Women's Basketball: Cal Tops Saint Mary's, 70-62, in East Bay Battle
Sakima Walker and Lulu Twidale lead the Bears over the Gaels
Sakima Walker scored 10 points in the first quarter on 5-for-5 shooting, Claudia Langarita added 5 early points, as Cal used it’s superior interior size to great advantage early on. The Bears rushed out to an 23-11 lead at the end of the first quarter and appeared as if they may run away with the game.
Cal continued to play a solid interior-focused game in the second quarter, with Lulu Twidale hitting 2-of-2 3-point shots to keep the defense honest. Cal was able to push the lead up to 15 with just under two minutes left in the period. St. Mary’s responded, scoring the last seven points of the quarter to cut Cal’s lead down to 39-31 entering halftime. Sakima Walker and Claudia Langarita combined for 22 first half points.
In the third quarter, the Gaels picked up right where they left off. St Mary’s used a 11-0 scoring burst in just over a minute to grab the lead at 46-41. The Gaels were effective in pulling Cal’s center out of the interior and driving the lane over Cal’s smaller defenders. A Taylor Barnes 3-pointer broke Cal’s scoring drought for the Bears. The rest of the quarter went back and forth, ending in a 49-49 tie.
Cal started off the fourth quarter on a 7-0 scoring streak to regain the lead at 56-49. St. Mary’s responded with a 5 point streak to close the gap to 56-54, but they would not get any closer. Lulu Twidale scored Cal’s next five points and Cal was able to extend the lead back up to 9 points. The Bears closed on a 14-8 scoring run to close out the 72-60 victory.
Sakima Walker dominated the offensive side with 25 points on 11-of-15 shooting. Lulu Twidale added 18 points, including 4-of-8 from long range. The Gaels have boasted one of the best statistical defenses so far this season, averaging only 45 points per game.
On offense, St. Mary’s is known for being an interior team, attempting less than 15 3-point shots per game. Today, they attempted only seven long range shots, and did most of the damage on the interior. The Gaels scored 44 points in the paint on ultra-efficient 56% shooting from inside.
In her postgame comments, Coach Smith talked about the interior strategy coming into this matchup;
“So they had 62 points, and they shot a decent percentage. But their points were going to be in the paint because that’s what they do. They have the Wedin sisters that shoot the three, then everyone else is in the paint. So we didn’t want to outscore them in the paint. They outscored us just by 4, but you know we have a lot of perimeter weapons. So I wish they could have been less efficient in the paint, but that’s how they score.”
Today was the annual ‘SchoolHaas Rock’ game, with multiple East Bay Elementary and Middle Schools in attendance. The crowd of 4,624 fans were extremely loud all day, even cheering on both teams during warmups. Sadly, the score never hit 67, as Cal went from 66 to 68 after a Sakima Walker layup. In her postgame comments to the crowd, Coach Smith invited everyone back and indicated they’ll try to hit that number at future events.