Cal Women Win ACC Tournament Opener, Face Notre Dame Next

Cal picked up its 25th win of the season and earned a quarterfinal matchup with Notre Dame by beating Virginia 75-58 on Thursday in the Bears’ opening game of the women’s ACC tournament in Greensboro, North Carolina.

Cal improved to 25-7, and its 25 wins represent the most in a season by a Cal team since the 2012-13 season when it won 32 games and reached the Final Four.

Michelle Onyiah, Marta Suarez and Lulu Twidale scored 16 points apiece for seventh-seeded Cal, which took control of Thursday’s game from the outset and was in command throughout.

Onyaih has scored 24, 26 and 16 points in the past three games, and she had 10 rebounds in each of those games. Cal won all three games.

"Obviously, Michelle is a huge key for us," Cal coach Charmin Smith said, "and when she can play well it really bodes well for our success."

The Bears’ next game is a Friday quarterfinal contest against Notre Dame (25-4), which is ranked sixth in the country, finished tied for the ACC regular-season title and beat Cal by 39 points on February 9 in South Bend, Indiana.

Cal committed 21 turnovers against Notre Dame in that regular-season matchup and was never in that game.

No. 10 seed Virginia (17-15, 8-10 ACC regular season) was never in Thursday’s game against Cal. The Bears took an early 14-2 lead and held a 16-point advantage at halftime that swelled to a 26-point lead in the third quarter.

Cal is already assured of getting an at-large berth to the NCAA tournament, but now the Bears are looking to improve their seeding, which is No. 8 according to most reputable projections.

"Yes, we have something to prove," Smith said. "It's our first year in the ACC and not a lot of people know a lot about us, and we wanted to make a statement. And now it's about making a statement to the NCAA selection committee, trying to fight our way off that eight-nine line. We just wanted to fight for a better seed."

The Bears did much of their damage in the paint, particularly in the early going before Cal started hitting its three-pointers. But the Bears still established a school record for three-pointers in a season when they made their 283rd shot from distance in the second half. They went 9-for-24 from long distance for the game.

Cal shot better than 50% from the field for most of the game, although some missed shots in the closing moments lowered their shooting percentage for the game to 45.9%. Cal committed 14 turnovers, which isn't too bad for a Bears team that averages about 18 turnovers per contest.

Cal outrebounded Virginia 46-28.

The Bears beat Virginia by six points in Charlottesville, Virginia, during the regular season, but this one was not close.

Cal dominated the first half, which ended with the Bears holding a 41-25 lead.

The Bears shot 50% in the first half and led by as many as 20 points late in the second quarter. Cal did most of its work in the paint, making up for the fact that the Bears were just 3-for-13 from three-point range in the first half.

Onyiah had 12 first-half points for Cal, and Suarez added 11. Virginia’s Kymora Johnson, who entered the game averaging 17.2 points, had just four points on 2-for-9 shooting in the first 20 minutes.

Latasha Lattimore, Virginia’s second-leading scorer and top rebounder, left the game with 9:09 left in the second quarter and did not return.

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