Cal Women Lose Regular-Season Finale, Still Hope for WNIT Berth

Cal women's basketball team mounted a strong comeback bid in the closing minutes Saturday afternoon, but the Bears ended up losing to Washington State 73-67 in Berkeley in both teams' final regular-season game.

The Bears will enter next week's Pac-12 tournament with an 11-12 overall record and a 2-10 Pac-12 mark. Unless the Bears win the conference tournament, they have no shot at an NCAA tournament berth, but they still have an outside chance to land a Women's National Invitation Tournament bid. A team must have at least a .500 overall record to be eligible for the WNIT, so the Bears would have to win at least two games in the Pac-12 tournament to finish at .500 and be eligible for selection to the 64-team WNIT.

Cal faces sixth-place Utah (17-10, 8-7 Pac-12) in its first round game of the Pac-12 tournament on Wednesday and Las Vegas, and if it wins that one, Cal would face Washington State (19-9, 11-6) in the second round. Both those opponents are likely to receive NCAA tournament berths.

Six Pac-12 teams are expected to earn NCAA tournament bids, and Oregon State and UCLA are the only other conference teams that have assured themselves of having at least a .500 overall record when WNIT berths are sent out.

But winning two games in the conference tournament will be a challenge for the Bears, who lost their final seven Pac-12 games on the court. They did get a forfeit win from Arizona State in that span, and that victory, which counted in the conference standings but not in Cal's overall record, enabled the Bears to officially avoid finishing in last place in the Pac-12.

Cal ends up percentage points ahead of 12th-place Washington, which ended the regular season with a 2-12 Pac-12 mark. But the Huskies nearly pulled off the nation's biggest upset this season before losing on the road to second-ranked Stanford 63-56 on Saturday. Washington led for most of the fourth quarter until Stanford scored the go-ahead basket with 1:03 remaining.

Across the bay, Cal made a late-game surge against Washington State, which finished tied for second place in the Pac-12.

Although the Bears lost both of their home games this week, they may have discovered that they can be effective with fullcourt defensive pressure. That bothered Washington on Thursday and helped Cal get back into a game that seemed lost on Saturday.

Cal trailed by 22 points with 5:23 left in the game, but the Bears' fullcourt pressure created a frenzied tempo that helped the Bears cut into that lead.

Bears freshman Jayda Curry scored 17 of her 19 points in the second half, and when she made a three-point shot with 3.4 seconds left it reduced the Washington State lead to four points. There was not enough time to get any closer, though.

The Bears lost any realistic chance to win the game when they committed offensive fouls on consecutive possessions after cutting the deficit to six points with 40 seconds to go.

Curry is averaging 18.7 points and will enter the Pac-12 tournament as the conference's leading scorer.

Cover photo of Cailyn Crocker by Kelley Cox, KLC Fotos

Follow Jake Curtis of Cal Sports Report on Twitter: @jakecurtis53

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