in control in the first half.  They entered the day ranked seventh in the country in scoring offense, averaging 85.4 points a game, and they shot 53.2% from the field Sunday to score a couple points above their average.

They made seven of their first eight three-point shots, putting Utah ahead by 13 points late in the second quarter. Utah pushed its lead to 24 points in the third quarter, and the Bears could not keep up.

"It was a difficult look that they give you with how potent they are offensively," Smith said. "We rotated to the wrong people at times. I don't think we were very smart with our rotations."

Utah also had 10 offensive rebounds and outscored Cal 16-1 in second-chance points.

"I'm not sure why we struggled so much to grab the ball," Smith said. "I think we got pushed around a little bit."

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