Cal Hosts No. 18 Arizona Saturday

BERKELEY – The California women's basketball team (9-3) hosts its Pac-12 home conference opener on Saturday against No. 18 Arizona. Tipoff is scheduled for 7 p.m. and the game can be viewed on Pac-12 Network.

This Saturday's game marks the 73rd all-time meeting between the two programs with Cal holding a 38-34 series lead, although Arizona has won the last three contests. Cal's last win came on March 1, 2020 in a 55-54 road win when Arizona was ranked No. 13.

GAME INFORMATION

Date & Time: Saturday, Dec. 31 | 7 P.M. PT
Location: Berkeley, CA. | Haas Pavilion
Watch: Pac-12 Network
Live Stats: StatBroadcast

QUICK HITS

In the 90-69 loss at No. 2 Stanford:
- Jayda Curry led three Bears in double-figure scoring with 20 points (18 in the second half) including three 3-pointers, followed by Leilani McIntosh's 17 and Evelien Lutje Schipholt's 13.
- Cal shot 43.9 percent from deep, the highest percentage allowed by Stanford, which ranks 10th nationally in field goal defense, for an opponent so far this season.
- Cal held Stanford to just 29.2 percent from 3-point range, its fourth lowest percentage of the season. The Cardinal rank 27th nationally in 3-point percentage.
- The 69 points the Bears put up were the third highest total allowed by the Cardinal all season.
Against Top 10 opponents: In addition to No. 2 Stanford, Cal also faced then No. 9 Notre Dame on Nov. 12 and scored the most 3-pointers (9) and points (79), had the most assists (17) and steals (12 - only opponent to register double-digit steals) against Notre Dame among any of its opponents this season. Opponents include No. 7 Virginia Tech, No. 9 UConn and No. 15 Maryland.
Team national rankings: 40th FG% (45.4), 51st rebounding margin (+7.1), 56th scoring (75.5), 61st assists per game (15.9)
Cal is averaging 75.5 points per game (56th in the country), the highest average in program history since the 1999-00 season.
Through 12 games, the Bears have done a great job distributing the ball, while keeping turnovers low. Nationally they rank 49th in asst/to ratio (1.11), 61st in assists per game (15.9) and 60th in fewest turnovers per game (14.2).
With three 3-pointers against Stanford, Curry kept her streak of consecutive regular season games with at least one 3-pointer going at 34 games. Her streak is the longest among all active Pac-12 players and is tied for the third longest streak of any Pac-12 player since the 1999-00 season.

Shay Murphy, USC	45	02/18/2005 - 01/05/2007
Kelsey Plum, Wash	38	01/17/2016 - 02/10/2017
Sabrina Ionescu, Oregon	34	01/29/2017 - 02/04/2018
**Jayda Curry, Cal**	34	11/09/2021 - PRESENT
Sabrina Ionescu, Oregon	30	02/11/2018 - 02/15/2019

Curry ranks second among all sophomores in the Pac-12 in scoring (15.8) and 17th nationally. She is averaging 19.3ppg over her last four games.
Lutje Schipholt has been a steady rock for the team so far leading the team in rebounding at 6.1 boards per game and ranking third in scoring at 10.3 points per game, which is a career-high and the first season she is averaging double-digit scoring. 37 of her 73 rebounds this season have come on the offensive end which ranks 5th in the Pac-12 and 73rd nationally. Her 50.1 offensive rebounding percentage ranks second in the Pac-12 among the top 40 rebounders.
McIntosh has greatly improved three-point accuracy, continuing her year-over-year improvement. She is currently shooting a career-high 50.0 percent from distance (ranked 1st in the Pac-12), a significant improvement from last season's 36.2 percent. She is one of only two players in the Pac-12 shooting at least 50 percent from the field and 50 percent from deep.
Martín has been one of the Bears' most consistent players from 3-point range this season shooting at a 42.4 percent rate, ranked 9th in the Pac-12. She has hit at least two 3-pointers in 7 of 12 games and 5 out of the last 8. She is shooting 50 percent from deep over her last five games. Her percentage ranks 64th nationally among qualified players.
Jadyn Bush has provided a positive impact every time she comes off the bench for the Bears. In just 8.0 minutes per game she is averaging 5.6 points and 3.0 rebounds per game. She had a season-high 15 points against Arkansas-Pine Bluff on Dec. 3.
Peanut Tuitele has been instrumental in helping the Bears control the glass this season, ranking second on the team in rebounding at 5.7 boards per game and has had 23 offensive rebounds so far which ranks in the top 25 in the Pac-12. She had grabbed at least seven rebounds in three of the past four games.
The Bears' bench has been a solid contributing factor this season accounting for 30.1 percent of the team's scoring to date. Cal's bench has outscored its opponents in all but two games this season.
Cal has two players in the top 10 of the Pac-12 in both 3-point makes: Martín (8th) - 25, Curry (4th) - 27 and 3-point percentage: McIntosh (2nd) - 50.0, Martín (9th) - 42.4.
Cal's offense is coming from multiple sources this season with three Bears averaging double-figure scoring: Curry - 15.8, Martín - 11.3, Lutje Schipholt - 10.3. Last season only Curry averaged double-figures.

UP NEXT
The Bears host Arizona State on Monday, January 2 at 12:00 p.m.

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