On Sunday, Cal women’s basketball lost to Washington State by a final score of 96-75. Washington State senior guard Chanelle Molina (28 points, 8 rebounds, & 8 assists) and Washington State redshirt senior forward Borislava Hristova(26 points) led the way for the Cougars while senior forward Jaelyn Brown (20 points & 6 rebounds) and freshman forward Evelien Lutje Schipholt (15 points & 8 rebounds) were the top performers for the Golden Bears. Washington State improves to 8-7 overall and 1-2 in the Pac-12 while Cal falls to 8-5 overall and 0-2 in the Pac-12.
“We ran into something, boy in that first quarter,” Cal head coach Charmin Smith said after the game. “I’m still trying to figure out what it was. But I think they made eleven of their first twelve shots and some of them, they were wide open, and others I think, Molina was just feeling it today. So, it was a rough start for us and on the other end for us offensively, we couldn’t buy a bucket. So, I think we dug ourselves a hole that was a little bit too big to get out of. Still proud of the fight in the team and the fact that we did either stay even or outscore them in the remaining quarters and just stuck together through a really tough time.”
Washington State got off to a strong 6-0 start with 8:24 to go in the 1st quarter, forcing Cal to call timeout. Chanelle Molina, Borislava Hristova, and Bella Murekatete were all on the board for the Cougars.
Unfortunately for Cal, that timeout didn’t help things get better as Washington State exploded on offense. Molina finished the quarter with 8 points while Hristova finished with 9 points, becoming the #1 scorer in Washington State history. Washington State shot 13-16 (81.3%) from the field and almost couldn’t miss. Cal in contrast shot 2-16 from the field (12.5%), unable to get anything to drop. As a result, Washington State was way out in front up 31-6 at the end of the quarter. It was an absolutely brutal way to start the game.
“Like Charmin just said, they got hot and we just couldn’t make a thing,” Schipholt said. “Like our offenses weren’t working and they just, they went 81 percent from the field. That’s unreal. Like, we just couldn’t keep up with that.”
“A lot of people can’t shoot 81 percent wide open, just volume shots,” Smith added. “And so, they were shooting that with five people on the court trying to guard. It was a rough, a rough start and Molina, she’s a special player. She’s really really good. I have a lot of respect for her and she showed why. Particularly in that first quarter.”
Rather than start to dig themselves out of the hole, Cal continued to struggle in the 2nd quarter, trailing 50-14 with 3:56 to go until halftime. Molina was going wild for Washington State with 19 points while Brown had 6 points for Cal. Washington State was now up to 21-25 (84.0%) shooting from the field while Cal was shooting an abysmal 5-28 (17.9%) from the field. To Cal’s good credit, they closed the rest of the 2nd quarter on a 15-4 run as Cailyn Crocker made a 3-pointer at the buzzer. Cal continued to fight and hoped that they would be able to complete the comeback in the second half.
“I watched the Stanford game and Molina was scoring in that game, too,” Smith said. “She’s not really one that people have contained as much when she wants to score. This was different, though. This was special and we’ve had our struggles as of late trying to put the ball in the basket. We missed a lot of point blank layups that I know we’re capable of making and we just gotta settle ourselves down. Because we’re getting some good looks and we need those to start falling for us.”
To open up the 3rd quarter, Cal went on a 10-0 run, trailing 54-39 with 7:22 to go in the quarter. Brown was up to 14 points as Cal was playing like a team that knew they really laid an egg in the 1st quarter. Cal’s run didn’t last forever as Washington State finally woke up and was able to do a little damage control. With 4:21 to go in the 3rd quarter, Washington State was up 65-46 as Molina was now up to 24 points. Cal had gotten within 13 points and showed they wouldn’t go down without a fight, but it looked like they were starting to run out of energy. At least for the time being.
“I mean, we’re just playing for each other at this point,” Brown said. “We get into the huddle. We’re all talking about here we go, we got this, it’s continued talk, it’s continue to just be there for each other the whole time.”
“Yeah, we’re working on our own mentality,” Schipholt added. “And these games are tough, but you learn a lot from them and we try to stay together and just be better for the future and continue to work for each other because we’re a family and that’s what it’s all about.”
At the end of the 3rd quarter, Washington State led 76-52 as Molina was up to 26 points, 6 rebounds, and 6 assists. As for Hristova, she too was having a strong afternoon with 22 points. Brown was still stuck on 14 points as Cal continued to scrap and battle their way back into the game. Cal was finding out that it is very hard to try to overcome a 31-6 deficit.
With 5:00 to go, Washington State led 87-64. Brown was up to 20 points, 5 rebounds, and 4 assists for Cal while Schipholt was up to 12 points and 8 rebounds. Both players really came to play and did their part. As a collective whole, Cal was still fighting and not going down without a fight, which in and of itself was commendable.
“I think we did a much better job in the second half with Molina,” Smith said. “I think we mixed up some things defensively. I’m not gonna say exactly what we did. I’m sure the opponents will watch the film, but I think we were much better in making the adjustment and I think that’s what allowed us to be able to get some steals, get some easy baskets, get ourselves going offensively. Going back to Melgoza, the problem again is we scored 64 points. Not that they scored 67. We made some mistakes and we gave her the three at the end of the game, but we’ve gotta score more in this conference in order to get wins.”
In the end, Washington State walked out with a comfortable 96-75 win. While things got a little tense for them in the 3rd quarter, they put this game away in the 1st quarter and were able to cruise to a win from there. While they probably wish they didn’t let Cal get as close as they did, they should feel good about this win.
As for Cal, this game is a mixed bag of good and bad. Mostly bad, to be honest. You can’t get your butt kicked 31-6 in the 1st quarter. I don’t care how good somebody is shooting and how poor you feel you are shooting .There’s just no good excuse to get down like that. That all said, it was good to see Cal not give up and give the fans that paid to watch them play something to cheer about in the end. They played like a team that will never give up and always give it 100%.
A lot of that is credit to head coach Charmin Smith, who has done a good job of motivating her team when they are down. After poor starts in the opening halves against Washington and Washington State, her team has come out guns blazing in the second half. Clearly whatever she’s telling her team during the break is getting them refocused.
“To be honest, Charmin is a great motivational speaker,” Schipholt said. “Amazing. She has us mind-blown every time. But, she is mostly just really calm and telling us to stick together and remember who we are and that we are a family again. I think that’s the key word in our entire program. And we have to work for each other and work for her and she’ll work for us and that I think, that flipped the switch.”
Up next for Cal is a road trip to Maples Pavilion to face a #5 ranked Stanford team. That game will tipoff on Friday, January 10th at 7:00 PM PST on Pac-12 Networks. Charmin Smith shared some early thoughts after today’s game about that matchup:
“I mean it’s always fun being back in Maples. I mean it’s always fun playing against Stanford. Coaching against Tara, like, I dunno, I just, I’m just like wow. We’re doing this? You know? It’s not something that I anticipated. I didn’t know that this was my career path to be the head coach of the California Golden Bears, but I’m so happy that I am and I’m so happy that I’m coaching the young women that I’m coaching. I hope Tara is proud of what I’m doing because she’s a big part, she’s a big reason why I am where I am and we’ll give it our all. I know she’s going to try to kill us and we’ll try to kill them as well.”
