On Sunday, Cal women’s basketball defeated Arizona 82-76 in overtime. Senior guard Receé Caldwell led the way for the Golden Bears with 24 points, 5 rebounds, and 4 assists while freshman forward McKenzie Forbes finished with 17 points on 5-6 shooting from 3-point range. Aari McDonald was the top performer for Arizona, finishing with 31 points. Cal improves to 16-11 overall and 7-9 in the Pac-12 while Arizona falls to 17-10 overall and 7-9 in the Pac-12.
“So, the grad transfer thing has worked out pretty well for us,” Cal head coach Lindsay Gottlieb said after the game with a chuckle. “And senior nights tend to be emotional and special and I just told them in there, I’m kind of an emotional person anyway, but this is high levels even for me. I’m going to remember this win with the Elite Eight game in Spokane, I’m going to remember this game with Stanford victories on our court or with clinching the Pac-12 championship in Washington that time. Just because of how it unfolded.
“We have some pretty incredible seniors and I think they came out and had a tough time on the offensive end and I really challenged us at halftime, like I really yelled at them about our effort and our body language, and who we wanted to be and I might have stolen a line from Coach K when Duke came back and beat Louisville that time about what type of people we coach and I do believe we coach winners.
“I will say, the one stat thing I said, I don’t really care about the shots, I said we’re 2-for-14, we’re going to go 10-for-14 in the second half, which, hmmm…we did! We talked about before the game how you impact others is the best legacy seniors can leave. So, I think McKenzie Forbes is a darn good basketball player, but her coming out here and hitting 5-for-6 from three is because she cares about this team and these seniors. I think the way that CJ West lost her teeth diving on the floor is because she cares about these seniors and this program. I think we saw a heroic performance from Receé, I think we saw one of the most gutty and gritty performances I’ve seen from a team and I just couldn’t be more proud of this one.
“And Arizona’s really good. Phew! That’s the toughest guard to guard [McDonald] I think, there’s a lot of tough guards in our league, but she’s one of the toughest one-on-one players and the other kids made shots and they made us fight for it and I’m incredibly proud of this one.”
Arizona got out to an 8-6 lead with 5:00 to go in the 1st quarter behind 5 quick points from McDonald. Jaelyn Brown also had 5 points for Cal, giving Cal a much needed spark to start the game. Thanks to more sizzling shooting from McDonald, Arizona led 15-13 at the end of the 1st quarter as she had 9 points on 4-5 shooting from the field. Kristine Anigwe started to get things going for Cal as well, finishing the quarter with 5 points and 4 rebounds. The big issue for Cal at this point was their shooting (4-14). If they were going to win this game, they were going to have to get their shooting numbers up.
Arizona opened the 2nd quarter on a 10-0 run as Cal would miss their first seven shots of the quarter. As a result, Arizona stretched their lead 25-13 with 5:21 to go in the quarter as Sam Thomas started to come alive with 10 points of her own. Now shooting 4-21 from the field, Cal was in a real offensive funk.
During the rest of the quarter, Arizona was able to expand their lead a little bit more, leading 32-17 at halftime. Similar to Friday’s game against Arizona State, Caldwell was able to get a shot at the buzzer to fall right before halftime, only this time it was a two pointer. There was hope that shot would give Cal some much needed life after a sluggish start to the game.
During the 3rd quarter, it was all Caldwell, who scored 13 of 24 total points to get Cal back in the game. You could tell that she was determined to will her team back into the game and that on Senior Day, she was not going to let her team down. As a result of her determination, Cal trailed 48-37 at the end of the quarter.
“We weren’t losing on Senior Day,” Caldwell said point blank. “I mean, it was in my mind the whole time. I think Kenzie does a really good job in holding me accountable and saying like we’re not losing this game. So, like, do what you gotta do.
“And obviously K.A. has the biggest burden on our team. I mean, they send three people at her every game. So, for her, she needed help and I was able to help her, and Kenzie was able to help her and then Teezy and then Kianna, I just felt like it was a total team effort for our seniors to not lose on Senior Day.”
Thanks to Caldwell’s 3rd quarter spark, Cal went on a 6-0 run, trailing 53-46 with 6:38 to go as Arizona called for time. Anigwe was up to 9 points and 11 rebounds while CJ West was up to 8 points, doing her part to help Cal get back in the game.
Over the next couple of minutes, Cal would slowly chip away at Arizona’s lead, now trailing 57-52 with 4:47 to go. West and Anigwe were each up to 10 points while Forbes was starting to come alive a bit with 7 points of her own. McDonald continued her stellar play for the Wildcats, leading all scorers with 21 points.
Things got really intense in the final minute of regulation. Down 61-59 with 57.7 to go, Cal had the ball after Caldwell hit a huge layup and was able to force an Arizona turnover. West was on the floor for a couple of minutes after diving for the ball, resulting in a chipped/lost tooth. Her grit and hustle got overlooked a bit, but it was sorely needed.
“So, the first thing is, one technical thing I will say, Charmin had a great suggestion to go zone on misses, too,” Gottlieb said. “We don’t usually go zone on misses, she’s kind of been pushing that for a while. In that, I think that gave us a different energy. I think it confused them a little bit and kinda put people in positions where they can just be long and get on balls and stuff.”
