BERKELEY – The Cal women's basketball team came up short in its pursuit of back-to-back conference wins, falling to USC 75-67 on Friday night at Haas Pavilion. The Golden Bears (9-13, 1-10 Pac-12) steadily chipped away at a fourth-quarter deficit, but could not complete the comeback against the Trojans (12-10, 4-7 Pac-12).

Three players scored in double-figures for the Bears, led by a 22-point performance from senior Jaelyn Brown. Brown added a career-high seven assists and grabbed eight rebounds on the night. Redshirt senior Sara Anastasieska added 16 points for the Bears on a 6-for-10 performance from the floor while junior forward Alaysia Styles added 10 points in 27 minutes of action.

Four players reached double-digits for the Trojans, led by 19 points off the bench from freshman Angel Jackson.

Cal shot 42 percent from the floor (22-53) and matched its season-high with nine three-pointers, but was once against plagued by turnovers. The Bears committed 20 turnovers on the day and were outscored by the Trojans, 45-36 in the second half.

"I thought we did some things well, but we struggled to get stops and we struggled to take care of the ball," said Cal head coach Charmin Smith. "That's been an issue for us the last few days, and USC did enough to pull away. We've got to keep working to get better defensively and do a better job taking care of the ball."

Coming off their first conference win last Sunday in Seattle, Cal got off to a strong start on Friday night and opened the game on a 5-0 run. Brown led the charge for Cal offensively in the opening quarter, going 3-6 from the floor and 3-4 from three-point range.
Leading by four after the first quarter, Cal's offense cooled off in the second, shooting just 38 percent (3-8) from the floor. However, the Bears got to work at the foul line, scoring seven of their 14 points in the quarter from the charity stripe to take a 31-30 lead into the locker room.

However, USC responded and took control midway through the third quarter with 13-3 run. The Trojans outscored the Bears, 16-6 in the paint in the third quarter and held a 36-20 overall advantage on the interior for the game.

Trailing 52-47 entering the final 10 minutes of play, Cal freshman Cailyn Crocker scored five quick points to open the fourth quarter, cutting the deficit to two with her second three-pointer of the night. A southern Californai native, Crocker finished the game with eight points, all of which came in the second half.

USC took its largest lead of the night when a three-pointer by Aliyah Jeune put the visitors up 68-58 with 1:45 left to play. Cal got back within five points after Brown connected on her fourth three-pointer of the game with 31 seconds left, but would get no closer.

The Trojans had a slight edge on the glass, winning the rebound battle, 34-32.
The Bears continue their homestand on Sunday, hosting #10 UCLA (20-2, 9-2 Pac-12) at 2 p.m. PT. UCLA has won the last five head-to-head meetings with Cal, including an 84-79 overtime victory last season at Haas. Sunday's game against the 10th-ranked Bruins marks Cal's eight game of the season against a ranked opponent and its sixth against at Top-10 team. UCLA opened the weekend with a 79-69 victory over No. 6 Stanford on the Farm.

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