Cal WBB falls late to Notre Dame

The Bears will wait to find out their NCAA tournament destination after a 73-64 defeat.

photo via @calwbball instagram

It’s rare to have a game where so many things go so right, and so many things go so wrong.

In many ways, Cal was brilliant against Notre Dame on Friday afternoon in the ACC tournament. The Bears played probably their best defensive game of the season and held the Irish to their 2nd worst offensive performance in ACC play. Notre Dame didn’t shoot the ball particularly well, Cal controlled the defensive glass, and mostly avoided shooting fouls. And on the other end of the floor, Cal shot the ball really well. Against an elite Notre Dame defense, the Bears shot 54% from 2 and sank enough 3 pointers to punish the Irish if they sagged inside.

In many ways, Cal shouldn’t have had a chance against Notre Dame on Friday afternoon. Michelle Onyiah picked up her 2nd foul late in the first quarter on a very ill-advised offensive foul and sat for basically the entire 2nd quarter. Meanwhile, Cal threw the ball away all game long, spending long stretches finding every conceivable way to end a possession without taking a shot. 3 seconds in the key, travels, inbounding violations, slips, trips, falls . . . name it and the Bears did it, en route to a 37% turnover percentage. Consider that Cal turned the ball over 28 times against a top 5 opponent and was in the game with a shot to win in the 4th quarter.

Add the good and the bad and what you get was a valiant loss, but a loss nonetheless. If you’re a team like Cal, you can’t beat a team as good as Notre Dame without a nearly perfect performance. In some ways, the Bears were nearly perfect. In other ways, they were not, and Notre Dame was able to pull away late for a nine point win.

It’s a painful defeat because Cal probably needed this game to boost their shot at a better NCAA tournament path. The Bears have played much better basketball since a swoon in the middle of ACC play capped by a chastising 39 point loss to this same Notre Dame team. Since that point the Bears are 6-2, with their only losses by single digits to quality teams. But save for an impressive win over Georgia Tech, they narrowly missed out on two chances for resume wins.

But on the bright side, a competitive loss to Notre Dame is a reminder of what this team is capable of when they are hitting on all cylinders. Over the last two weeks, the Bears have looked closer to the team that beat likely 2 seed NC State, and that’s a team that has the potential to make a run and pull an upset if they hit their peak in the right match-up.

Can this team continue to execute on all of the good things, and NOT turn the ball over on every 3rd possession? If so, this is a team that the protected seeds will not want to see pop up in the draw.

Random Thoughts and Game Notes

• Gisella Maul played a season high 15 minutes, largely taking over the minutes that would typically go to Jayda Noble, who missed the game due to illness.

• Kayla Williams probably would’ve played all 40 minutes had she not turned her ankle on what should have been called a foul when a ND defender stuck her foot into William’s driving path. Instead, it was one of Cal’s few unfortunate turnovers. Luckily Williams was back in the game shortly and I’d guess she’ll be 100% in two weeks for the tournament.

• Gabrielle Abigor only played 8 minutes, but recorded a thunderous help side block, a number of other solid contests, and brought down some tough defensive rebounds. Her freshmen campaign has been up and down in a way that is typical for first year post players, but I’m very confident that *at a minimum* she will play like an all-conference defender for the rest of her college career.

• I’d say that Cal’s roster played Notre Dame’s roster very even . . . except that Notre Dame had Hannah Hidalgo, who looked every bit of an All-American as she scored 25 points on 15 shots while also playing great defense. Sometimes the difference in a game is which team has the best player on the court.

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The Bears get a week off while we wait for Selection Sunday and the announcement of Cal’s NCAA seed. Most of the conventional wisdom entering the ACC tournament suggested that Cal was in the range of an 8 seed, and a win over Virginia and a loss to Notre Dame seems unlikely to change Cal’s standing in either direction.

Once the dust settles on major conference tournament play this weekend, we’ll produce some bracketology analysis during the week to try to guess at where our Bears will get sent, and start crossing our fingers for favorable destinations and match-ups. At the risk of plagiarizing myself, I do think there’s some seeding upside for our Bears, but we’ll get into that soon.

For now, this is a good time to sit back and reflect on what the Bears have accomplished as they sit on the precipice of their first tournament invite in six long, tough years. 25 wins, Cal’s most in 12 years, with the season not yet over. Multiple impressive wins over NCAA tournament teams. Surviving four cross country road trips.

In a matter of days, an NCAA tournament spot, and a long awaited return to March Madness. Can’t wait!