Cal Women's Basketball Lose 78-72 to Michigan State

Bears run out of energy and are outscored 27-12 in fourth quarter

Cal faced off against the Michigan State Spartans today in the opening round of the Acrisure Invitational in Palm Springs. Both teams entered with 6-0 records. Michigan State is on the fringe of being ranked, earning enough votes to be #27 in the AP poll. Cal has passed with flying colors early big-name matchups against Gonzaga and Auburn. Today’s game was another step up in competition.

In the second quarter of this afternoon’s game, the Bears went on an 18-0 scoring run and turned a 8-point deficit into a 8-point halftime lead. At the break, Coach Charmin Smith was asked about the scoring run. Her answer;

“When we are poised and calm, we are a really good team.”

The 18-0 run featured 7 made baskets with 5 assists. The ball was moving as the Bears were pushing for transition buckets and forcing the action. The scoring came from a combination of outside shooting (two 3-pointers each from Suarez and Twidale) and inside shots in the paint. I was reminded of the second half spurt against Grambling State in which Cal made 8-of-9 3-point shots early in the third quarter to pull away from the Tigers.

Cal started the 3rd quarter just as hot. Cal’s lead grew to 16, 58-42 with just over 2 minutes left in the quarter. A late Spartans mini-run cut the lead to twelve, 60-48 entering the fourth quarter. Lulu Twidale had 15 points and Marta Suarez had 11 to pace the Bears.

The fourth quarter was all Michigan State. The Spartans transitioned from a soft press to a hard press in the backcourt, forcing the Bears out of their rhythm. Foul trouble started coming into play, as Michelle Onyiah would foul out at the 6:51 mark. Cal was getting tired, and did not play in a calm manner. With Onyiah out, Michigan State attacked the center. Spartans guard Julia Ayrault scored 13 points in the quarter, most from midrange or closer. Suarez picked up 4 fouls in the quarter before fouling out with just under a minute left. The Spartans shot 32% for the first three quarters(17-of-53). In the fourth quarter, they shot 47%, including 3-of-3 from 3-point range. For the Bears, it was almost an inverse. After shooting 47% through the first three quarters, Cal only made 4 shots on 15 attempts in the fourth(27%), and committed 10 fouls. Michigan State outscored the Bears 27-12 for the quarter and won 78-72.

The optimist in me says that this is the best team Cal has faced this year. They went wire-to-wire with them until the last 2 minutes. The Bears were occasionally brilliant, and just ran out of gas towards the end.

The pessimist says that there are weaknesses with this team that will continue to be exploited. The starting five of Twidale/Krimili/Williams/Onyiah/Suarez is a very strong group with considerable collegiate playing experience. Tonight, they scored 65 points, with the freshman-heavy reserves playing 47 total minutes and scoring 7 total points. The reserves will need to be a larger factor over the course of the whole season.

Additionally, Ioanna Krimili was the ball-dominant handler today, taking on the role that in earlier games was shared more equally with Kayla Williams. Krimili finished today with a respectable 15 points and 5 assists. Williams had been averaging 13 points and 5 assists coming into this game. Today, she had one assist and took 1 shot attempt in 26 minutes of playing time. Simply put, the offense flows better when Kayla is involved. Ioanna is good at attacking the lane, but has a tendency to dribble the ball for too long if she does not see an immediate opening. I have not read anything indicating that Kayla was sick or injured, so hopefully today’s non-involvement in the game flow is an anomaly.

With the loss, the Bears now sit at 6-1. This game is the second game of a ‘prove it’ stretch of Power 5 matchups involving Auburn(win), Michigan State(disappointing loss), Arizona(tomorrow) and #23 Alabama (December 5th). I am looking forward to see what adjustments Coach Smith makes in tomorrow’s matchup against the Wildcats.