No. 7 Louisville Staves Off Cal's Bid For a Women's Basketball Upset

The Cal women’s bid for an upset of No. 7 Louisville was proceeding nicely until the Cardinals found their 3-point shooting range midway through the third quarter.

The Bears led 34-32 over the ACC co-leader after a 3-point by Gisella Maul with 6:57 left in the period.

But Louisville, which had buried just one 3-pointer in the first half, answered with a barrage of four baskets from deep in a span of less than 3 minutes, sparking a 14-2 run they rode to an eventual 71-59 victory at Haas Pavilion on Sunday early afternoon.

Cal (13-10, 4-6) made life tough on the Cardinals (21-3, 11-0), who entered the game averaging more than 83 points per game and were coming off an 84-66 pasting of Stanford on Thursday.

This was an opportunity for the Bears to get their first Quad 1 win in eight tries, boost their NET computer ranking of No. 54 and improve their standing in the NCAA tournament conversation. They had won their past three games and were 11-1 at home.

The Bears haven’t beaten an AP Top-10 team during coach Charmin Smith’s seven seasons and haven’t taken down a team ranked as high as Louisville since the Final Four team of 2013 beat No. 5 Stanford 67-55 on the road on Jan. 13, 2013.

“We were looking forward to this matchup, competing against a really good team, a top 10 team, and I thought our effort was great,” Cal coach Charmin Smith said. “I thought we made too many mistakes. You're not going to be able to get away with that against a team like Louisville with our turnovers and not being able to keep them off the boards, but I am proud of how we fought with the adjustments we had to make in getting ready for this with our roster and everything. "

The Bears seemed on pace to alter recent history until Cardinals broke the game open when forward Tajianna Roberts made a 3-pointer with 6:34 left in the third quarter for a 35-34 lead they would need relinquish

Roberts, who had 21 points and five assists, fed Elif Istanbulluoglu for a 3-pointer that stretched the lead. Roberts hit another shot from deep before Lola Donez made one of two free throws for the Bears. But when Roberts sank another 3-pointer, the Louisville lead was 44-35 with 3:37 left in the period.

Naya Ojukwu made a free throw for the Bears before Istanbulluoglu converted a layup that made it 46-36.

Cal trailed just 52-46 with 8:45 left in the game, but Louisville outscored the Bears 19-7 over the next 7 minutes to lead 71-53 with 1:17 left.

Cal's Mjracle Sheppard scored 13 points against Louisville | Photo courtesy of Cal Athletics

Maul scored a career-high 19 points for the Bears — 15 of them in the second half — while Mjracle Sheppard finished with 13 after notching 11 in the first half.

Center Sakima Walker, battling foul trouble, wound up with 12 points and 11 rebounds but managed only two points through three quarters. Junior guard Lulu Twidale, who had averaged 26.3 points over the three previous games, was limited to seven points on 2-for-10 shooting.

Cal entered Sunday having connected on nearly 51 percent (32 for 63) of its 3-point shots over the three-game win streak. Twidale had made 14 of 29. But the Bears were just 3 for 17 from beyond the arc and Twidale was able to get one of her seven attempts to fall.

The Bears actually shot 56 percent in the second half, but Louisville hit 64 percent of its shots.

Cal played without freshman forward Taylor Barnes, who suffered an ankle sprain in Thursday’s win over Notre Dame. Barnes, who had started all 22 games, averages 9.2 points and 5.5 rebounds.

In her place, the Bears gave graduate student Claudia Langarita her first start of the season.

Cal played again without freshman guard Puff Morris (7.9 points, 3.7 assists), who sat out her ninth straight game dating back to late December due to injury.

Cal trailed just 28-24 after a low-scoring first half notable for poor shooting by both clubs.

The Bears made just 29.2 percent (7 for 24), including 1 for 9 on 3-point tries. Louisville was only marginally better at 32.4 percent (11 for 34), hitting just 1 of 7 from deep.

The Cardinals outscored Cal 13-5 over the final 7 minutes of the first quarter for a 17-11 lead. But Louisville made just one of its first 12 shots n the second quarter, allowing the Bears to hang around.

Cal pulled within 20-19 on a drive to the hoop by Sheppard with 5:09 left before intermission. But that was Cal’s final field goal of the half, and they stayed close only because of four free throws.

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