Coming out of that timeout, Cal drew up a play to give Asha Thomas a wide open three. She missed the shot and Arizona rebounded the ball, giving Destiny Graham a chance to give the Wildcats a four-point cushion. Fortunately for Cal, Graham went 1-2 at the foul line, giving Cal the ball down by three points (62-59) with 34.2 to go.
The following sequence was rather crazy as Cal turned the ball over on the inbound and then got it right back after forcing a tie up. It was a bizarre chain of events and to follow it all up, Caldwell hit a clutch 3-pointer to tie the game up 62-62 with 17.7 to go. As cliché as it sounds, this is the kind of stuff you don’t see in the movies. Still, there was more basketball to be played in regulation as Sam Thomas and Kristine Anigwe each went 1-2 from the foul line. As a result, the game went into overtime with both teams tied 63-63.
“Our effort was incredibly lifted in the second half,” Gottlieb said. “I can think of a few. Like, we get I think like Kristine battled for the jump ball off of a missed free throw, which tied it up, which then they get possession so then Kenzie gets that one and now it’s our ball on this end. So that’s a couple, right? Obviously, CJ diving on the floor getting her teeth knocked out. There were a number of ones and it wasn’t easy. It wasn’t like in a four minute span we came back all at once because they can really score the ball.
“Like I was hoping there was going to be enough possessions, so we had to grit it out for a long time, and that three that Receé hit in the corner was just mind-boggling, but we needed it. Because we’re not going to have enough possessions to be like five or six points ahead. So, made it a little tough at the free throw line by missing some, but more so, they’re good and we just had to grit every possession out and we found a way to do it.”
Overtime started to go Cal’s way as Anigwe made a foul shot and a bucket inside, giving Cal a 66-63 lead with 3:53 to go. Arizona wasn’t done yet as McDonald, Reece, and Tee Tee Starks responded to give Arizona 68-67 lead with 3:09 to go. Right after Starks’ 3-pointer, Kianna Smith made a 3-pointer to give Cal a 70-68 lead. McDonald would respond at the foul line, tying the game 70-70 with 2:34 to go.
McDonald then gave Arizona a 72-70 lead only to see Forbes respond for Cal with a 3-pointer to give Cal a 73-72 lead with 1:47 to go. McDonald would respond again to give Arizona a 74-73 lead with 1:27 to go before Forbes came back once more with a huge 3-pointer.
“I mean, the secret is in the dirt,” Caldwell said of Forbes’ performance. “Kenzie is one of the best freshmen for sure, but I would say hardest working freshman that I’ve been around and as you know I’ve been to three programs, so I think have a pretty good feel. But, she’s hungry and she stays ready, I would say. Obviously, we have a veteran group so sometimes her minutes aren’t there because our vets do well, you know, but when her number is called, she’s a vet.
“I was just joking with her the other day, she’s the most veteran freshman. And G said this, I said whenever next year, she’ll be a veteran, her senior year she’ll be a veteran, and when she goes to the WNBA, she’ll be the most veteran rookie there. So, it’s more just how she carries herself all the time. I could not be more proud of her and I think this is just her standard now. It’s not surprising at all. She lives for these moments, you know?”
“Yeah, I mean, Recee’s been such a great role model for me coming in,” Forbes said with a lot of emotion. “A lot of people know I’ve been around this program for a long time. I committed super early. But I didn’t even know that she would be coming in with me. I’m just so grateful for her friendship and her mentorship on the court and off the court, and she’s going to make fun of me for crying later, but yeah, I’m super super thankful for this senior group that we’ve had. I’ve never had such great mentors. I mean all four of them: Teezy, Mo, K.A., and Receé. Like all in different ways, so I’m just super glad that we can get the win for them today.”
Up 76-74 with 1:05 to go, Cal was in need of getting a stop to really put the screws on Arizona. They were able to do just that as McDonald missed a two-pointer inside that was rebounded by Smith. Smith went 1-2 at the line to give Cal a 77-74 lead, leaving a ray of hope for Arizona with 38 seconds to go. After Thomas got a steal and knocked down a pair of free throws, Cal now led 79-74, just about putting the game out of reach for Arizona. Arizona was able to get within 4 points, but a pair of free throws from Caldwell fittingly put the game away for good. With an 82-76 overtime victory, Cal accomplished what they set out to do this weekend, which was to get a sweep over the Arizona schools.
After scoring just 17 points in the 1st half, Cal scored 46 points in the 2nd half and 19 points in overtime. The way in which the offense was able to come alive in the manner that it did was pretty remarkable. Everyone got in on the action, making it a true team effort. When looking back at all the games this year, this one is right up there with the win over Stanford. Cal could have given up, but instead they kept believing in themselves, getting rewarded for their perseverance.
After the game, Lindsay Gottlieb held a ceremony for each of the seniors. It was really cool to see how much love she has for each and every one of her players. Through all the ups and downs that come with playing in such a competitive conference, the one constant that’s always there with Gottlieb is the love that she has for her players and the love that they have for her. They're a tight knit group that seems to really bond both on and off the court. As a result of that bond, they’ve been able to accomplish some pretty incredible things and overcome a lot of adversity.
Up next for Cal is a road trip to the Pacific Norwest to face the Washington schools. Up first will be Washington on Friday night. That game will tipoff at 7:00 PM PST on Washington Live Stream.
