Cal Women's Basketball: Bears Lose, but New Freshman Shines
Cal's women's basketball team is still winless following its 62-51 home loss to Utah on Friday following a 21-day layoff, but the game provided one glowing debut.
Mia Mastrov, a freshman who graduated from high school a month ago and has had just 15 practices and handful of classes at Cal, poured in 20 points in her college debut. The left-handed Mastrov hit four of her first five three-point shots, threw in a right-handed, 12-foot half hook -- what coach Charmin Smith called a "step-back thingamajig" -- and had a nice up-and-under move in her varied arsenal.
It matched the second highest scoring total by a Cal player this season and tied for the highest total in a Pac-12 game. It was also the most points this century by any Cal player in a collegiate debut. It did not prevent the Bears from slipping to 0-12 overall and 0-9 in the Pac-12, however.
Mastrov wound up just 7-for-19 from the field and 4-for-12 from behind the three-point line, but two of her three-point attempts were desperate heaves to beat the shot clock and two others were last-ditch long-range shots in the closing seconds. And Cal desperately needs a perimeter scoring threat. The Bears entered the day 334th of 336 Division I schools in three-point percentage at 20.1 percent, and other than Mastrov, the Bears were 0-for-7 from behind the three-point line Friday.
"A couple of the shots, like the right-handed, I don't know, kind of a step-back thingamajig she did, and some of the things I was like, 'Whoa!' Just in the moment they caught me a little off guard," Cal head coach Charmin Smith said in the video above. "She's been killing it in practice, so really no need to be surprised."
Mastrov was not stunned by her success either.
"I wasn't too surprised," she said in the video below. "I think I was really working hard this week. I was really trying to stay focused."
A resident of Lafayette, Calif., Mastrov graduated early from Miramonte High School, getting her degree the first week in January and starting classes in the spring term at Cal on January 19.
"All my classes are pretty difficult compared to my high school," she said.
Mastrov was not in the starting lineup to begin Friday's game, but she was on the floor to start the second half. She wound up playing 35 minutes and was one of the reasons Cal made a move early in the fourth quarter to get back in the game.
A driving layup by freshman Dalayah Daniels reduced the deficit to four points at 51-47, with 6:04 left, but that was as close as the Bears could get.
Utah improved to 5-10 overall and 4-10 in the conference.
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