Breaking down the 2016-17 Cal women's basketball schedule

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Published Sep 23, 2016

Breaking down the 2016-17 Cal women's basketball schedule

Ben Parker • GoldenBearReport

Golden Bear Report

@slamdunk406

The 2016-17 Cal women’s basketball schedule has been released. Here's a breakdown of the schedule, highlighting the key games.

The first key game of the Golden Bears’ 2016-17 season is on the road against Saint Mary’s on Friday, November 11 at 5:30 PM PST to open their season. The Golden Bears lost to the Gaels last season at Haas Pavilion 63-64 in a very competitive game. Starting off the season against a competitive team on the road should be good for a Golden Bears team that is eager to prove they belong among the best teams in the country.

The next major game of the season for the Golden Bears will come on Sunday, December 4 on the road against Nebraska at 1:00 PM PST. Last season, the Golden Bears defeated the Cornhuskers by a final score of 87-80 at home in what was another competitive out of conference game. In addition to being another quality rematch from last season, what makes this game interesting is that Cal freshman guard Mi’Cole Cayton originally committed to Nebraska. It should be interesting to see how she handles the moment of playing in front of a crowd that she once was going to call home.

Following that, the Golden Bears have a trip to Puerto Rico December 19-21 against Southern Mississippi, Oklahoma, and Arkansas State. Those three games should prove to be a final tune up before heading into conference play.

To kick off conference play, the Golden Bears will travel to Arizona on Thursday, December 29 (6:00 PM PST) and Arizona State on Sunday, January 1 (2:00 PM PST). The Golden Bears went 0-2 in their road trip to the desert last season, so they’ll definitely be hoping to improve from last season. Arizona State should prove to be the more difficult opponent, but as we found out last season, neither opponent is easy.

The Golden Bears’ first home games of Pac-12 play will be on Friday, January 6 against Oregon State at 6:00 PM PST and Sunday, January 8 against Oregon at 1:00 PM PST. Oregon State won the Pac-12 regular season title last season and Oregon was right on their heels. Cal will be thrown into the fire to start Pac-12 play at home with facing the two Oregon schools.

The next two weeks consist of road trips to Colorado and Utah and home games against Arizona State and Arizona. Following that, Cal will travel to Washington on Friday, January 27 and Washington State on Sunday, January 29 to close out the month of January.

February starts with home games against UCLA on Friday, February 3 at 8:00 PM PST and USC on Sunday, February 5 (TBD). The UCLA game at Haas Pavilion last year was technically an out of conference game, but ironically, it was the most exciting of all the games that Cal played against Pac-12 teams. Cal won the game 108-104 in double overtime and appeared to be finding their groove as they headed into Pac-12 play. Unfortunately, the momentum didn’t carry over for very long, but nonetheless, the UCLA game should be a game that Cal fans have circled on their calendars.

As for the rivalry games against Stanford, those games will take place on Thursday, February 16 in Berkeley (8:00 PM PST) and Sunday, February 19 (5:00 PM PST). The games against Stanford are always spirited battles that bring out the best in both schools. Look for both of those games to be highly competitive and intense.

Finally, to close out the season, Cal will travel to the state of Oregon to take on Oregon on Friday, February 24 and Oregon State on Sunday, February 26. Hopefully by this point, Cal will be in a good groove and feeling confident in their ability to at least get a split. This will be a very difficult road trip and one where one victory would be huge.

Overall, the Cal women’s basketball schedule should exciting. Pac-12 play should be competitive and Cal has quality out of conference opponents to get them ready for it. Cal is adding some quality pieces like Mi’Cole Cayton, Celeste “CJ” West, and Jaelyn Brown to go along with a core of Asha Thomas, Kristine Anigwe, Mikayla Cowling, and Courtney Range. The loss of Gabby Green stings, but the new players coming can hopefully fill the void.