Cal Women's Basketball: Bears Scramble to Beat Last-Place Oregon by 3 Points
Cal avoided what would have been an embarrassing loss by doing its best work down the stretch in a 62-59 victory over Oregon on Thursday night in Eugene, Oregon.
The Bears (17-12, 7-10 Pac-12) trailed by six points with 3:52 remaining, but demonstrated their superiority in the closing minutes. Ioanna Krimili, who finished with a game-high 21 points, was 4-for-4 from the foul line in the final 23 seconds to ensure the victory.
“I thought it was a really gritty win," Cal coach Charmin Smith said. "We allowed Oregon to get the momentum heading into the fourth quarter and even fell down by six and we really had to fight to get back and I'm really proud of our fight. This team showed me what they have inside of them to be able to rally back and get the win.”
The one concern for Cal after the game was the health of point guard Leilani McIntosh, who had to be helped off the court after suffering an apparent knee injury while battling for a loose ball with 33.7 seconds left.
The Bears' victory sent last-place Oregon (11-19, 2-15 Pac-12) to its 12th consecutive defeat. That's why this would have been an embarrassing loss for Cal, even on the road.
The win probably did not improve Cal's long-shot chances of earning an NCAA tournament berth. To become a bubble team for an NCAA tourney bid, the Bears would probably need to beat 11th-ranked Oregon State in Corvallis, Oregon, on Saturday afternoon in their final regular-season game. And even beating the Beavers (22-6 overall, 11-6 in the Pac-12 after Thursday's home loss to Stanford) might not be enough to earn the Bears NCAA tournament consideration.
The Pac-12 tournament begins Wednesday in Las Vegas, and the tournament winner earns an automatic berth in the NCAA tournament.
Cal beat Oregon 66-57 in Berkeley back on January 21, and the Bears never trailed through the first three periods on the Ducks' home court on Thursday. However, Oregon tied the game 42-42 when Chance Gray made the Ducks' first three-point shot of the game, a shot from well behind the arc that swished through at the buzzer to end the third quarter.
Phillipina Kyei gave Oregon its first lead of the game with a bucket 15 seconds into the fourth quarter, and the Ducks still held a 56-50 lead with 3:52 remaining in the game.
But Cal scored seven straight points and took the lead 57-56 on Krimili's reverse layup with 2:22 remaining. A Grace VanSlooten free throw tied it at 57-57 with 2:07 to go, and neither team scored again until Michelle Onyiah made the second of two free throws with 33.7 seconds left to give the Bears the lead for good.
After Oregon's Kyei missed both free throws with 29.4 seconds remaining, Krimili made two foul shots with 23.0 second left to make it a three-point Cal lead. Gray scored on a driving layup to reduce the Ducks' deficit to one point with 13.4 seconds to go, but Krimili made two more foul shots with 12.5 seconds left make it a 62-59 game. Oregon did not get off a decent three-point shot in the remaining seconds.
“Getting the ball to [Krimili] at the end was good," Smith said. "Those are pressure free throws and she did a great job of knocking them down. It's good to see her see the ball go in the basket. She struggled the last couple games, so to have her knocking down shots and getting on board in terms of scoring was important for us.”
Krimili was the only player to score in double figures for Cal, which shot 41.5% from the floor and was 8-for-25 from beyond the three-point line after starting 3-for-5 from deep. Oregon was just 1-for-9 on three-point shots.
“I think [our players] believe in themselves and they know their toughness," Smith said. "We really were disappointed with how we performed against Arizona and we wanted to be a better version of ourselves. And I think we did that. I'm happy with people stepping up off the bench and making contributions and it was really a team win. We could have decided to let it go when we got down by six in the fourth quarter. We could have said it's too hard and we didn't. We really wanted to win.”
It appeared at the outset that Cal was going to win the game easily. Cal got off to a 15-4 lead with 4:49 left in the first quarter. The Bears were 3-for-5 on three-point shots in the early spurt, with two of those long-range shots coming from Krimili.
Cal was unable to continue that hot shooting, though, as Oregon worked its way back into the game. The Bears never trailed in the first half, holding an 18-14 lead after one quarter and a 33-28 advantage at halftime. Krimili had 11 first-half points for Cal, which shot 43.3% from the field over the first two quarters.
Oregon did not make a three-pointer in the first half.
Cover photo of Leilani McIntosh by Kelley L Cox, KLC fotos
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