Cal Women Win 6th Straight, Top Grand Canyon

Freshman Puff Morris hit a 3-pointer with 37 seconds left, giving the Cal women some breathing room on the way to a 68-63 win over Grand Canyon on Monday night in the opening game of the Hoopfest at Frisco, Texas.

The Bears (6-1) who won their sixth straight game, play Auburn (7-0) on Wednesday. The Tigers beat UTSA 59-42 in their opener.

Morris stretched Cal’s lead to 65-57 and the Antelopes (1-5) never got closer than five points the rest of the way.

Mjracle Sheppard led Cal with 15 points and Lulu Twidale scored 13. Nya Ojukwo contributed 10 points off the bench. Morris finished with eight points.

Cal prevailed despite shooting just 7 for 26 from 3-point distance and committing 24 turnovers. Grand Canyon scored 18 points off Cal’s turnovers.

“I'm glad we were able to come away with a win, but I didn't necessarily feel good about how we played,” Cal coach Charmin Smith said. “I thought we turned the ball over too much, and we know that we need to be better.

“We had some early foul trouble and it was good to see Naya get in there and be able to help us out offensively and continue to get some more people involved on the perimeter.”

Smith also praised Lola Donez and Gisella Maul, who made contributions off the bench. “I do think we have depth,” Smith said, “but we just need to play better collectively.”

The Bears led by as many as 14 points in the third quarter and took a 53-42 advantage into the final 10 minutes.

Cal’s defense forced 23 turnovers and limited Grand Canyon to 2-for-9 success from beyond the arc. The Bears outscored the Antelopes 15-2 in fastbreak points but Grand Canyon had a 46-34 edge in points in the paint.

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