CAMBRIDGE, Mass. – The anticipation is finally over and basketball season is back! With new faces and new opportunity ahead, the Cal women's basketball team opens the 2019-20 season on Friday night, taking on Harvard at 7 p.m. ET/4 p.m. PT at Lavietes Pavilion.

The matchup between the Golden Bears and the Crimson (1-0, 0-0 Ivy) marks the first official game of the Charmin Smith era for Cal women's basketball. After spending 12 years on the Cal staff as an assistant and later associate head coach, Smith was hired in June as the 10^th head coach in Cal women's basketball history. A four-year letterwinner at Stanford who went on the play in the WNBA, Smith began her coaching career in Boston, serving as an assistant coach for Boston College from 2003-04.

Now at the helm of the Golden Bear program, Smith's emphasis in the lead up to season has been on willingness – being willing to work, willing to commit, and willing to compete. Eight letterwinners return for the Bears from last season, though senior guard/forward Jaelyn Brown is the only starter back for the Bears. Brown has played in every game for the Golden Bears over the last three seasons and finished second on the team in rebounding in 2018-19 with 4.1 rebounds per game. Friday's season opener at Harvard is slated to be the 100^th career game for Brown in blue and gold. Senior center CJ West has been a contributor in the Golden Bear rotation each of the last three seasons and has a season-high 13 points in last year's win over North Carolina in the opening round of the 2019 NCAA Tournament.

In addition to the eight returners, there are four new faces on the Golden Bear roster this season in freshmen Cailyn Crocker, Jazlen Green, Evelien Lutje Schipholt, and Leilani McIntosh.

Cal is coming off a strong performance in two exhibition games this season, topping Beijing Normal University, 95-77, to start the exhibition slate, followed by a 79-55 victory over Vanguard on Sunday at Haas Pavilion. The Bears' freshmen led the way in the win over Beijing Normal, with McIntosh (19 points), Lutje Schipholt (18 points, 11 rebounds), and Green (11 points) all scoring in double-figures. Brown and junior Alaysia Styles also added double-digit scoring of their own, as Cal overcame a slow start.

In Sunday's win over Vanguard, the Bears dominated on the interior, outscoring the Lions 58-12 in the paint and grabbing 29 offensive rebounds. Three different players registered double-doubles for the Bears, with Styles (15 points, 10 rebounds), West (15 points, 10 rebounds), and Brown (12 points, 11 rebounds), leading the way.

Cal looks to carry that momentum to Cambridge, looking to start the season with a victory of the eighth year in a row. The Golden Bears topped Houston, 80-79, to start the 2018-19 season.

FOLLOW THE ACTION
Friday's season opener will be carried live on ESPN+ 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 CRIMSON
Harvard opened the 2019-20 season with a win on Tuesday night, beating Northern Illinois on the road, 59-53.  The Crimson jumped out to a 39-24 lead at the half and held off a fourth-quarter rally by the Huskies to come away with their first win of the year.


Freshman Lola Mullaney led the Crimson with 25 points on the day, going 6-for-15 from beyond the arc. Senior forward Jeannie Boehm added 16 points and a game-high14 rebounds for the Crimson.

Boehm is one of 10 letterwinners returning for Harvard from last season, as the Crimson bring back five of their top eight scorers from the 2018-19 season.

Friday's matchup will be the third meeting all-time between the Bears and Crimson and the second in as many years. The Crimson upset the Bears in Berkeley last December, winning 85-79, in Cal's final game of the non-conference slate. The Crimson went 13-24 from beyond the arc and were led by 19 points and 10 assists from then-senior Katie Benzen.

Head coach Kathy Delany-Smith is in her 38^th season at the helm of the Harvard program, and is the winningest coach in Ivy League basketball history – men's or women's – with 603 career victories. The Crimson were picked to finish third in the Ivy League Preseason Coaches' Poll.

UP NEXT
Cal continues its east coast swing on Sunday, taking on No. 5 Connecticut at 1 p.m. PT/10 am. PT at Gampel Pavilion. Sunday's matchup in Storrs marks the seventh meeting all-time between the Bears and Huskies and is the third matchup in a four-game series between the schools that began in the 2017-18 season.

Cal and UConn played a thriller last season in Berkeley, as the 14^th-ranked Bears fell to the top-ranked Huskies, 76-66, in front of a crowd of 10,818 at Haas Pavilion.  

Cal is 1-5 all-time against the Huskies, and fell, 82-47, in its most recent trip to Storrs in November 2017. Sunday's game against Cal will be the season opener for UConn, who beat Trevecca Nazarene, 99-54, in their final exhibition of the season on Wednesday night.

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).