On Friday, Cal women’s basketball fell to UCLA in the quarterfinals of the Pac-12 Tournament by a final score of 77-74. Jordin Canada led UCLA with 27 points, 3 rebounds, and 5 assists while Mikayla Cowling was the top scorer for Cal with 16 points, 7 rebounds, and 4 assists. UCLA advances to the semifinals of the Pac-12 Tournament against Oregon while Cal goes home and awaits their NCAA Tournament fate.

During the first half of this game, Cal played UCLA tough, but had a hard time getting Kristine Anigwe into a groove, who finished with only 3 points at the half. Both CJ West and Mikayla Cowling had 7 points for Cal and provided their team with a much-needed boost. Monique Billings also struggled for UCLA in the first half, scoring just 4 points, so this was a game where both featured frontcourt players struggled early on. Jordin Canada got off to a strong start for UCLA and had 10 points at the half to go along with 2 rebounds and 3 assists. As a result of her stellar play, UCLA had a 34-29 lead at halftime.

During the second half, UCLA got out to a 40-31 lead, but Cal quickly switched gears and got back in the game thanks to some clutch shooting from Asha Thomas and Mikayla Cowling. Kristine Anigwe also woke up in the 3rd quarter, scoring 10 points after having such a weak first half. Cal tightened things up defensively and moved the ball a lot better, helping them take a 55-53 lead into the 4th quarter.

The big story from this game is the health of Kristine Anigwe, who started to show signs of wooziness and fatigue during the 3rd quarter. She was taken to the locker room twice as a result of these symptoms and was subsequently allowed back in the game after being evaluated by team medical staff. It was a very bizarre situation as she appeared fine one moment and then appeared to be on the verge of collapsing the next. The team released the following statement after the game to provide some more clarity on what exactly was going on:

“Kristine is not feeling well and needed to leave the court during today’s game. Our medical staff cleared her to return. She’s a competitor who wants to do what she can to help us win. She was and will continue to be monitored by our medical staff.”

Despite her symptoms, Anigwe was able to play until fouling out in the 4th quarter with 3:00 to go on a very sketchy foul call underneath the basket. The game was tied 67-67 at that point, so her inability to finish the game proved to be costly for Cal. Asha Thomas, Mikayla Cowling, and the rest of the Cal team battled, but UCLA was able to get some key stops and force some turnovers. A turnover from sophomore Jaelyn Brown under UCLA’s basket will haunt Cal as that gave UCLA a three point lead. Had Brown called for time, Cal would have been down by one point with the ball instead.

Had Kristine Anigwe been able to finish this game and not have the health issues that she did, this game probably would have gone a different way. Asha Thomas, who finished with 15 points along with Mikayla Cowling and CJ West deserve a lot of credit for the way they played, but when you lose your star player in crunch time, it’s really hard to find that extra gear to win.

At this point, Cal now awaits their NCAA Tournament fate. Latest projections have Cal as an 8 seed in the NCAA Tournament, which feels about right after seeing how they did in the Pac-12 Tournament. Cal has beaten all the teams they are supposed to, but they have just one win over a ranked opponent all season (vs. #16 Stanford). While it’s unlikely they’ll do better than an 8 or 9 seed, they appear to have done enough to put themselves in the final field of 64.