WBB2/13/2019 6:58 PM | By: Cal Athletics
Cal Set For Southern California Swing
Bears Look To Bounce Back Friday Night At USC
LOS ANGELES – After wrapping up a stretch of four consecutive games against Top-10 opponents, the Cal women's basketball team now takes to the road, heading south for a pair of key Pac-12 games in Los Angeles. The Golden Bears (14-9, 5-7 Pac-12) will square off against USC (14-9, 4-8 Pac-12) at 8 p.m. PT on Friday night before a Sunday afternoon matchup against UCLA (15-9, 8-4 Pac-12).
Cal and USC met earlier this season in Berkeley, where the Bears came away with a 66-59 victory for their first conference win of the year. The Golden Bears led by as many as 18 points late in the third quarter and held off a comeback attempt by the Women of Troy to secure the home victory. Kristine Anigwe led the Golden Bears with 21 points and 16 rebounds while redshirt senior Mariya Moore had a season-high 36 points for USC and went 7-14 from beyond the arc.
The Bears now look to complete the season sweep as they head out on the road. Cal is 5-4 overall on the road this season, but just 1-3 away from Berkeley in Pac-12 play. The Bears have had success at the Galen Center as of late, winning four of their last five on the road against the Women of Troy. Lindsay Gottlieb's squad has won its last five meetings overall against USC, Cal's longest active win streak against any Pac-12 opponent.
Cal is coming out of one of the most difficult stretches by any team in the nation, playing its last four games against teams ranked in the AP Top-10 and projected Top 16 overall seeds by the NCAA Selection Committee. Cal opened the stretch with an upset win over No. 8 Stanford, before falling to the Cardinal on the Farm less than 48 hours later and dropping matchups with No. 3 Oregon and No. 7 Oregon State. The Bears' loss to the Beavers saw Cal get off to a strong start and take a two-point lead into the locker room at halftime. Oregon State went on a run in the third quarter, but Cal made it a one-possession game with less than two minutes to play with a lay-up by Anigwe, but would get no closer. Anigwe, who became Cals' all-time leading scorer and all-time leading rebounder over the weekend, led all players with 31 points and 18 rebounds. The leading rebounder in the nation this season at 15.8 rebound per game, Anigwe extended her double-double streak to 24 in a row.
Fellow senior Asha Thomas also carved her name in the Cal record books on Sunday, becoming Cal's career three-point leader as she connected on her 212th career three in the loss to the Beavers. Thomas broke the record of 211 previously held by Alexis Gray-Lawson when she hit her fifth three of the day, finishing with 15 points on a 5-14 performance from beyond the arc.
FOLLOW THE ACTION
Friday's game against USC will be broadcast live on Pac-12 Networks with Elise Woodward and Maylana Martin Douglas 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 WOMEN OF TROY
USC returns to Los Angeles looking to also rebound from a loss its last time out. The Women of Troy fell to Colorado, 81-76, on the road on Sunday. Redshirt senior Mariya Moore had a game-high 22 points, but it was not enough to hold off the Buffs, who connected on 11 threes on the afternoon. Moore has scored 20 or more points in each of her last two outings, and had a season-high 36 points against the Bears in Berkeley.
Prior to the loss at Colorado, USC had rattled off three consecutive conference wins, including an upset over No. 17 Utah on the road. The Women of Troy dropped their first five games in Pac-12 play before responding with four wins in their next six games.
Minyon Moore leads USC in scoring this season, averaging 14.9 points per game while also leading the conference in steals (2.6 steals per game) and ranking second in the Pac-12 in assists (6.2 assists per game). Older sister Mariya is averaging 12.8 points per game in her first season of eligibility for USC, sitting out last year after transferring from Louisville. Senior Aliyah Mazyck is also averaging double-digits on the season at 14.1 points per game, but did not appear in the first meeting between the teams this season in Berkeley.
Head coach Mark Trakh is in his second season back with the Trojans and seventh season overall at USC. Trakh led the Trojans to an overall record of 20-11 last season and returns six letterwinners from last year's team that finished seventh in the Pac-12. The Trojans were picked seventh in the Pac-12 Preseason Coaches Poll.
UP NEXT
The Bears will head across town to face UCLA on Sunday afternoon (4 p.m. PT). UCLA (15-9, 8-4 Pac-12) enters the weekend on a six-game winning streak and hosts No. 10 Stanford at 6 p.m. PT on Friday night. The Bears fell to UCLA in overtime earlier this year in Berkeley, falling 84-79 despite an inspired second-half comeback by the Bears, who overcame a 10-point halftime deficit. Cal is looking to snap a four-game losing streak vs the Bruins and pick up its first win at Pauley Pavilion since January 2015.
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).
