Cal Women's Basketball: Bears Lose -- Next 4 Games Are Against Top-5 Teams
After one quarter Sunday, Cal trailed Washington State 31-6. With four minutes left in the first half, Cal was behind 50-14. At that point, the Cougars were shooting 84 percent from the floor (21-for-25), Cal was making 17.9 percent (5-for-28).
"We ran into something, boy, in that first quarter, and I'm still trying to figure out what it was," Cal coach Charmin Smith said after the Bears'' 96-75 loss to the Cougars at Haas Pavilion.
Cal (8-5, 0-2 Pac-12) made a run in the third quarter to get within 13, but the rally died there.
And now, after that diappointing result, Cal faces the prospect of playing its next four games against teams currently ranked in the top five in the nation. That meat-grinder starts with a game at No. 5 Stanford on Friday, and another game against the Cardinal on Sunday at Haas Pavilion. Then comes a Jan. 17 home game against No. 3 Oregon State followed two days later by a home game against No. 2 Oregon.
And it will be diffiult to bounce back from Sunday's loss.
There was no indication WSU (8-7, 1-2) would dominate the way it did. The Cougars came into the game on a three-game losing streak, including a lopsided loss on Friday to Stanford, which led that game by 27 points with a minute left in waht would become a 19-point victory.
Washington State had lost last week at home to Washington, a team that eked out a three-point win over Cal on Friday.
Cal figured to beat the Cougars.
But WSU shot out to a 12-0 lead and made its first 12 shots while the Bears, who have trouble scoring points all season, could not do anything on the offensive end.
WSU guard Chanelle Molina finished with 28 points, and 21 came in the first half. When WSU held its 50-14 lead, Molina was 9-for-11 from the field with 19 points, five more than the entire Cal team.
WSU shot 81.3 percent in the first quarter.
"A lot of people can't shoot 81 percent wide open with just [practice] shots," Smith said. "And they were doing it with people on the court trying to guard them."
Cal used a 27-4 run that included a 12-0 start to the second half to get within 54-41 with seven minutes left in the third quarter. But Cal could get no closer.
Jaelyn Brown scored 20 points to lead the Bears, and Borislava Hristova added 26 for the Cougars.
