On Monday, Cal women’s basketball fell to the USC Trojans on the road by a final score of 77-54. USC grad transfer Jordan Sanders led the Trojans with 22 points. Cal freshman Ugonne Onyiah was the top performer for the Golden Bears with 16 points and 7 rebounds. USC improves to 2-4 overall and 1-4 in the Pac-12 while Cal falls to 0-7 overall and 0-4 in the Pac-12.
“We had a couple things we wanted to focus on taking care of the ball and controlling the boards,” Cal head coach Charmin Smith said after the game. “I think we did a solid job on the boards we had I believe 16 points that we gave off of our turnovers in the second quarter. That second quarter was a difference maker and we let them get out to a point where we couldn’t recover.”
Cal got off to a solid start early, leading 8-7 with 4:41 to go in the 1st quarter as Ugonne Onyiah, Leilani McIntosh, Dalayah Daniels, and Fatou Samb were all on the board with 2 points each. Cal was shooting 4-7 from the field with a 5-3 edge on the glass. Amaya Oliver had 5 points for the Trojans.
The rest of the quarter continued to remain tight as USC would lead 18-15 at the end. Oliver was up to 9 points for the Trojans. As for Cal, they were starting to stagnate a little bit on offense as McIntosh had just two points. However, it was clear that McIntosh was making her presence felt with her energy.
“She’s a ball-handler,” Smith said of McIntosh. “Only one on the team that can handle pressure. She’s a point guard and I think it was really evident in the games where we didn’t have her where we couldn’t get into an offense at all. In the last two games, we’ve at least been able to run a play, run our sets, run our continuity, and have some flow…And then defensively, being able to stop the ball and limit some of the transition points we were giving up early without her on the floor.”
The 2nd quarter was not kind to the Bears as the Trojans got out to a 7-0 run to lead 25-15 with 8:32 to go until halftime. Sanders was up to 9 points for the Trojans, doing a great job of giving her team a nice spark.
Things did not improve for Cal in the next few minutes as USC led 37-20 with 3:34 to go in the half. USC was outscoring Cal 19-5 in the quarter, really gaining separation. Cal was shooting 9-22 (40.9%) from the field overall and just 2-7 from the field in the quarter.
At the half, USC led 45-26. Desiree Caldwell and Endyia Rogers were up to 12 points for USC, having a really solid 2nd quarter. As for Cal, Dalayah Daniels was their leader with 7 points and 5 rebounds. With only one true ball handler in the back court in McIntosh, Cal was really struggling to generate the type of offense that they were in need of.
With 4:49 to go in the 3rd quarter, it continued to be smooth sailing for USC, who had built up a 56-32 lead. Caldwell (12 points), Rogers (12 points, Sanders (12 points), and Oliver (11 points) were all in double figures for the Trojans. It was truly a really solid team effort. As for Cal, they were fighting hard, but simply lacked the firepower. Especially in the back court as previously mentioned.
At the end of the 3rd, USC would lead 65-41. Sanders was up to 16 points for USC, continuing her strong performance. As for Cal, Onyiah was up to 12 points, becoming the first Cal player to crack double figures. With 4:11 to go in the game, USC would lead 71-49. All Cal could do is just try to finish strong and build a little momentum into their next contest.
In the end, USC walked out with a 77-54 win. It was tough loss for Cal, who continues to go through growing pains. As for USC, it’s their first league win and hopefully something they can use to build some momentum on their side.
Going forward for Cal, this all about building for the future and trying to stay positive. For the most part, it seems like this Cal team is doing just that. Charmin Smith’s main message is to keep a big picture and not let the day-to-day frustrations cloud their long-term vision.
“My message is just this is all about building for the future,” Smith said when asked how she keeps her team focused during this difficult stretch. “This is about building for when the expectation is to cut down nets and make deep runs into the tournament. Right now, we have to keep playing until the final buzzer because we have to continue to work on things.
“This game for example, we can’t give Sanders seven good looks from three. Just continuing to teach in every moment so that when the game does mean a lot more and there’s a ton at stake on the line that we can be better and make the right read, make the right play defensively, and have some success. We’re just really young and don’t have the experience. I just gotta keep teaching.”
One other thing to address is the challenge of managing the front court rotation and finding the right combination of players on the floor. After the game, Smith acknowledged this was a challenge while also saying raw minutes isn’t an issue at all.
“Yeah, it’s challenging,” Smith admitted. “I think they’re getting enough minutes. But, I don’t think anyone’s complaining about a lack of playing time with the short roster that we have. It’s just a matter of how productive can you be in your 30 minutes because everyone is getting in. I thought Michelle did a great job again, happy with her presence, and she was a little gassed. I told her she’s gotta do more work. She’s gotta stay that way and not fatigue as early.”
Following a holiday break for Christmas, Cal will return to action on the road at Arizona State on January 1st to ring in 2021.GoldenBearReport.com will have you covered for how to follow the action once the tip off time is finalized.
