Cal Women Lose to Mississippi State in NCAA Tournament Opener

Cal’s first appearance in the women’s NCAA tournament in six years was not a pleasant experience for the Bears.

Nothing went right for eighth-seeded Cal, which started the game poorly, committed 24 turnovers, shot 25% from the field and was 3-for-20 on three-point shots in a 59-46 first-round loss to No. 9 seed Mississippi State on Saturday afternoon at USC’s Galen Center.

The Bears looked like a team that was not used to the pressures of the NCAA tournament. Both Lulu Twidale and coach Charmin Smith admitted Cal was nervous at the start and never felt comfortable.

"We couldn't get to where we could be ourselves," Smith said.

Cal’s season ends with a 25-9 record, the most wins by a Cal team since 2013. The Bears reached the NCAA tournament for the first time since 2019 and did it just four years after going 1-16.

However, four of the Bears’ five starters played their final college game on Saturday.

"Obviously we're disappointed in our performance today," said Smith, "but I think when the seven graduates from this team think about this year down the road, they'll remember how they put their name on Cal women's basketball and got us back to a really special place."

Cal was hoping to have an opportunity to play USC coached by former Cal head coach Lindsay Gottlieb in the second round. But it will be Mississippi State (22-11) that will play top-seeded USC (29-2) on Monday on the Trojans’ home court. USC pounded UNC-Greensboro 71-25 in its first-round game Saturday. USC star Juju Watkins suffered a slight ankle injury in that game, but she is expected to be fine for Monday’s game.

Cal got behind early Saturday and never really got back in the game.

"We started 0-for-6 on layups," said Smith. "I don't think that had anything to do with Mississippi State. There seemed to be some jitters and some kind of nerves out there that obviously did not play into our favor.

"We weren't the best version of ourselves today and we need to be to beat a really good SEC team."

Michelle Onyiah finished her fifth season at Cal with 17 points and 15 rebounds against the Bulldogs, and sophomore Twidale added 13 points, including 11 in the first half, for the Bears.

However, Ioanna Krimili, Cal’s leading scorer and second-team all-ACC pick, was 2-for-14 from the field and 2-for-10 on three-pointers to finish with nine points. Marta Suarez, the Bears’ No. 3 scorer, was 1-for-8, including 0-for-3 from distance, for four points, and Kayla Williams, who came into the game averaging 11.3 points, was 1-for-7 and 0-for-2 from long range for three points.

Krimili ends up setting the school single-season record for three-pointers with 97, but this was not the way she wanted to end her Cal career.

Cal’s only threat came midway through the third quarter. Mississippi State held a 32-21 lead four minutes into the second half, and Cal scored five straight points to get within six at 32-26.

At that point, Mississippi State called timeout, and the Bulldogs scored the next seven points to push the lead to 13 points. Cal never got closer than 11 points the rest of the way as the Bears could never put a run together.

The Bulldogs were not great. They shot just 34.5% from the field, made just two three-pointers and committed 20 turnovers, but it was plenty good enough against Cal on this day.

Cal had a terrible start to the game offensively, and the Bears were fortunate to trail by just seven points at 26-19 at halftime.

The Bears missed 10 of their first 11 shots, and scored just five points in the first quarter, a season low for any quarter this season. Mississippi State was not much better, but the Bulldogs jumped out to a 9-1 lead and led throughout the first half.

Cal trailed 12-7 after one quarter and was only slightly better in the second quarter.

Twidale scored 11 first-half points on 4-for-6 shooing, but the rest of the Cal team totaled just eight points on 2-for-20 shooting. Cal committed 12 turnovers in the first half, shot 32.1% and made just two three-pointers.

Mississippi State shot just 25.7%, but attempted nine more field goals than the Bears.