Cal Women Lose a Nail-Biter to Virginia Tech

A matter of one inch may have prevented Cal from completing its first ACC two-game road sweep. Instead, the Golden Bears had their three-game winning streak halted with a 87-84 loss to Virginia Tech in Blacksburg, Virginia, on Sunday afternoon.

Virginia Tech (17-10, 8-8 ACC) shot 55.9% fom the floor, committed just five turnovers and made 17 of 18 free throws, including going 12-for-12 from the line in the second half.

Yet Cal (22-7, 10-6 ACC) thought it had tied the game at 85-85 with 11.6 seconds left on what at first appeared to be a three-point basket by Ioanna Krimili. But officials immediately ruled it to be a two-point shot and replays revealed that Krimili's toe was barely touching the three-point line.

Trailing by a point, Cal was forced to foul, and Mackenzie Nelson made both free throws with 10.6 seconds remaining, as the Hokies went 6-for-6 from the line in the final two minutes.

Lulu Twidale's hurried three-point attempt with two seconds remaning did not come close, and Cal suffered the loss, despite hitting 10 three-pointers, going 14-for-14 from the foul line and committing just 10 turnovers, an encouraging number for a Golden Bears team that entered the game averaging 18.3 turnovers per game.

Cal has already clinched a bye in the first round of the ACC tournament and remains in good position to land an NCAA tournament berth. However, the Bears were hoping to gain a sweep of this East Coast trip after beating Virginia on Thursday. Instead Cal finished with a 3-5 mark on its four trips to the East Coast, failing to sweep any of them.

Marta Suarez finished with 20 points for Cal, and Krimili added 19 points while going 4-for-7 from long range and playing all 40 minutes. Michelle Onyiah scored eight points and was limited to 13 minutes of court time because of foul trouble, and she fouled out with 3:51 left and Cal trailing by two points.

Kayla Williams finished with 17 points for the Golden Bears, and her bucket with 49 seconds left and her two free throws with 20 seconds remaining cut the Virginia Tech lead to one point both times. But Virginia Tech responded by making two foul shots on each of its two ensuing possessions.

Carleigh Wenzel and Matilda Ekh had 19 points apiece for Virginia Tech, which committed only five turnovers three days after committing 22 turnovers in its loss to Stanford.

Virginia Tech is on the bubble for reaching the NCAA tournament, but its hot shooting in the third quarter put the Hokies in position for a critical win. The Hokies went 12-for-15 from the field while committing just one turnover in that third period, helping them turn a one-point halftime deficit into a five-point lead entering the fourth quarter.

Cal shot 57.1% in the third quarter, when the Bears committed three turnovers, but that was not good enough to prevent the Bears from facing a 66-61 deficit heading into the final quarter.

Cal made six three-pointers in the first half, including three by Krimili, to help the Bears take a 38-37 lead at halftime.

Cal committed just four first-half turnovers, but the Hokies had only one in a clean first half.

Marta Suarez missed all three of her three-point attempts in the first 20 minutes, but she did enough work in he paint to collect 10 points in the first half. Krimili’s nine first-half points all came via three-point shots.

Ekh led the Hokies with 10 points before halftime.

Cal led for much of the first quarter, but Virginia Tech entered the second quarter with a 19-18 lead, thanks to Ekh’s follow shot with 40 seconds remaining.