Cal cruises past BYU in second game of doubleheader
On Saturday, Cal women’s basketball took care of business against BYU, defeating them 70-45. Mikayla Cowling led the way for Cal with 21 points and 8 rebounds on 8-13 shooting from the field and 4-5 shooting from 3-point range. Kianna Smith finished with 12 points and 5 assists on 5-10 shooting from the field and 2-5 shooting from 3-point range. With the win Cal improves to 8-2 on the season while BYU falls to 4-6.
“What a fun day of basketball in Haas,” Cal head coach Lindsay Gottlieb said after the game. “Star Wars Day, the Smith family reunion in Haas, there were a lot of things that were positive. I’ll just say it was my decision that Kristine wasn’t going to play today; we’re good moving forward. I’m happy to get the win without our best player, proud of everyone including Kristine for how we stepped up, I’m not going to take any other questions about it, but just want to let you know she’ll be ready to go for Kentucky.
“I think it’s a good sign that we were able to win a big game without our best player. I thought ‘Kayla’s leadership along with ‘Nina and Asha was huge and we were good today from the start and that’s something that we’re happy about coming off of finals and we think we can even get better.”
With Kristine Anigwe not playing, senior guard Mikayla Cowling took it upon herself to take on more of the load, scoring a season-high 21 points to go along with 4-5 shooting from beyond the arc. Her 3-point shot hasn’t been dropping much this season, but against BYU it was on point.
“I think I just kept shooting,” Cowling said. “I know early on in the other games they weren’t really falling, but I think just being consistent, keep taking the same shots, and eventually they’ll fall. Just getting in practice, getting up more shots, and getting the open looks. My teammates found me, so tonight it was just falling for me.”
As for Kianna Smith, this was a special night for her. With her dad and brother’s team playing earlier, they were able to watch her play for perhaps the only time all season. Smith was really grateful for this unique opportunity and really relished the moment.
“It was fun, I just was playing basketball,” Smith said. “My dad’s players have watched me play when I was at Troy since it was right across the street, so it was nothing different, but it was still a lot of fun to have them here at Cal. Today was really special and I thank the coaching staffs for getting it together, both men and women, for setting up the doubleheader was really special for me.”
With only one game left before Pac-12 play, Lindsay Gottlieb really wants her players to go into Pac-12 play in as good of a spot as possible. Getting the win today really helps them to build the type of momentum that she’s looking for.
“I just want to see us compete every day to try to be a championship team by the end,” Gottlieb said of what she wants to see from her team. “I think we have a lot of depth. We have all the good pieces, we have young players playing significant minutes, so I think they’re going to continue to get better, and I think as a group we still have room to grow. So, I want to see us as a unit and as individuals fight every single day to be our best selves and to be the best team that we can.”
Up next for Cal is a road game at Kentucky on December 21. That will be their final game of the non-conference season.
Note: Cal head coach Lindsay Gottlieb is quite a huge Star Wars fan. After the game, she dished on what her favorite movie is in the series:
“I have three older siblings and two of them are way older. Eight and ten years older, so they were sort of in the prime time of Star Wars and got us really into it. Like, we would play light saber battles around the house and stuff. So, the first movie I ever saw in the theater was Return of the Jedi. They tell me that was not best one, but for me that was the first movie my parents ever took me to. You know that poster that I sent? So my sister is a professor at NYU Law School, I e-mailed the family and I said my sister is only impressed when we get in the New York Times or on a Star Wars poster and I sent it and she’s like ‘Can we get some of those?’ So, we have a Star Wars family for sure.”