California Golden Bears Athletics
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Oregon
Cal To Close Regular Season On The Road
2/22/2017 1:27 PM | Women's Basketball
BERKELEY – Coming off a pair of narrow losses to No. 10 Stanford in the Battle of the Bay, the Cal women's basketball team looks to rebound on the road, closing out the 2016-17 regular season with a trip to the Beaver State. The Golden Bears (17-11, 5-11 Pac-12) will face Oregon (18-10, 8-8 Pac-12) on Friday at 6 p.m. PT before heading to Corvallis for an 11 a.m. tilt Sunday morning vs the 10th-ranked Oregon State Beavers (25-3, 14-2 Pac-12).
Friday night's game is a rematch of a thriller earlier this season at Haas Pavilion, as the Ducks edged the Bears, 69-66, on January 8. With the scored tied at 66, Oregon freshman and Walnut Creek-native Sabrina Ionsecu hit a three-pointer as time expired to give the Ducks the walk-off win. Cal, who had trailed by seven points late in the third quarter, pulled ahead to take a 65-59 lead with 30 seconds left to play. However, the Ducks went on a 10-1 run over the final 20 seconds, capped off by Ionescu's three-pointer. Lexi Bando led the Ducks with 17 points, going 5-8 from beyond the arc, while sophomore center Kristine Anigwe paced the Bears with 20 points and 10 rebounds. Anigwe scored her 1,000th career point midway through the third quarter, reaching the milestone in just 47 career games, the fastest by any player in Pac-12 history.
Anigwe is coming off a 12-point performance in Sunday evening's loss to No. 10 Stanford. Junior guard Mikayla Cowling scored in double-figures for the sixth consecutive game, matching the longest streak of her career with 10 points in the 72-56 loss to the Cardinal. The Bears have now dropped four straight, their longest losing streak of the season, and are in a four-way tie for seventh in the conference standings.
At 18-10 overall and 8-8 in conference, Oregon is tied for fifth in the Pac-12 entering the final weekend of the regular season. The Ducks are coming off a 76-66 loss to Colorado Sunday afternoon in Boulder. Freshman Ruthy Hebard had a game-high 24 points, but it was not enough to overcome a 22-point deficit in the fourth quarter, as the Buffaloes snapped the Ducks three-game winning streak.
HOW TO FOLLOW THE ACTION
Friday's game will be available via livestream at GoDucks.com. Fans can also keep up with the action by following online with live stats and @CalWBBall on Twitter for updates throughout the game.
A LOOK AT THE DUCKS
Oregon is 8-8 in Pac-12 play, coming off a ten-point loss at Colorado on Sunday afternoon, which snapped the Ducks' three-game winning streak. Kelly Graves' squad was outscored 25-8 in the opening quarter, and unable to close the deficit despite 24 points from Hebard and 16 from Ionescu.
Hebard, a 6'4" freshman from Fairbanks, Alaska, leads the team in both scoring (14.9 PPG) and rebounding (8.6 RPG), and is shooting 64.9 percent from the floor, the highest field goal percentage by any player in the Pac-12 this season. Ionescu, a graduate of Miramonte High School, is the team's second-leading scorer at 13.9 points per game and has four triple-doubles on the season, the most by any freshman in Division I history.
The top three-point shooting team in the Pac-12, Oregon junior guard Lexi Bando leads the nation in three-point field goal percentage, shooting 50.4 percent from beyond the arc this season. Bando went 5-8 from downtown earlier this season against the Bears.
Head Coach Kelly Graves is in his third season at Oregon, leading the Ducks to a 24-11 record last year and an appearance in the WNIT Tournament. It was Oregon's first 20-win season since reaching the second round of the NCAA Tournament in 2005.
LAST TIME OUT
Cal kept the pressure on Stanford in the opening half, but the 10th-ranked Cardinal pulled away in the second stanza, downing the Golden Bears, 72-54, Sunday evening at Maples Pavilion. With the win, Stanford kept pace with Oregon State at the top of the Pac-12 standings while the Bears suffered their fourth consecutive loss.
Cal was held to just 54 points, it's second fewest in any game this season, and was out-rebounded by the Cardinal, 39-32. Sophomore center Kristine Anigwe led the Bears with 12 points while junior guard Mikayla Cowling added 10 points for her sixth consecutive game scoring in double-figures, matching the longest streak of her career.
Sophomore Alanna Smith led the Cardinal with 17 points while junior Brittany McPhee added 16 points for the hosts. It was the fifth consecutive win for Stanford over its Bay Area rival.
NEXT UP
The Bears close out the 2016-17 league campaign in Corvallis, facing No. 10 Oregon State at 11 a.m. on Sunday, February 26. The Beavers beat the Bears, 66-56, on January 6 at Haas Pavilion. The 10th-ranked Beavers enter the weekend tied with Stanford atop the Pac-12 standings, and face the 8th-ranked Cardinal Friday night at Gill Coliseum.
REBOUNDS FOR RAMA
Rama N'diaye, a member of the Cal Women's Basketball team from 2006-2011, was diagnosed with Stage 2 Breast Cancer this past July at the young age of 29. As a result of the side effects of her treatments, Rama has not been able to consistently work and therefore has sustained significant financial hardship.
It is our goal as a Cal Family to help support Rama in her fight against Breast Cancer emotionally, spiritually and financially. We've introduced Rebound for Rama to allow our extended Cal Family to participate in that end goal, once again proving that our support extends well beyond the hardwood. Donations may be made based on the number of total rebounds that the current Cal team secures over the course of this season or as a flat rate.
Rama, several members of her family, and former teammates were in attendance on February 12, as the Bears hosted Colorado in the final game of Play4Kay weekend.
Visit www.pledgeit.org/ReboundsForRama to learn about Rama's fight and please consider joining us in this effort.
JOIN THE JOURNEY: THE RETURN OF THISISCALBASKETBALL.COM
Cal's one-of-a-kind multimedia fan site, ThisIsCalBasketball.com, is back for its sixth 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).
