Cal Women Finally Win a Close One, Beat Oregon State
After losing a series of tight games in the closing minutes, the Cal women's basketball team finally won a close one on Sunday afternoon, beating Oregon State 64-62 at Haas Pavilion.
This time, the Bears made the plays at crunch time when they had to be made.
“That's what we have been missing," Cal coach Charmin Smith said. "I don't want to say that we haven't been gritty because we have been. We just haven't been able to capitalize on key moments. And today, we did that. And even when we made mistakes, we didn't fold, we bounced back and we responded and we stuck together and I think we knew that we were going to win this game. So just I’m really proud.”
Jayda Curry was Cal's high scorer with 21 points, but ultimately it was two plays by Evelien Lutje Schipholt in the final minute that got the Bears (11-10, 2-8 Pac-12) a win that ended their six-game losing streak.
Oregon State, which had lost a road game to No. 3 Stanford by three points two days earlier, held an eight-point lead with eight minutes left in the game.
Cal rallied and took a 61-60 lead at the 3:06 mark on a Curry three-pointer, but Talia Von Oelhoffen made two free throws with 1:02 left to put Oregon State (11-10, 3-7) back in front by a point.
On Cal's ensuing possession, Leilani McIntosh drove the baseline and fed Lutje Schipholt, who tossed up an eight-footer in the lane that went in with 45.2 seconds remaining, giving the Bears a 63-61 lead.
Von Oelhoffen then drove the lane and attempted a 10-foot shot, but Lutje Schipholt blocked it with 16.5 seconds left, forcing a jump ball, with Oregon State retaining possession.
“I know she had a huge monster stop against Talia defensively," Smith said. "We challenged her today know with guarding their best player and she was just really versatile and I loved how she stepped up. And yeah she's she was just amazing.”
With two seconds on the shot clock Oregon State's inbound pass was knocked out of bounds with one second on the shot clock.
Timea Gardiner took the next inbounds pass but was not close on a hurried 14-foot shot.
Cal was unable to put the game away from the foul line, though, as McIntosh missed a pair foul shots with 8.9 seconds left, and Curry converted only the second of two free throws with 5.0 seconds remaining.
So Oregon State had one more opportunity with 5.0 seconds remaining, and in women's basketball, teams advance the ball to the frontcourt after timeouts.
The Beavers' Bendu Yeaney drove the lane and threw up a 7-footer from the right side, but the shot missed as the buzzer sounded.
It was the first time Cal had survived and won a game that came down to the final seconds. The Bears had lost such a game to Oregon two days earlier after holding a lead with less than two minutes left. They had dropped similar close games that had come down to the last few possessions against then-No. 2 Stanford, then-No. 19 Arizona and No. 25 Colorado.
But they got over the hump this time.
"They've been sticking with it and working extremely hard," Smith said, "and I'm glad that they can be rewarded with the victory you know, and we finally finished the job and so you know, we're showing progress and this is a great step heading into February.”
Curry also kept her three-point streak going. She was 3-for-6 from behind the arc on Sunday, and has made at least one three-point shot in 43 consecutive games, leaving her two shy of the Pac-12 record (since 1999-2000) held by USC's Shay Murphy.
A couple of statistics stood out. Cal committed just seven turnovers and outscored the Beavers 20-2 in points off turnovers. The Bears also had 13 offensive rebounds to nine for the bigger, stronger Beavers. That enabled the Bears to attempt eight more field goals than Oregon State and pull out a win even though Cal shot just 37.1% from the floor compared with the Beavers' 44.1%.
Cal's next four games are on the road.
.
Follow Cal Sports Report on Twitter: @jakecurtis53
Find Cal Sports Report on Facebook by going to https://www.facebook.com/si.calsportsreport
