California Golden Bears Athletics
California
Saint Mary's (California)
Cal Set To Tip Off Season
11/8/2017 8:44 PM | Women's Basketball
No. 20 Cal vs Saint Mary's
Friday, Nov. 10 | 5 PT | Haas Pavilion | Berkeley, Calif.
GAME NOTES | LIVE STREAM | LIVE STATS | TWITTER | INSTAGRAM | FACEBOOK | TICKETS
BERKELEY - On Friday night, the Cal women's basketball team will take the court at Haas Pavilion in their first official game in 235 days. As expected, some things have changed during that time, most notably three new players on the roster and two baby boys bouncing on the sidelines. But with 10 players and four starters returning from the 2016-17 squad that went 20-14 and reached the Second Round of the NCAA Tournament, the majority of the faces have remained the same yet bring back invaluable experience.
"This is our best combination of veteran talent and leadership with youth that's ready to contribute that we've had in several years," said head coach Lindsay Gottlieb, who is entering her seventh season at the helm of the Golden Bear program. "We have freshmen and sophomores that can play, but they also have juniors and seniors to show them the way."
That balance of youthful energy and veteran leadership will be on display Friday evening when the Golden Bears host East Bay rival Saint Mary's at 5 p.m. PT to tip off the 2017-18 season.
Cal and Saint Mary's met in the season opener last season in Moraga, a 74-67 victory for the Golden Bears behind 19 points from Asha Thomas on 5-8 shooting from beyond the arc. The Bears lead the overall series with the Gaels, 18-6, and have won nine of the last ten meetings between the teams.
The Golden Bears are 5-1 in season openers during Gottlieb's tenure, including a streak of five consecutive season-opening wins. Cal went a perfect 12-0 in non-conference play last year, part of an overall program-best 13-0 start to the season.
FOLLOW THE ACTION
Visit CalBears.com for live streaming and live stats throughout the game. Follow the Bears on Twitter (@CalWBball) and Instagram (@CalWBBall) for additional updates and behind the scenes information.
Tickets are still available for purchase on CalBears.com or by calling (800) GO BEARS (462-3277). The first game in a double-header with the Cal men's basketball team, fans can get into the women's game for free by presenting either their Cal men's basketball ticket to the box office or their ticket stub from Cal Football's home finale on November 4 vs Oregon State. Tickets for Friday's women's game can also be presented to the box office for free admission to the men's basketball game vs UC Riverside, tipping off at 9 p.m. PT.
LAST TIME OUT
Cal fans got their first look at the 2017-18 team on November 2, when Cal squared off against Vanguard for an exhibition game. The Golden Bears won, 71-57, behind a balanced offensive effort that saw four different players score in double figures. Senior forward Penina Davidson paced the Golden Bears with 17 points and seven rebounds, while CJ West (14 points), Alaysia Styles (13 points), and Thomas (10 points) also reached double-digits.
Thomas dished out a game-high six assists while sophomore guard Jaelyn Brown had a game-high nine rebounds in the win.
Eleven different Cal players saw action in the exhibition, including freshmen Kianna Smith, Archer Olson, and Styles. Kristine Anigwe (knee) and Sara Anastasieska (back) did not play in the exhibition game but will be back and available for action in Friday's season opener vs Saint Mary's.
Anigwe, a two-time All-American and the lone unanimous selection for the 2017 Preseason All-Pac-12 Team, returns for her junior year after another record-setting season in Berkeley. The 6'4" center led the Golden Bears in scoring (21.0 points per game), rebounding (9.3 rebounds per game), field goal percentage (56.6 percent), and blocked shots (2.1 blocks per game) last season, ranking in the Top-50 nationally in all four categories. The fastest player in Pac-12 history to reach 1,000 career points, Anigwe scored a school-record 50 points in just 24 minutes of against Sacramento State on December 8, 2016, and finished the year with a career-best 16 double-doubles.
Along with Anigwe, the Bears return Thomas, Davidson, and senior guard/forward Mikayla Cowling, all of whom made 20 starts last season and helped the Bears to the Second Round of the NCAA Tournament.
SCOUTING THE GAELS
With four starters and nine letterwinners returning from the 2016-17 season, Saint Mary's was picked second in the West Coast Conference Preseason Coaches Poll and received two first-place votes. The Gaels went 20-13 last season and reached the WCC Tournament Championship game before falling to Gonzaga in the final. Stringing together its sixth consecutive 20-win season, the Gaels qualified for the Women's National Invitational Tournament, losing to Colorado State in overtime in the opening round.
Now entering his 12th season in Moraga, head coach Paul Thomas returns a pair of Preseason All-WCC selections in Stella Beck and Sydney Raggio. Beck, a senior guard from Wellington, New Zealand, was a First Team All-WCC Selection last season after leading the team in scoring (13.0 points per game), steals (1.5 steals per game), and assists (3.2 assists per game). A 6'1" forward from San Bruno, Raggio was a Second Team All-Conference selection and averaged 10.3 points and 7.3 rebounds per game for the Gaels.
UP NEXT
Following Friday's game, the Bears will head to the East Coast for a matchup against the top-ranked team in the nation. Cal, ranked 20th in the AP Preseason Poll, will square off against top-ranked Connecticut at 7 p.m. ET/4 p.m. PT on Friday, November 17 at UConn's Gampel Pavilion. The unanimous AP Preseason No. 1, the Huskies reached the Final Four last season but saw their streak of four consecutive NCAA titles come to an end with a 66-64 loss to Mississippi State in overtime in the National Semifinals. This will be the fourth meeting all-time between the Huskies and Golden Bears, and the first since the 2013-14 season.
The Golden Bears will wrap up their trip to New England on Sunday, November 19, heading to Providence, Rhode Island for a game at Gottlieb's alma mater. A 1999 graduate of Brown University, the Golden Bears and Brown Bears will tip off at 12 p.m. ET/9 a.m. PT.
2017-18 TICKETS ARE ON SALE NOW
Season, group and single-game tickets for the 2017-18 women's basketball season are now on sale. Season tickets start as low as $40 ($2.67 per game, 15 games) for youth and seniors and $80 ($5.33 per game, 15 games) for adult general admission tickets. Single-game tickets are available starting at $4 for youth and seniors and $5 for adults, while flex and partial plans are also available purchase. For more information, call the Gold Standard Sales and Service line at (800) GO BEARS (462-3277) or visit the CalBears.com ticket page.
JOIN THE JOURNEY: THE RETURN OF THISISCALBASKETBALL.COM
Cal's one-of-a-kind multimedia fan site, ThisIsCalBasketball.com, is back for its seventh season and once again features an unprecedented look into the inner workings of the personalities behind the Cal women's basketball's roster. Visitors to ThisIsCalBasketball.com can get an in-depth look at the personalities behind the jerseys, from action and portrait photos to bio videos and conversations between current players and alumnae.
STAY POSTED
Keep up-to-date on the latest Cal women's basketball news by following the Bears on social media. View behind-the-scenes photos and videos and learn more about Cal and its student-athletes on Twitter (@CalWBball), Instagram (@CalWBball) and Facebook (Facebook.com/CalWBball).
