On Friday night, Cal women’s basketball defeated #17 Arizona State 69-60 in Berkeley, getting themselves a much needed win. Receé Caldwell (20 points), Kristine Anigwe (20 points & 15 rebounds), and Asha Thomas (18 points) led the way for the Golden Bears while Reili Richardson (12 points) and Courtney Ekmark (10 points) were the top scorers for the Sun Devils. This was the annual “Play 4 Kay Game”, which raises awareness for breast cancer. Cal improves to 15-11 overall and 6-9 in the Pac-12 while Arizona State falls 18-7 overall and 9-5 in the Pac-12.
“I said this week that we were going to change it, we were going to get it done, and that’s simply because of the belief I have in these players and the leadership that we’ve shown,” Cal head coach Lindsay Gottlieb said after the game. “This felt like an NCAA Tournament game for a lot of reasons because Arizona State is so darn good and also because we were battling for everything that we want to achieve in front of us. This is who we are. I think this is who we can be.
“It’s funny, I’ll tell you guys a little secret, I told Receé before the game hey I need you to be the best guard on the floor and I told Teezy hey this is your game tonight. Neither one knew of them knew what I said to the other one, but they both kinda acted like they were going to do anything to get us the win.
“Just incredibly proud of our stick-to-itiveness, our toughness, our grit. We can’t say enough about Jaelyn Brown’s defense on Ibis, I can’t say enough about Kristine’s growth, maturity, toughness to be able to kind of grind out 20 and 15, I mean it sounds crazy to say. They gave some different looks on her that were good and just our team’s ability to make the right play. They go 9-17 from three, to get stops when we needed it, I thought Kianna Smith’s defense on the ball was terrific, I could just go down the line.
“This is just a really signature win that is so meaningful to me as a coach because we had a tough time coming back from that trip. I don’t think anyone else really knows what that feels like, but the thing that I can always go back to amidst the disappointment is the belief in this group and they made me feel that way, so I’m happy for them to earn the win today.”
The Sun Devils got out to a 7-5 lead with 3:41 to go in the 1st quarter. Kianna Smith had a 3-pointer for Cal to get things going while Charnea Johnson-Chapman had 4 points for the Sun Devils. Arizona State would proceed to finish the quarter strong as Robbi Ryan and Courtney Ekmark each were up to 5 points while Asha Thomas led Cal with 4 points. Up 18-12 at the end for the 1st quarter, Arizona State was playing good basketball, taking advantage of Cal’s 5-15 shooting from the field.
The 2nd quarter likewise belonged to Arizona State, who would go up 32-22 with 1:00 to go until halftime. During the final minute, Cal was able to shave the Sun Devils’ lead to 7 points (32-25) at halftime as Caldwell banked in a 3-pointer right before the buzzer sounded. As is a trademark of this Sun Devils team, it was a very balanced scoring effort during the quarter as Sophia Elenga was the leading scorer with 4 points. As for Cal, it was not a balanced attack in the quarter as Caldwell (6 points) and Anigwe (7 points) were the only two players to score.
That 3-pointer by Caldwell seemed to be just what the doctor ordered for Cal. Coming out in the 3rd quarter, Cal was in a much better groove offensively. With 6:15 to go in the quarter, Caldwell was up to 13 points for Cal while Anigwe was up to 10 points, resulting in a tie game at 35-35. Cal would soon take the lead 40-37 with 4:15 to go in the quarter as they were shooting 6-9 from the field. The Sun Devils in contrast were shooting 2-8 from the field, unable to get into a good offensive rhythm.
“I think one that was key, that Receé banked in three to end it,” Gottlieb said. “I mean sure, you bank in, that’s a little bit of luck, but I also think you make your luck. Her demeanor and our demeanor allowed us to have a shot.”
Cal would go on to lead 47-41 going into 4th quarter, outscoring the Sun Devils 22-9 in the 3rd. Caldwell led all scorers with 15 points on 6-10 shooting from the field and 3-5 shooting from 3-point range. It was just a matter of finishing the game strong.
With 4:42 to go, Cal was up 56-52 as Anigwe was starting to really find her mojo with 18 points and 13 rebounds. The game was right in front of Cal for the taking and now they just had to power through these last few minutes. Thanks to a clutch 3-pointer from Caldwell and a bucket inside from Kianna Smith, Cal extended their lead 61-53 with 2:41 to go. From there, Cal was able to essentially trade baskets the rest of the way, never letting the Sun Devils make their run. As a result, Cal walked out with a 69-60 win over the #17 team in the country.
It was an emotional win for Cal, who came in riding a five game losing skid. Shortly after handshakes were exchanged, Gottlieb took the mike and said to the crowd, “That was an NCAA Tournament game for us…Go Freaking Bears!” That moment right there showed just how important this win is for Cal. They were playing for their NCAA Tournament lives and to their credit, they came up big when they really needed to.
“This ASU team is like, really good,” Gottlieb said. “Their losses this year are to Baylor and Louisville and Oregon and Stanford. Is that it? And Arizona. They’re really good and they’re very hard to beat. You have to earn it. Credit to Charli and her staff and their players and that’s what we did tonight. We earned it and I felt like the tide was shifting and that we were playing better from the beginning of that third quarter, but I felt like the way we handled being not so good in the first half was really important if that makes sense.
“It’s funny, we watched the film. We’re a better team, now [than we were when we played them last time]. We could have won that game, I mean we get the lob to Kristine with 4 seconds left. Definitely some other things could have gone here and there, but we’re a better team. We’re a better offensive team for sure…But I just think our offense was more fluid, I thought we were way better on ball screen defense, we did a better job on Ibis, I thought we defended a lot better this time, I thought we were in more rhythm.”
While clutch shooting was a big part of Cal’s win, it was their defense that also came up big. Holding the Sun Devils’ leading scorer Kianna Ibis to just 3 points was huge and a testament to the type of defense Cal can play.
“So, part of it is, we told them many times this week she averages 26 against us, because that’s what she had down there,” Gottlieb said. “Had her career-high from three. We knew we had to do a better job. So, when you put the bigger big on her she goes more on the perimeter, when you put the smaller one, Jaelyn, she goes on the post, I thought Kai Felton did an incredible scout, I thought Jaelyn worked to get around on the block, and we had good help like from Kristine there and the guards and then I thought we were in her space more when she tried to shoot. She’s a really really good player and she’s tough to guard because of the inside outside, but I thought our ability to lock in on the scout was really a big key.”
Up next for Cal is a home game on Sunday against the Arizona Wildcats. It will be their final home game of the season, making it Senior Day. That game will tipoff at 2:00 PM PST on Cal Live Stream.
