California Golden Bears Athletics
California
Saint Mary's (California)
Golden Bears Set To Face Gaels
12/6/2018 8:51 PM | Women's Basketball
Cal Takes Unbeaten Record On The Road For Saturday Tilt Against Saint Mary’s
No. 13 Cal at Saint Mary's
Saturday, Dec. 8 | 2 PM PT | McKeon Pavilion | Moraga, CA
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MORAGA, Calif. – The Cal women's basketball team will renew its rivalry with nearby Saint Mary's on Saturday, heading through the Caldecott Tunnel for a 2 p.m. match at McKeon Pavilion. The Golden Bears (7-0, 0-0 Pac-12) enter the matchup ranked 13th in the nation and are one of only 21 undefeated teams left in women's Division I basketball. However, the Bears will be taking on a Gaels squad that is off to an impressive start of its own. Saint Mary's is 5-2 to start the season with its only losses coming against No. 3 Oregon and No. 8 Oregon State.
Saturday's game marks the fourth matchup between the East Bay teams in the last four seasons and the 26th meeting all time. Cal leads the series, 19-6, and has won 10 of the last 11 matchups. The teams met last season at Haas Pavilion to open the 2017-18 campaign. Cal prevailed, 87-80, with six different Bears scoring in double-figures, led by a 17-point effort from Kristine Anigwe. Cal's most recent trip to Moraga saw the Bears come away with a 74-67 victory to start the season.
Anigwe has been one of the most dominant players in the nation to start the season, ranking third in Division I in scoring at 24.3 points per game and fifth in rebounding, averaging 13.6 rebounds per game. The 6'4" forward/center has posted a double-double in all seven outings this season and is coming off a 26-point, 10-rebound performance on Sunday against CSUN, in which she became just the third player in program history to score 2,000 career points.
Sophomore guard Kianna Smith added 14 points in the win over the Matadors and is currently second on the team in scoring, averaging 11.3 points per game on the year. Senior Asha Thomas is also averaging double-figures at 10.3 points per game while graduate transfer Receé Caldwell leads the Bears with 5.0 assists per game and is coming off a nine-assist outing against the Matadors.
Saint Mary's is the fourth West Coast Conference foe the Bears will face this season. Cal topped Pacific in a neutral site game at Maples Pavilion on November 18 and beat both BYU and San Diego on the road. The Bears head to McKeon Pavilion having won their last five games on the road dating back to last season.
FOLLOW THE ACTION
Saturday's game against the Gaels be viewed via live stream with live stats also available. Fans can receive additional in-game updates and behind-the-scenes information by following the Bears social media accounts (Twitter: @CalWBBall, Instagram: @CalWBBall).
SCOUTING THE GAELS
Saint Mary's enters Saturday's matchup having won its last two games and three of its last four outings overall. The Gaels opened the season with wins over Wyoming and Washington State before suffer their first loss of the season on the road against No. 8 Oregon State. After bouncing back with a win over Milwaukee, Saint Mary's suffered its first home defeat against No. 3 Oregon, falling to the Ducks, 79-55. The Gaels have since responded with wins over UC Santa Barbara and Cal Poly, and connected on a season-high 15 three-pointers in their Dec. 1 win over the Mustangs.
As a team, Saint Mary's is shooting 37.6 percent from beyond the arc this season, good for 33rd in Division I, and 47.2 percent overall from the floor, which ranks 19th nationally.
Senior forward Sydney Raggio leads the Gaels in both scoring and rebounding, averaging 12.0 points and 7.7 rebounds per game on the season. Raggio posted a double-double against the Bears last season with 10 points and 10 rebounds. Guards Emily Codding (10.3 PPG) and Sam Simons (10.1 PPG) are also averaging double-figures on the season and are both shooting above 50 percent from the floor and 40 percent from beyond the arc. Madeline Holland is another of the team's top three-point threats, shooting 44.4 percent (8-18) from three and is coming off a 13-point, 10-assist double-double against Cal Poly.
Head coach Paul Thomas is in his 13th season at Saint Mary's and is the program's all-time wins leader, with 240 victories. Thomas has led the Gaels to the postseason each of the last nine seasons and returns 12 letterwinners and four starters from last season's squad that went 20-11. Saint Mary's was picked to finish second in the WCC Preseason Coaches' Poll.
UP NEXT
The Bears will return to Berkeley to begin a five-game homestand, starting with their December 16 matchup against UC Santa Barbara. The Gauchos and Golden Bears will tip off at Haas Pavilion at 2 p.m. PT in Cal head coach Lindsay Gottlieb's first time coaching against her former team. After spending three seasons in Berkeley as an assistant, Gottlieb got her first head coaching job at UCSB, leading the Gauchos to a pair of Big West titles in her two seasons. The Cal-Santa Barbara coaching connection still continues today as former Golden Bear standout Eliza Pierre '13 is in her second season as an assistant coach for the Gauchos. A four-time Pac-12 All-Defensive selection and member of the Bears' Final Four team, Pierre previously worked as a member of the Bears' basketball operations staff and served as an interim assistant coach while Gottlieb and assistant coach Kai Felton were on maternity leave during the summer of 2017.
2018-19 TICKETS ARE ON SALE NOW
Season, group and single-game tickets for the 2018-19 women's basketball season are now on sale. Season tickets start as low as $40 ($2.67 per game, 15 home games) for youth and seniors and $80 ($5.33 per game, 15 home games) for adult general admission tickets. Single-game tickets are available starting at $4 for youth and seniors and $5 for adult, while group rates begin at $3 per seat for groups of 10 or more. 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).
