Cal's late comeback falls short in season-ending loss to St. Joe's

Marta Suarez's 20 point performance wasn't enough in narrow defeat

photo via @calwbball twitter

Cal’s season came to an end in the second round of the inaugural WBIT after a late comeback attempt fell short in a 63-61 defeat to St. Joseph’s. The Bears had the ball with a chance to tie or win on the final possession, but with no timeouts left and the entire length of the court to cover, Cal couldn’t get a good look on their final possession with 12 seconds left.

The game looked over when St. Joe’s hit a layup to take a 10 point lead just inside the three minute mark. But Cal ramped up their defensive pressure and forced three turnovers in the final stretch to fuel a 9-0 run capped by a Ioanna Krimili three with 0:47 seconds left.

Cal played straight up defense on the next possession but St. Joe’s Mackenzie Smith used her size to back down Leilani Macintosh and score inside to push the lead back to three.

Cal then made two interesting decisions. With 30 seconds left and trailing by three, Cal used a timeout to advance the ball and called for a lob to Michelle Onyiah, who scored to cut the lead to one. After two made St. Joe’s free throws, Cal did the exact same thing again. It worked, in the sense that Onyiah scored to again cut the lead to one, but by then even more time had come off the clock, and even though St. Joe’s finally missed a free throw Cal was now out of time outs, couldn’t advance the ball, and couldn’t get off a good shot to tie or win the game. Marta Suarez’s forced shot was blocked to end the game.

That made for a frustrating reality: Cal three times held the ball with a chance to take a game tying or leading shot in the final 30 seconds. And yet, Cal did not attempt a single shot that wasn’t blocked that would have allowed Cal to tie or take the lead. Against a team that struggles from the line, I would have understood the late game strategy, but St. Joe’s is the #3 free throw shooting team in the country at 81%, and playing a strategy that relied upon the Hawks to miss free throws was risky and did not pay off.

Still, Cal probably lost the game in the 2^nd quarter, when Cal’s offense went stagnant and St. Joe’s built a lead as big as 12 points that Cal could ultimately never come back from. Against a team that doesn’t play pressure defense, Cal was loose with the ball in the first half. Nine turnovers in 35 possessions (26% turnover rate) allowed the Hawks to jump out ahead. The Bears took much better care of the ball in the 2^nd half (just two turnovers) but couldn’t quite hit enough shots or get enough stops to complete the comeback.

Marta Suarez was Cal’s star of the game, putting up 20 points, 13 rebounds, 3 assists, and 2 steals. She was active throughout the game inside and outside and essential to the near comeback.

But what I’ll remember from this game was Leilani McIntosh, in the final game of her marathon Cal career, covering every inch of the court in a desperate attempt to will Cal back into the game. She tallied four steals, three of which came in the 4^th quarter, and I know I don’t need to tell you that she played every single minute of the game. Cal’s floor general played at Cal for five years, started every single game, and averaged at least 32 minutes/game every year. I don’t think a single Bear has ever expended more effort, sacrificed more blood, sweat, and tears than Leilani McIntosh.

Now, thoughts inevitably turn towards the off-season. Charmin Smith remade Cal’s roster through the transfer portal last year. The rebuilt roster was in largely a success – Cal won six more games this year and this was the best team Smith has put together in Berkeley. But there was also a very clear ceiling on this team’s ability to compete with NCAA tournament-caliber talent. With a roster full of players who are deep into their college basketball careers it’s not necessarily clear who will choose to return.