Bears Roll To Win Over CSUN

Bears Roll To Win Over CSUN

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BERKELEY - A 21-0 run that spanned the first and second quarter helped the Cal women's basketball build an insurmountable lead and the No. 19/18-ranked Bears closed out the non-conference portion of their schedule as well as the 2015 calendar year with a convincing 106-44 victory over CSUN at Haas Pavilion.

Sophomore Gabby Green led the way for Cal (9-2), recording her first career triple-double with 11 points, 14 assists and 10 rebounds. Green's assist and rebound totals were both career highs. Freshman Kristine Anigwe scored a game-high 30 points while sophomore Mikayla Cowling added a career-high 29 points and Asha Thomas tied her career high with 11 assists.

Neither team got off to the start it was looking for, as the Bears and Matadors each battled sloppy play for the first few minutes of the game and got off to a combined 2 for 11 start from the floor. Soon though, Cal got its home crowd into the game, with a transition layup by Cowling and a 3-pointer from Green helping to give the Bears an early lead and spark a bit of noise inside Haas.

CSUN (2-11) fought back over the next few minutes and tied the score at 11 on a 3-pointer by Emily Cole with 2:35 left in the period. That's where the scoring stopped for the Matadors and began for the Bears though, as a jumper by Penina Davidson got the ball rolling on what would be the decisive stretch of the game.

A transition layup by Anigwe closed the quarter with Cal ahead 19-11, but the Phoenix, Ariz. native didn't stop there. She scored the next 11 points herself, creating whatever space she needed in the paint and scoring at will. By the time CSUN snapped its nearly eight-minute scoreless stretch with a pair of free throws by Serafina Maulupe, Anigwe had 13 in a row and Cal led 32-11.

"I just feel like every game I'm coming out and it's new," said Anigwe, who has five Pac-12 Freshman of the Week awards to her credit in seven weeks of the season. "I'm still in awe of the game, being in college, everything's new to me so every game I come and try to play my best and whatever happens, happens."

The Bears didn't let up after halftime, scoring the first nine points of the third quarter and forcing CSUN to call time out before three minutes had even passed. Freshman MaAne Mosley added five points in a row to extend the run to 14-0 coming out of the break and Cal led 60-23 with 6:18 left in the period. The Bears went on to top the 100-point mark for the third time in their last four games.

Wednesday's game brought a successful non-conference season to a close for the Bears, who already own significant wins over then-No. 8 Louisville, Nebraska and UCLA and head coach Lindsay Gottlieb's squad carries a four-game win streak into Saturday's conference opener at Arizona State. Tip-off is set for 4 p.m. (PT) from Tempe, Ariz.

"I'm pretty sure they listened to me from the beginning, but now I think they listen and sort of understand and try to apply what we're saying," Gottlieb said. "I think that's clicked for them, how good we can be when we combine their natural gifts and abilities, which are great, with some game planning and some concepts. Second thing is our toughness. We really challenged them on our toughness. There was even a demonstration of how to dive on the floor that was quite memorable. They've taken that to heart and really showed that there is a toughness in them and not just finesse."

The Bears return to Haas Pavilion on Jan. 8 and 10 to take on Colorado and Utah but they'll spend the majority of the month on the road with trips to Oregon and Southern California also on tap. Cal closes January with home games against the Washington schools.

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