Cal Advances in Women's Pac-12 Tournament by Crushing Washington State
Cal kept its long-shot hopes of reaching the NCAA tournament alive and may have ruined Washington State's chances of getting to March Madness by beating the Cougars for the third time this season on Wednesday.
In this third meeting of the season, Cal dominated WSU 65-44 in the first round of the women's Pac-12 tournament in Las Vegas.
Cal (18-13) will face top-seeded Stanford in the quarterfinals at 2:30 p.m. on Thursday. Cal lost both regular-season games against Cardinal, falling by 37 points on December 29 in Berkeley and losing by 36 points at Stanford on February 16. And the Bears probably need to beat the Cardinal to keep its NCAA tournament hopes alive.
"We love the GOAT [Tara VanDerveer]. We're excited. Third time is going to be the charm," Cal coach Charmin Smith said about facing her alma mater and her college coach. "It's March; try to make it magical."
If Cal plays like it did Wednesday, it might have a shot at the Cardinal. The Bears dominated the boards to crush Washington State. Cal had 20 offensive rebounds and had 26 second-chance points.
"Cal's a really tough matchup," WSU coach Kamie Ethridge said. "They got it from everyone. When you get beat 26 to eight [on second-chance points], I don't think that's an accident."
Leilani McIntosh 19 points and tied a career with five three-point shots, all coming in the second half. She also had five assists and three steals. Ioanna Krimili added 14 points for Cal, and Michelle Onyiah had 11 points and nine rebounds, and also did an effective defensive job on WSU's Bella Murekatete, who was limited to eight points on 4-for-12 shooting.
WSU (18-14) came into the game off a road upset of Colorado and was definitely in contention for NCAA tournament berth. Cal fans may wonder why the Bears seem to be on the outside looking in if you compare at the two teams' resumes.
No. 9 seed Washington State and No. 8 seed Cal entered the Pac-12 tournament with identical conference records (7-11) and similar overall records – 17-13 for Cal and 18-13 for WSU. Plus Cal had won both of its regular-season games against the Cougars, beating WSU by a point in overtime in Berkeley on January 7 and defeating Washington State again, by seven points, in Pullman, Wash., on February 9.
However, both ESPN.com and The Sporting News this week have Washington State in their projected NCAA tournament fields, but neither had the Golden Bears in the field. (ESPN.com listed Cal among the “Next Four Out,” meaning there are at least four teams outside the 68-team field that are closer than Cal to being included in March Madness.)
Washington State has been without its best player, Charlisse Leger-Walker, for the past five weeks. She suffered a torn ACL in late January, sidelining her for the rest of the season. Walker was a key factor in the Cougars’ surprising march to last year’s Pac-12 tournament championship as a No. 7 seed.
But the Cougars were never in Wednesday's game against Cal, which limited the Cougars to 30.5% shooting and outrebounded WSU by 13 boards.
"I think today was a really good example of what I want us to be defensively," Smith said.
Cal led by 23 points in the closing minute of the third quarter, and WSU never got closer than 13 points in the fourth quarter. McIntosh kept WSU at bay by hitting a three-pointer whenever the Cougars seemed to be mounting a charge.
"Those 3s are run-stoppers," Smith said.
Cal dominated the first half, limiting the Cougars to 14 first-half points and 6-for-30 shooting (20.0%). WSU did not score a point in the final 5:03 of the first half and managed just four points in the second quarter.
The game was tied 9-9 with 3:26 left in the first quarter, but WSU scored just five points the rest of the half. Cal scored 21 points in that span, giving the Bears a 30-14 lead at the intermission.
The Bears were not great on offense in the first 20 minutes, making just 39.4% of their shots while going 1-for-9 on three-point shots. But they had 12 offensive rebounds, which they turned into 14 second-chance points.
Cover photo of Leilani McIntosh courtesy of Cal Athletics
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