Cal Women's Basketball Beats Wake Forest, 61-52

The Bears earn their first ACC win of the year

Coach Charmin Smith drawing up a late-game inbounds play during today’s win over Wake Forest.

Coach Charmin Smith’s California Golden Bears were due for a break. Cal is off to an 0-4 conference start against a stiff slate of opponents. Last Wednesday’s game against Duke went down to the wire as Cal could not close out the fourth quarter lead and ended up losing by four. On Wednesday, Cal played good enough to win, but lost. On paper, today’s opponent Wake Forest presented an easiest ACC matchup so far this year. The Demon Deacons, 12-5 overall and 2-3 in conference, were 11-point road underdogs. How would Cal rebound after failing to close out Duke earlier this week?

Gisella Maul earned the start in place of injured Puff Morris. She scored seven points in the first four minutes of the game as Cal raced out to an early 10-4 lead midway through the first quarter. Cal demonstrated a noticeable size and strength advantage at all positions early on. The Deacons were averaging a foul a minute as the Bears controlled the interior. The rest of the quarter was a sloppy affair for both teams, as both Cal and Wake Forest could only muster three points over the last five minutes of the quarter. Despite only shooting 4-of-16 for the period, Cal held a 13-6 lead. The lead should have been more.

Lulu Twidale connected on her second 3-pointer of the game, and Sakima Walker converted from the low post with three defenders draped all over, as Cal continued to outplay the Deacons. Cal moved the ball freely against Wake Forest’s ineffective zone defense, finding good shot opportunities or loosening up the zone for finding smeone on the interior. When Wake Forest shifted to man-to-man defense, Cal repeatedly went inside to Sakima Walker. Cal largest lead was 21-6 midway through the period. At halftime, Cal enjoyed a 26-14 lead.

Cal was dominating the eye test; the Bears were stronger, faster and running their offense efficiently against whatever defense the Deacons threw at them. Cal just couldn’t convert enough good shot opportunities to make this game a runaway. The Bears were 4-of-11 on layups in the game’s first twenty minutes. Cal shot 36% from outside, but was only 5-of-18 from inside the arc in the first half.

Cal’s size on the interior and length at the wings made nothing easy for Wake Forest on offense. The Deacons were held to 22% shooting for the half. Leading scorer Grace Oliver(13.6 points per game) was held scoreless on only three shot attempts.

Wake Forest came out strong in the third period. Grace Oliver finally got into the scoring column, as the Deacons were able to cut the lead down to five, 29-24 midway through the period. The Deacons operated faster than they did in the first half on their way to 10-of-16 shooting for the period. On defense, the Deacons forced six turnovers as they took away passing lanes and pressured the ball more. Cal only attempted ten shots in the period. A late steal and layup by Wak Forest’s Milan Brown cut th lead down to three Gisella Maul hot a long-range shot from the top of the key as the clock expired to push the lead back up to six. Cal led 43-37 entering the final period.

In the fourth period, Cal made a concerted effort to get the ball to the low post. Wake Forest stuck to zone defense primarily; Cal found the soft spot in the high post then fed the ball to the low post for the short shot attempt. Sakima Walker and Naya Ujukwu combined for nine points over the first five minutes of the period, as Cal led 53-45 with just under five minutes left in the game.

Cal stuck to the same interior strategy, and was able to push their lead up to twelve points near the three minute mark. The Bears held steady over the last few minutes and closed out the 61-52 victory.

Cal goes to Sakima Walker scored 17 points to pace the Bears. Gisella Maul added 13 points, and Lulu Twidale added 12. Cal shot 40% overall, including 37% from outside. Mary Carter (from Rocklin, CA) led Wake Forest in scoring with 14 points.

Coach Smith Post-Game Quotes

After the game, Coach Smith expressed relief on getting the first conference win.

”It’s a relief. We needed it. We’’ve been battling, you know. We’ve been competing and playing really hard, so it’s nice to finally have it pay off in the win column for us.”

On closing out tonight’s game after a tight third quarter where Wake Forest cut the lead down to five;

“We were really able to take advantage of the big lineup. That’s something that I wish we would have tried a little bit more against Duke, with Sakima and Naya in the game. There was a shift being able to have those tow in the game at the same time.“

On building on the first win, and going back on the road;

“I think it just feels better when you go home at night….We’re able to feel good tonight and get some confidence. We’ve been getting confidence because we’ve been playing with NC State, playing with North Carolina, playing with Duke. But the confidence you get from actually winning is even more. And we need that, because Syracuse is playing really well, they’re a really good team.”

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Cal moves to 10-8 overall, 1-4 in ACC play. The Bears go on the road this week for a pair of winnable games. Cal will face the Syracuse (14-3, 4-2) this coming Thursday. The Orange are led by Uche Izoje. The freshman center from Nigeria is averaging 14 points and 9 rebounds per game and has been named ACC Newcomer of the Week four times so far this season. Sakima Walker will have her hands full in defending Izoje.

Cal finishes the road trip next Sunday against Boston College. The Eagles are struggling this season. They are winless in ACC play and are 4-15 overall.