On Friday morning, Cal women’s basketball defeated Washington State 77-63 in their annual School Haas Rock game, which is played in front of enthusiastic school kids who get the day off to watch some basketball. Kristine Anigwe led the charge for Cal with 29 points and 23 rebounds while Borislava Hristova was the top performer for Washington State with 21 points and 3 rebounds. Cal improves to 11-5 overall and 2-3 in the Pac-12 while Washington State falls to 7-10 overall and 2-4 in the Pac-12.
“Really proud of our team today,” Cal head coach Lindsay Gottlieb said after the game. “I wrote a quote on the board, I wrote a key to the game, saying be who you would have wanted to see when you were a little kid and I think just the connectedness of our team, the way they played as a team, the way they bounced back off of a rough week. They didn’t have a rough week, even though it was rough circumstances. I thought we practiced really well, I thought our players lifted me up, I was really confident coming into today even though the competition is really good. Washington State is a team that can score the ball in a lot of different ways.
"So yeah, it was a great day, I love the kids day. It’s really neat to expose them to what strong, powerful female athletes can do and hopefully inspire them to believe in what they can do as little kids. I want to thank our marketing team and our operations team that makes it happen because it’s not an easy thing and they make it look really smooth. Great day today and we’ll look forward to prepping for Washington to try to get two this weekend.”
“I think it’s always really special, this game just because a lot of kids come out,” Kristine Anigwe added. “They look up to us and our sports psychologist came out this week and we’ve been talking about being grateful and feeling grateful and just being very thankful for everyone around us and I think the kids just uplifted our spirits and resulted to us having a really good game.”
Washington State got out to an early 7-6 lead in this game with 4:18 to go in the 1st quarter. Borislava Hristova had 4 points early for the Cougars while Kristine Anigwe, Asha Thomas, and Receé Caldwell each scored 2 points for the Golden Bears. Despite getting behind in the early goings, Cal was able to take a 14-9 lead at the end of the 1st quarter behind 6 points and 7 rebounds from Anigwe.
In the 2nd quarter, Cal continued to play strong, leading 24-18 with 4:22 to go until halftime. Asha Thomas had 8 points on 3-4 shooting from the field while Borislava Hristova continued to find her groove with 12 points on 6-10 shooting from the field. Similar to the 1st quarter, Cal finished the 2nd quarter strong, as Receé Caldwell scored her 7th point of the game after getting a 3-pointer to fall right before the buzzer to give Cal a 37-26 lead. Thomas (11 points) and Anigwe (11 points & 11 rebounds) were the ones leading Cal while Hristova (14 points) was the one pacing Washington State.
During the 1st half, Cal did a really good job of controlling the glass and making their free throws, beating Washington State on the glass 22-17 while also shooting 7-7 from the foul line. Washington State in contrast was shooting 0-0 from the line, unable to get some much needed free points.
During the 3rd quarter, Cal got off to a quick 4-0 start thanks to Kristine Anigwe and Jaelyn Brown, forcing Washington State to call for time with 8:50 to go in the quarter. Up 41-26, all things were going Cal’s way. However, that timeout by Washington State seemed to work, as the Cougars would quickly climb back into the game, trailing 43-33 with 4:21 to go in the quarter. The Cougars would continue to battle hard down the stretch and after trading baskets, Shir Levy made a buzzer beating 3-pointer of her own to shave Cal’s lead down to just 7 points (52-45) heading into the 4th quarter.
Rather than letting Washington State build on that momentum, Cal got back to work and went on a 12-2 run to go up 71-54 with 3:44 to go. Kristine Anigwe continued her dominance inside while the rest of her teammates fed off the energy from the crowd. Washington State would make it slightly closer in the end, but Cal still walked out with a 77-63 win. While Anigwe’s 29 points and 23 rebounds was the story, Asha Thomas (13 points), Jaelyn Brown (12 points), and Receé Caldwell (10 points) also scored in double figures, giving Anigwe the help that she needed.
“It was really nice,” Lindsay Gottlieb said of pulling away in the end. “We would have taken a win in seven overtimes or by 20. And to be honest, with the depth and strength of this conference, it never feels comfortable. Because you have some scorers on that team that can heat up quickly. But that being said, I think it was good to be able to spread some minutes around, it was good to be able to make a lot of offensive plays in succession with getting stops, and that’s what you need to do to get some separation.”
“We fed off their energy,” Caldwell said of the youthful crowd. “When we went through that point I think in the 4th, we really stretched it out. The kids, we couldn’t hear ourselves on defense or offense, you know. So, we fed off that energy and it really helped us. Stops anchor everything. Once we get stops we know that we can run. I think we’re really good in transition. Jaelyn and Kristine are the fastest post players in the conference in my opinion. So, when we get stops and that leads to boards to transition, when we just play with the flow, I think we’re a really good team.”
Up next for Cal is a home game on Sunday against Washington. That game will tipoff at 2:00 PM PST on Pac-12 Networks.
