BERKELEY - Though she'd already logged 49 minutes and 54 seconds of a physically and emotionally draining double-overtime thrill ride against UCLA, Cal women's basketball player Asha Thomas knew just how to react when she saw teammate MaAne Mosley track down the game's final rebound.
No matter how tired the Bears were, Thomas' emotional fist pump came not only as muscle memory, it also told the emotional story of one of the best games Cal fans have seen in a long, long time.
Playing a non-conference game against a quality Pac-12 foe, No. 21/20-ranked Cal came through when it mattered most, outlasting the No. 19-ranked Bruins at Haas to earn a heart-stopping 108-104 win on Monday. Courtney Range's jumper with 27 seconds left provided the eventual winning points, two free throws from Thomas increased the lead and Mosley sealed it with a free throw of her own.
Range led the way for the Bears (8-2) with a career-high 29 points and 12 rebounds. Kristine Anigwe scored 25 points and grabbed 10 rebounds in 32 minutes while Mikayla Cowling played all 50 minutes and finished with 17 points. Penina Davidson scored a career high-tying 15 points off the bench and Thomas finished with 14 points and 11 assists while also playing 50 minutes.
"If that wasn't a commercial for the Pac-12, I don't know what is," said Cal's Lindsay Gottlieb, who participated in her first double overtime game as the Bears' head coach. "I've been here for eight years as an assistant and a head coach and that's the most exciting game I've ever been a part of. I think it was great for women's basketball. I hope people were tuning in."
Leading by 16 at one point in the second quarter, Cal looked ready to pull away for what would've certainly been an impressive victory over a quality opponent. That wasn't what UCLA had in mind though and, after whittling Cal's lead down throughout the third quarter, Jordin Canada scored maybe the most important of her team-high 28 points with time expiring, hitting a deep 3-pointer to tie the game at 86 and force overtime.
The big plays were only just beginning. Davidson tied the score at 93 with 58 seconds left in the first overtime but Canada put the Bruins back on top by splitting free throws 18 seconds later. Gottlieb called time out with six seconds left on the shot clock to diagram a play but, when the script didn't unfold quite as perfectly as planned, Thomas came to the rescue with an off-balance 3 from the wing to give Cal a 96-94 lead with 10 seconds left.
Again though, UCLA wasn't ready to go quietly into the rainy Berkeley night. The Bruins inbounded the ball quickly, raced upcourt and Monique Billings tied it with a layup with four seconds left to force another five minutes of play.
Billings again looked like the hero with 48 seconds left in the second overtime when her layup put UCLA ahead 104-103. Gottlieb called time out again and drew up a play for her junior leader, with Range stepping inside a rushing defender and calmly knocking down a jumper to give Cal the lead back with 27 seconds left. UCLA's Kari Korver tried a 3 that led to a long rebound deflected out of bounds off the Bruins, and Thomas knocked down a pair of free throws to give the Bears the 3-point lead with six seconds left. Another UCLA 3 sailed long and Mosley grabbed the game's final rebound, made the front end of a pair of free throws and sealed the hard-earned victory.
"The whole game was a battle. We knew it was going to be a battle going into it," Range said. "We just had to keep playing through it all and have each other's back. If someone falls, pick them up and keep playing."
Resillience was the name of the game for the Bears, who received incredible contributions that went far past the stat sheet. After spraining her ankle in the first half, Green played through the pain and was on the court at the end. After Anigwe fouled out with just over a minute left in regulation, Davidson stepped up and made big plays in the post in a season-high 32 minutes of action. No matter the situation, Cal came up with a response and that made for incredible theater in one of the season's most thrilling wins.
"I get to look at the young women in these gold jerseys and whatever UCLA came with, and it was good, I'm just in awe of the toughness that I saw. I'm in awe," Gottlieb said. "We have a young team and I think that's what we've been asking from them. Do we have it? I've never been a part (of a game) where all nine people, in their different ways, basically said I refuse to do anything less than give everything to my team. It was incredible."
