Cal Women Charge to Huge Lead, Breeze by Pitt

The Cal women did what they were supposed to do on Sunday, pummeling one of the worst teams in the ACC.

The Bears jumped out to a 25-point lead in the first half and cruised to a 95-80 victory at Pitt, completing their first two-game ACC road sweep in two seasons since joining the conference.

Cal (15-10, 6-6 ACC) won for the fifth time in its past six games, thanks to red-hot early shooting. The Bears made 19 of their first 26 shots (73.1 percent), including 9 of 13 (69.2 percent) from 3-point range over the game’s first 17 minutes to forge a 51-26 lead.

They were up 54-32 at halftime before being outscored 48-41 in the second half. Pitt got as close as 11 points midway through the fourth quarter but Cal never lost control.

As dominant as the Bears were, the victory likely won’t have great impact on their No. 52 NET computer ranking or pursuit of a second straight NCAA tournament bid. That’s because the Panthers (8-17, 1-11) are abysmal, sitting in 17th place in the 18-team ACC.

Cal returns home to face Virginia (16-7, 8-4 entering play Sunday) on Thursday night. Tipoff is 7 p.m. at Haas Pavilion.

Pitt lost for the eighth straight game, those defeats coming by an average margin of 24.5 points. The Panthers entered the day at No. 256 in the NET, with all of their victories coming in Quad 4 games against the weakest teams in the country.

Pitt has all but clinched its 11th consecutive losing season.

Cal guard Lulu Twidale broke out of a mini-slump to score 32 points. The junior from Australia, who shot just 3 for 14 from the 3-point arc the past two games, made 7 of 11 from deep, was 9 for 10 at the free throw line and added seven assists. It was her second 30-point effort in a span of six games, following a career-high 36-point performance on Jan. 18 at Boston College.

Gisella Maul added a career-high 20 points and 11 rebounds, her second straight double-double. Maul hit three 3-pointers in the first quarter, scoring 11 points over the opening 10 minutes.

Center Sakima Walker scored 18 points to go with six rebounds and a pair of blocked shots while guard Mjracle Sheppard had 14 points and eight assists. She is averaging 6.3 assists over her past four games.

The Bears played their third straight game without freshman forward Taylor Barnes (9.2 points, 5.5 rebounds), who had started the first 22 games but is out with an ankle injury.

Cal did get back freshman guard Puff Morris, who had missed 10 consecutive games with a knee injury. Morris, a McDonald’s All-American as high school senior last year, played 13 minutes off the bench. She was scoreless on 0-for-2 shooting from the 3-point arc, but dished three assists.

Morris started the Bears’ first 14 games and was averaging 7.9 points and 3.7 assists.

Cal wound up shooting 56 percent (14 for 25) from the 3-point arc and had 23 assists, just two shy of its season high.

Pitt, which shot just 34 percent in the first half, coverted 54 percent over the final two quarters. Remarkably, the Panthers made nine of their 11 attempts from 3-point range before missing their final five tries.

Theresa Hagans scored 19 points and Mikayla Johnson had 16 points for Pitt.

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