No. 24 Cal at No. 19 Arizona State
Sunday, Jan. 13 | 5 PM MT/4 PM PT | Wells Fargo Arena | Tempe, AZ | Pac-12 Networks
GAME NOTES | LIVE STREAM | LIVE STATS | LIVE AUDIO | TWITTER | INSTAGRAM | FACEBOOK 

TEMPE, Ariz.. – Following a down-to-the-wire loss at Arizona on Friday night, the Cal women's basketball team will look to respond on Sunday, taking on No. 19 Arizona State at 5 p.m. MT/4 p.m. PT at Wells Fargo Arena. Both the Golden Bears (10-4, 1-2 Pac-12) and Sun Devils (11-4, 2-2 Pac-12) suffered narrow defeats their last time out, with Arizona State falling to Stanford, 72-65, on Friday evening.
 
Cal is looking to level its conference record at 2-2 and pick up its first win in Tempe in four years. The last three meetings between the Bears and Sun Devils at Wells Fargo Arena have all been decided by 10 points or fewer, including a double overtime affair in 2017. Cal's last win over Arizona State came in the quarterfinals of the 2016 Pac-12 tournament when the 10th-seed Golden Bears knocked off the No. 2 seed Sun Devils, 75-64. The Sun Devils have won the last six regular season meetings with the Bears.
 
The Bears started their trip to the desert slow on offense, managing a season-low 22 points in the first quarter on Friday night against the Wildcats. Cal clawed back from a 14-point deficit and tied the game with 1:08 left to play off an offensive rebound by Kristine Anigwe, but Arizona closed the game down the stretch at the foul line. Aari McDonald led Arizona with a game-high 36 points while Recee Caldwell added 13 points and six assists for the Bears, going 5-8 from the floor.
 
Anigwe finished with 19 points, 20 rebounds, and matched her career-high with seven blocked shots. The Phoenix, Arizona product continues to lead the nation with 14.4 rebounds per game on the season and has 15 consecutive double-doubles dating back to last season, tied for the 12th-longest double-double streak in Division I women's basketball history. With her 19 points against the Wildcats, Anigwe passed Ashley Walker for second on Cal's career list with 2,155 career points.
 
Cal is 4-1 overall on the road the season and looks to pick up their first Pac-12 road win of the season. The Bears went 8-6 on the road last season, including a 4-5 mark in Pac-12 play, both of which were the program's best since the 2014-15 campaign.


FOLLOW THE ACTION
Sunday's game against the Sun Devils will be broadcast live on Pac-12 Networks with Mary Murphy and Krista Blunk on the call. Live stats will also be 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 SUN DEVILS
Arizona State enters Sunday's game also looking to return to the win column after suffering a 72-65 loss to No. 6 Stanford on Friday night. The Sun Devils chipped away at a 12-point halftime deficit to get within one possession on several occasions, but could not complete the comeback. Charnea Johnson-Chapman had a team-high 16 points in the loss, going 8-12 from the floor.

Johnson-Chapman leads ASU in rebounding at 6.7 rebounds per game while senior forward Kianna Ibis leads the Sun Devils in scoring at 12.6 points per game. Redshirt senior Courtney Ekmark is also averaging double-figures (10.5 PPG) and is shooting 33.7% from beyond the arc this season. Junior guard Reili Richardson leads the team with 4.8 assists per game and is third in the Pac-12 witha 3.4 assist-to-turnover ratio

Head coach Charli Turner Thorne is in her 22^nd season at the helm of the Arizona State program and returns all 10 letterwinners from last season's squad that reached the Second Round of the NCAA Tournament. Arizona State was picked fifth the Pac-12 Preseason Coaches' Poll.  

UP NEXT
The Bears return to Berkeley for their fifth annual School Haas Rock game on Friday, Jan. 18, hosting Washington State at 11:30 a.m. PT.  School Haas Rock brings youth from across the Bay Area to Haas Pavilion and incorporates educational components into the game day experience. Washington State is 6-9 in its first season under new head coach Kamie Ethridge and is 1-3 in conference play. The Cougars opened the Pac-12 slate with a win over rival Washington, but have dropped three straight since. Cal won both meetings with Washington State last season, led by a pair of 30-point performances from Anigwe.
 
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).