LEXINGTON, Kentucky - The Cal women's basketball closed the 2017-18 non-campaign with an important victory on the road, topping Kentucky, 62-52, on Thursday afternoon at Memorial Coliseum. The Golden Bears (9-2, 0-0 Pac-12) overcame an early seven-point deficit to extend their winning streak to six in a row and earned their fourth consecutive win on the road. Four different players scored in double-figures for the Bears, led by 17 points from junior guard Asha Thomas, who went 3-5 from beyond the arc.

Senior Mikayla Cowling played all 40 minutes for the Bears and added 15 points, her third consecutive game scoring in double-figures, while freshman point guard Kianna Smith added 14 points and a game-high eight assists. Forward Penina Davidson added 13 points and seven rebounds while sophomore CJ West had a career-high 10 rebounds off the bench.

Wildcats guard Maci Morris led all scorers with 21 points, as Kentucky (8-5, 0-0  SEC) suffered its fourth consecutive loss.

"We're excited to get this win," said Bears' head coach Lindsay Gottlieb. "I'm very intentional with scheduling and we wanted to get an SEC team on the road to give our players that challenge. I hoped we would be ready for it and I think we proved that today we were."

Facing an SEC foe for the second time this year, the Golden Bears started the 3-3 from beyond the arc. Thomas, who went a combined  1-16 from three in Cal's  first four road games, went 2-2 from deep  to start, scoring six of her team-high 17 points in the first quarter. The junior from East Oakland, California finished the game 3-5 from three-point range and recorded her first career blocked shot. 

Despite the hot shooting, turnovers and rebounding  plagued the Bears in the first quarter,  as the Wildcats scored eight points off seven Cal turnovers and converted eight offensive rebounds into seven second-chance points.

However, the Bears clawed back in the second quarter as Cowling got to work. The senior from Benecia, California, scored 10 of her 15 points in the second quarter, including an alley-oop at the buzzer to give Cal a 30-27 lead at the half. Defensively, Cal locked down and held Kentucky without a field goal for the final 8:04 of the half.

Kentucky regained the lead early after the break­­ before Cal reclaimed the lead for good, closing the third quarter on a 10-0 run.

Davidson, who has scored in double-figures in three of Cal's last four games, was instrumental in the fourth quarter, going 2-2 from the floor and  2-2 from the foul line. The Wildcats drew within seven points after Morris hit a  jumper with 1:15 left to make it 57-50, but Thomas and Smith, who scored in double-figures for the third straight game, went a combined 5-8 from the foul line down the stretch to seal the victory.

The Bears shot 47.7 percent from  the floor on the game and finished  8-14 (57.1 percent) from beyond the arc, Cal's best three-point percentage away from home this season. West, who made her first career start vs BYU,  grabbed  a career-high 10 rebounds in 20 minutes off the bench, the  fourth different Cal player to  record 10+ rebounds in  a game this season.

After a few days  off for the holidays, Cal will return to action on December 29, hosting USC (10-1, 0-0 Pac-12) at 6 p.m. PT at Haas Pavilion to open conference play. The Trojans opened the season on an eight-game winning streak before falling to No. 19 Texas A&M, 75-74, on December 15. The Bears won both meetings with the Trojans last season, including a 71-58 victory in the first round of the 2017 Pac-12 Tournament. Cal was picked fifth in the 2017-18 Pac-12 Preseason Coaches' Poll while USC came in at number eight.

For more information and updates on the team, follow the Bears on Twitter (@CalWBball), Instagram (@CalWBball) and Facebook (Facebook.com/CalWBball).