On Sunday, #24 Cal women’s basketball fell to #19 Arizona State by a final score of 62-61. Kianna Ibis led the way for Arizona State with 26 points and 6 rebounds while Kristine Anigwe was the top performer for Cal with 21 points and 16 rebounds. Arizona State improves to 12-4 overall and 3-2 in the Pac-12 while Cal falls to 10-5 overall and 1-3 in the Pac-12.

Cal came out strong in the 1st quarter thanks to some hot shooting from Receé Caldwell, who had 5 early points on 2-2 shooting from the field, including a 3-pointer. Kianna Ibis was off to a strong start for the Sun Devils as well with 6 points on 2-2 shooting from 3-point range, getting her team up 12-10 with 4:47 to go in the 1st quarter.

The only issue Cal was having during the 1st quarter was getting Kristine Anigwe going, who did not score at all. Fortunately for Cal, others were stepping up in her place. Jaelyn Brown finished the 1st quarter with 8 points on 3-3 shooting from the field while Asha Thomas had 6 points and 2 assists. As a result, Cal had a 23-20 lead at the end of the quarter.

During the 2nd quarter, neither team was able to gain separation from the other. Kianna Ibis continued to knock down shots from the perimeter and provide Arizona State with a consistent scoring punch while Kristine Anigwe finally got into a bit of a rhythm, scoring 6 points. Despite shooting 3-10 from the field in the 2nd quarter, Cal was still able to take a 33-32 lead into halftime thanks to shooting 4-5 from the foul line, 8-10 overall for the half.

During the 3rd quarter, both teams continued to battle. Kianna Ibis made her fourth 3-pointer of the game to put Arizona State up 35-33 with 7:56 to go in the 3rd quarter. Ibis came into the game shooting 36.0% from 3-point range on 1.67 attempts per game, so Cal was willing to let her shoot more threes than she usually does. Unfortunately, that decision backfired.

With 4:09 to go in the 3rd quarter, both teams were tied 40-40 in a very competitive game. Cal sophomore Kianna Smith was up to 7 points after knocking down a pretty jumper inside while Jaelyn Brown led the way for Cal with 10 points. As for Kianna Ibis, she was up to 16 points, carrying the load for Arizona State.

In the final 4 minutes of the 3rd quarter, Kianna Ibis scored 6 points, to help Arizona State take a 52-48 lead into the 4th quarter. With 22 points and 5 rebounds, Ibis continued to pace the Sun Devils. As for Kristine Anigwe, she entered the 4th quarter with 11 points and 7 rebounds for the Golden Bears, doing her part to keep her team in the game.

With 7:12 to go in the 4th quarter, the game was once again tied 55-55. Kristine Anigwe was up to 15 points and 10 rebounds after knocking down a pair of free throws and getting a bucket inside. While foul shooting has been a weakness for Anigwe at times, she had 9 of those 15 points at the foul line on 10 attempts. During the next few minutes, neither team was able to take a lead for long. Anigwe and Ibis traded foul shots to tie the game up 61-61 with under a minute to go, setting up a dramatic finish.

Cal had the ball to start off that final minute, but they were unable to score as Arizona State got a crucial stop with 27 seconds to go. With the ball in their hands, Arizona State was able to get to the foul line with under 5 seconds to go after Reili Richardson attacked the rim looking for the hoop plus the foul. After making her first of two free throws, Richardson missed the second, resulting in a rebound from Kristine Anigwe.

Down by 1 with the ball and 4.2 seconds to go, Cal had one final chance to steal the win. Despite getting the ball into Anigwe for the game winning bucket, Cal was unable to score as Arizona State did a good job of blocking her shot inside. While it could have been called a foul, it was still good defense all the same. Arizona State escaped with a 62-61 victory doing what they do best.

The only positive to take away from this game for Cal is that they competed hard and gave themselves a chance to win in a very difficult road environment. What makes it hard to take comfort in that is the fact that they lost both games in this trip. Had they won on Friday, they would be feeling much better about where they are at.

Up next for Cal is a home game on Friday against Washington State. That game will tipoff at 11:30 AM PST on Pac-12 Networks as the annual School Haas Rock game.