Cal Women Beat Virginia for 22nd Win

Cal picked up its 22nd victory of the season with a 76-70 win over Virginia on Thursday night in Charlottesville, Virginia.

Cal (22-6, 10-5 ACC) has the most victories in a Golden Bears season since they went 24-10 in 2014-15. The victory also assured Cal of a first-round bye in the ACC tournament with three regular-season games remaining.

This is the first time Cal picked up a win in its first game of a two-game trip to the East Coast, as the travel has taken a toll on teams traveling from the West Coast in both men's and women's ACC basketball. And the Cal team's travel to Virginia was not without problems, and it arrived behind schedule.

"I'm just really proud of the team," Cal coach Charmin Smih said. "You know it's kind of ironic, because this was our worst travel trip here getting in at 3 a.m. and not getting quality sleep, but

still showing up and being able to perform. I thought Virginia played really well. Kymora [Johnson] gave us some fits, but we adjusted, we responded, we fought through and I’m really proud of the team."

Cal has just three games remaining before the ACC tournament, and the Bears continue to jockey for seeding position. Cal entered Thursday’s play tied with Georgia Tech for seventh place in the ACC standings. (See Notes below for why it’s important for the Golden Bears to earn a No. 7 seed rather than a No. 8 seed in the conference tournament.)

Ioanna Krimili and Michelle Onyiah led Cal with 18 points apiece on Thursday, and they provided the pivotal scoring for Cal in the fourth quarter.

Virginia (13-14, 5-10 ACC) led by a point early in the fourth quarter but Cal delivered the big plays down the stretch. Krimili nailed three-pointers on consecutive possessions to put the Bears ahead to stay 64-59 with 6:07 left in the game. Onyiah, who also contributed 11 rebounds, then scored Cal's next seven points to keep the Bears ahead.

“That feels really good as a coach," Smith said of the team's poise in the fourth quarter. "They're a special group, and they listen and they communicate with one another they trust each other. They trust us as a staff. And we were really good at executing when we needed to.”

Lulu Twidale clinched the win with a three-pointer with 12 seconds left, putting the Bears ahead by six. Twidale was 3-for-7 from three-point range and scored 15 points, while Krimili was 6-for-13 from long distance, increasing her Cal single-season record for three-pointers made to 82, 18 more than the previous record set by Jennifer Self in 1992. However, Twidale is just four three-pointers behind Krimili with 78 for the season.

Johnson score 24 points for Virginia, which is just 1-7 in ACC home games this season, but made things difficult for Cal on Thursday.

Cal shot just 39.4% for the game, but the Bears made 13 three-pointers. Cal shot better on three-point shots (43.3%) than it did on two-point attempts (12-of-33, 36.3%).

An odd third quarter ended with Cal holding a one-point lead at 56-55.

Cal trailed by five points at halftime, but scored the first 17 points of the third quarter to take a 12-point lead. But a few minutes later, Virginia reeled off 12 straight points to tie the game, and the Cavaliers took a 54-52 lead when Edessa Noyan made a three-pointer with 58 seconds left in the quarter.

After an Onyiah free throw closed the gap to a point, Cal took a 56-55 lead when Twidale scored with six seconds remaining.

Virginia took a 35-30 lead at halftime, thanks to a bucket by Breona Hurd with one second left in the second quarter.

The Cavaliers committed just three first-half turnovers compared with seven by Cal, and that countered the Bears' 24-16 advantage in rebounding.

Virginia's Kymora Johnson led all scorers in the first half with 12 points..

Both teams started the game hot from long range. Cal started 4-for-5 on three-pointers, but Virginia was even better, going 4-for-4 from long distance before missing one. Virginia’s hot shooting helped the Cavaliers take a two-point lead after one quarter.

Both teams cooled off after that. Cal was 1-for-9 from distance after its fast start, and Viriginia was alspo 1-for-9 on three-pointers after its 4-for-4 start.

NOTES: Cal entered play on Thursday tied for seventh place in the ACC standings. The top 15 teams in the ACC’s 18-team women’s basketball standings qualify for the ACC tournament in Greensboro, North Carolina, so Cal is in no danger of not making the field.

But it would be important for Cal to be the No. 7 seed rather than the No. 8 seed in the conference tournament. If Cal would win its opening game of the conference tournament as the No. 8 seed it would face Notre Dame in its second game. Nobody wants to face the Irish, who are ranked No. 1 in the country. If Cal wins its opening game as the No. 7 seed, its next game would be against the No. 2 seed, which could be any one of five teams, all of whom would be favored against Cal but not an overwhelming favorite like Notre Dame would be.

The women’s ACC tournament begins March 5, although Cal’s first game will be March 6..