SAN DIEGO – Coming off its first win of the season, the Cal women's basketball team looks to take its momentum on the road, taking on San Diego State Thursday evening at 6:30 p.m. PT at Viejas Arena. Both the Golden Bears (1-2, 0-0 Pac-12) and Aztecs (3-2, 0-0 Mountain West) head into the matchup after successful showings their last time out. Cal topped UC Riverside, 84-61, on Sunday afternoon behind a dominant second-half performance while San Diego State is coming off a 55-45 win over Cal State Fullerton.

Sunday's win over the Highlanders marked Cal's first win in the Charmin Smith era. Smith was named the program's 10^th head coach this summer after spending the previous 12 seasons in Berkeley as an assistant and later associate head coach.

A strong defensive effort and well-balanced outing on the offensive end led the Golden Bears to victory on Sunday. Cal outscored UC Riverside, 48-25 in the second half, including a pivotal third quarter in qhich the Bears held the Highlanders to just 14% (3-21) shooting from the floor. On the other end of the floor, Cal found its scoring touch, pouring in a season-high 84 points with four different players in double-figures. Redshirt senior Sara Anastasieska led the Bears in scoring for the second consecutive game, finishing with 17 points on a 7-for-9 performance from the floor and 3-of-4 shooting from beyond the arc. Freshman point guard Leilani McIntosh had a career day with 15 points, five rebounds, and five assists – all season bests – while seniors CJ West (12 points, nine rebounds) and Jaelyn Brown (10 points, seven rebounds) recorded their highest-scoring outings of the young season.

Anastasieska – who missed the majority of the last two seasons due to injury – is currently ranked seventh in the Pac-12 in scoring, averaging 16.3 points per game on the season. McIntosh, a 5'5" freshman from Phoenix, Arizona, ranks second in the conference, averaging 3.0 steals per game.

FOLLOW THE ACTION
Thursday's game against the Aztecs will be live streamed on the Mountain West Network 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 AZTECS
Coming off a victory over Cal State Fullerton on Sunday, San Diego State looks to close out its three-game homestand with a victory over the Golden Bears. The Aztecs began their three-game stretch with a 61-53 loss to Alabama A&M, before bouncing back with a double-digit victory over the Titans. Redshirt senior Taylor Kalmer led San Diego State with 15 points on a 3-of-4 performance from three-point range on Sunday, while sophomore guard/forward Mallory Adams added a double-double in the win with 14 points and 12 rebounds.

Adams, a Mountain West All-Freshman selection last season, leads the Aztecs in both scoring (12.5 points per game) and rebounding (7.3 rebounds per game) this season, despite shooting just 28% from the floor. Kalmer, who sat out last season after transferring from Oregon State, is close behind at 12.4 points per game and is the team's top three-point threat, shooting 47 percent (8-17) from beyond the arc this season. Sophomore guard Sophia Ramos is back for her second season after leading the Aztecs in scoring in 2018-19 as a freshman, when she averaged 13.9 points per game.

Defensively, San Diego State is holding opponents to an average of 59.0 points per game on the season and just 19% shooting (22-115) from three.

Thursday's game will be the seventh meeting all-time between the Bears and the Aztecs, but the first since 2001. The teams last squared off in November 2001, a 74-60 victory for the Golden Bears in Berkeley. San Diego State leads the all-time series, 4-2, including 2-1 mark at home.

Head coach Stacie Terry-Hutson is in her seventh season as head coach of the Aztecs and returns 74 percent of the team's scoring and 81 percent of its rebounding from last season. With four starters back from last season, San Diego State was picked to finish fifth in the Mountain West Preseason Coaches' Poll.

UP NEXT
The Bears return to Haas Pavilion on Sunday, hosting No. 20 Arkansas (2-0, 0-0 SEC) at 2 p.m. at Haas Pavilion. Arkansas is the second of 11 teams currently ranked in the AP Top 25 on Cal's schedule this season, and will take on Belmont at 5 p.m. PT on Wednesday before heading out to California. Sunday's matchup will be the fourth meeting all-time between the Razorbacks and the Golden Bears, but the first since the 1986-87 season.

Arkansas is led by head coach Mike Neighbors, who is in his third season in Fayetteville after spending the previous four seasons as the head coach at Washington.

2019-20 TICKETS ARE ON SALE NOW
Season, group and single-game tickets for the 2019-20 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.

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).