With just a few seconds left on the shot clock, 5-foot-4-inch Asha Thomas looked around for open teammates while she was swarmed by a taller defender. As the clock wound down, Thomas knew she had little time left. So, she leaned back and hoisted up a shot from near the free-throw line. The ball dropped through the net as the buzzer sounded — it was just that kind of quarter for the Bears.
After building a double-digit lead in the first quarter, Cal women’s basketball (13-15, 4-13 Pac-12) cruised to its fourth victory of conference play, defeating Oregon (20-8, 9-8) 65-54. Freshman forward Kristine Anigwe led the way for the Bears with 18 points and seven rebounds.
Less than 30 seconds into the game, Thomas set the tone for the quarter, hitting a corner three on Cal’s first offensive possession. The Bears jumped out to a 16-4 lead, with strong interior play from Anigwe in addition to Thomas’ sharpshooting. Oregon ran a zone defense, which Cal was able to exploit by feeding the ball to Anigwe, who most teams have covered with multiple defenders this season because of her dangerous scoring ability.
The Bears exploded for 23 points in the first quarter, including a three-pointer from forward Penina Davidson, who had only hit five triples all season. Cal also managed to hold Oregon to eight points, closing out the quarter with a commanding 15-point lead.
“I asked them to use their youthful energy, which I think is a strength of ours,” said Cal head coach Lindsay Gottlieb. “But couple that with some veteran poise that maybe we haven’t had all the time, and I thought they really did that coming out in the first quarter.”
Oregon’s early offensive struggles can likely be attributed to its loss of forward Jillian Alleyne, its top scorer and rebounder. Its defensive lapses in the first quarter, however, were the result of an ineffective strategy. The Ducks learned the perils of having a single defender on Anigwe before the end of the first quarter, and adjusted by having two to three defenders hovering around her, even off-ball.
The second quarter was a back-and-forth battle between both teams, but the Bears ultimately outscored Oregon 12-11 in the period. Cal didn’t have the same success with perimeter shooting in the second quarter as it did in the first, and the Ducks sagged off the three-point line and packed the paint as a result.
But the Bears thrived in transition. Late in the quarter, guard Gabby Green and forward Mikayla Cowling scored on fast-break layups on consecutive possessions. Cal played excellent defense and created these transition scoring opportunities by forcing the Ducks to commit 21 turnovers with heavy ball pressure.
Heading into the third quarter, the Bears held a comfortable 16-point lead, but this didn’t make them complacent. Cal maintained its strong defensive effort to start the second half and continued to see scoring contributions from Anigwe and Thomas, as well as starting forward Courtney Range. The lead reached its apex at the four-minute-55-second mark, when a jumper by Anigwe put the Bears up 49-27. Oregon fought back with a 12-5 run to end the quarter, however, cutting Cal’s lead to 15 points.
The Ducks cut the lead to single digits briefly in the fourth quarter, but the Bears led comfortably for most of the period. With balanced scoring from its starters, Cal finished out the game with an 11-point victory, and led for the entirety of the game.
For the Bears, a victory against a team ranked in the top half is a positive sign for the team’s future and Gottlieb sees the upcoming Pac-12 Tournament as a legitimate avenue into the postseason.
“This whole year’s been about a process,” Gottlieb said. “But down the stretch here, we’ve just said we’re not going to do anything but go down fighting. We’re going to control everything we can control and try to be the story of March.”
Kapil Kashyap covers women’s basketball. Contact him at kkashyap@dailycal.org