BERKELEY -  A second-quarter surge saw the Cal Women's Basketball team down UC Riverside 71-56 on Friday afternoon in Cal's third annual "School Haas Rock". The event attracted more than 3,000 elementary and middle school students from across the Bay Area. 

Kristine Anigwe led the way with 28 points and 12 rebounds, her second consecutive game with at least 20 points and 10 rebounds, and the 13^th such game of her career. Junior Mikayla Cowling added 16 points and nine rebounds, as the Bears went 10-21 from beyond the arc and improved to 3-0 on the season.

The Bears found themselves facing an early deficit for the third consecutive game, as the visiting Highlanders opened the first quarter on a 10-1 run. But Cal responded with a 15-3 run of its own to get back into the contest. Senior Courtney Range, who was held to just five points in Monday night's win over Santa Clara, led the Bears with 8 points in the opening period, while freshman Jaelyn Brown chipped in five points off the bench. 

While the Cal trailed 21-19 after the first quarter, a huge second quarter gave the Bears the lead for good. Feeding off an energetic atmosphere, the Bears used stingy defense and lights out shooting to outscore the Highlanders 22-8 in the second period. The eight points were the fewest the Bears have allowed in any quarter all season, while Cowling and sophomore Asha Thomas both knocked down a pair of three-pointers to give the Bears a 12-point lead at halftime.

The near-consensus National Freshman of the Year last season, Anigwe scored 16 of her 28 points in the second half, as the Bears outscore the Highlanders 30-16 in the paint.  Anigwe added 12 rebounds – including seven offensive boards – for her 16^th career double-double and fifth in the last six games.

"It is remarkable," said head coach Lindsay Gottlieb. "I'm in the mode where she had 28 and 12 today and I think she could have even finished a couple more. That's how good we think she is. Obviously she's come here and done some great things number wise, but I think the growth this year is really understanding that doubles and triples are coming, and where the kick outs are and when she can re-post. This year it's fun to see that growth."

Anigwe has now scored double-digits in 13 consecutive games and 33 of her 34 career games overall. But the Pac-12 Preseason All-Conference nominee was quick to credit her teammates.

"We have a lot of trust in each other this year, and I feel that if I'm not going to get the ball my teammates know that they can create a play and they can score. We're not relying on just me to score, we're relying on Courtney, Asha, Mikayla, everyone…and our outside presence is really strong this year."

Cal's shooting was on display tonight as the Bears connected on 10 three-pointers, just the fourth time in the last two seasons making double-digit threes. Cowling went 4-5 from beyond the arc, matching her career high for three-pointers in a single game, while Range went 3-6 from downtown.

Senior Réjane Vérin led UC Riverside with 18 points, while Lauren Holt chipped in 17 for the Highlanders, who fall to 1-2 on the season.

Cal is off to a 3-0 start for the third consecutive year and the fourth time in six seasons under Gottlieb.

The Bears will be back in action on Sunday, hosting Bakersfield at 2 p.m. at Haas Pavilion. As part of Big Game week, fans can get into Sunday's game for free by pre­senting their ticket stub from Saturday's Cal-Stanford fo­­otball game. Tickets Sunday are also $1 for children 17 and under, in Cal's first "Kids' Day" of the 2016-17 season.