Bears Face No. 8 Utah On Sunday

BERKELEY – The California women's basketball team (10-8, 1-6) continues its homestand against No. 8 Utah (15-2, 5-2) on Sunday. Tipoff is scheduled for 4:00pm and the game can be viewed on the Pac-12 Network.

This game marks the 28th all-time meeting between the two programs with Cal holding a slight 14-13 edge in the series, but on a three-game losing streak. Cal's last win came on the road in an 88-74 win in Salt Lake City. The two teams first met when Cal was a member of the Norcal conference on December 2, 1978 in 93-62 loss at Utah.

Utah is led by eighth-year head coach Lynne Roberts and is coming off a 21-12 record and a berth to the NCAA Tournament in which the Utes advanced to the second round. Utah returns four starters and is led by Alissa Pili, who was named to the Wooden Award and Ann Meyers Drysdale Award Midseason Watch Lists and reigning Pac-12 Coaches Freshman of the Year Gianna Kneepkens.

GAME INFORMATION

Date & Time: Sunday, Jan. 22 | 4:00 p.m. PT
Location: Berkeley, CA. | Haas Pavilion
Watch: Pac-12 Network
Live Stats: StatBroadcast
Radio: KALX

QUICK HITS

In the 73-66 loss to No. 24 Colorado:
- Cal was led by Evelien Lutje Schipholt's 17 points, her second-highest total this season behind her 18-point performance in the season-opener against CSUN.
- Curry and Leilani McIntosh joined her in double-figures with 13 and 12 points respectively.
- The Bears hit 10 3-pointers, the most since they hit 10 from deep in a game against Cal Poly on December 18, 2021.
- Curry and Kemery Martín hit three 3-pointers each, the sixth time each of them have made at least three in a game this season.
- A layup from Lutje Schipholt tied the game at the 5:44 mark, but Colorado went on a 12-3 run the rest of the way to seal the victory.
- Of Michelle Onyiah's eight rebounds, six came on the offensive end which was just one off her career-high for a game.
Against Top 10 opponents:
- Against then No. 9 Notre Dame on Nov. 12, Cal 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. 5 UConn, No. 9 Virginia Tech and No. 13 Maryland.
- In the first meeting at No. 2 Stanford on Dec. 23, Cal shot 43.9 percent from deep, the highest percentage allowed by Stanford, held Stanford to just 29.2 percent from 3-point range, its fourth lowest percentage of the season and the 69 points the Bears put up were the third highest total allowed by the Cardinal all season. In the second meeting at home on Jan. 8, Cal held them to its lowest FG (32.3) and 3PT (20.0) percentages and 3PT makes (4) of the season while outperforming them in all three categories along with its lowest scoring output (60 points).
In five of the six losses to ranked opponents, Cal has had a lead or trailed by no more than three points in the fourth quarter.
Team national rankings: 45th 3PT% (35.2), 59th TOs per game (14.2), 59th assist/TO ratio (1.1)
This season Cal is averaging 70.6 points per game, the third highest average in program history since the 1999-00 season.
This season, the Bears have done a great job distributing the ball, while keeping turnovers low. Nationally they rank 59th in asst/to ratio (1.11) and 59th in fewest turnovers per game (14.2).
With her three 3-pointers against Colorado, Curry kept her streak of consecutive regular season games with at least one 3-pointer going at 40 games. Her streak is the longest among all active Pac-12 players and is now the second longest streak of any Pac-12 player since the 1999-00 season.

Shay Murphy, USC	45	02/18/2005 - 01/05/2007
**Jayda Curry, Cal**	40	11/09/2021 - PRESENT
Kelsey Plum, Wash	38	01/17/2016 - 02/10/2017
Sabrina Ionescu, Oregon	34	01/29/2017 - 02/04/2018
Sabrina Ionescu, Oregon	30	02/11/2018 - 02/15/2019

Cal has two players in the top 10 of the Pac-12 in 3-point makes: Martín (4th) - 40 and Curry (8th) - 37 and 3-point percentage: McIntosh (6th) - 43.1, Martín (7th) - 43.0. Martín's percentage ranks 25th nationally among qualified players. The duo of Curry and Martín are tied for first in the Pac-12 for 3-point makes (77).
Curry ranks third among all sophomores in the Pac-12 in scoring (14.2) and 35th nationally. She has scored in double-figures in all but five games this season. She averaged 17.7 points per game for the month of December, 5th in the Pac-12.
Evelien Lutje Schipholt has been a steady rock for the team so far leading the team in rebounding at 5.8 boards per game and ranking fourth in scoring at 10.1 points per game. 48 of her 104 rebounds this season have come on the offensive end which ranks 5th in the Pac-12. Her 46.5 offensive rebounding percentage ranks 1st in the Pac-12 among the top 25 rebounders.
Leilani McIntosh has dramatically improved her accuracy from deep, continuing her year-over-year improvement. She is currently shooting a career-high 43.1 percent from 3-point range (ranked 6th in the Pac-12) and is one of only three players in the Pac-12 shooting at least 49 percent from the field and 43 percent from deep.
Martín has been one of the Bears' most consistent players from 3-point range this season shooting at a 43.0 percent rate, ranked 6th in the Pac-12. She has hit at least two 3-pointers in all but six games this season. She is shooting 46 percent from deep over her last 11 games.
Off The Bench: Both Michelle Onyiah and Jadyn Bush have been key contributors off the bench this season. Onyiah is averaging 7.6 points and 6.1 rebounds over her last seven games. In just 8.1 minutes per game, Bush is averaging 5.9 points and 3.2 rebounds.
Cal's offense is coming from multiple sources this season with four Bears averaging double-figure scoring: Curry - 14.2, Martín – 11.1, McIntosh - 10.4, Lutje Schipholt - 10.1. Last season only Curry averaged double-figures.
Peanut Tuitele has been instrumental in helping the Bears control the glass this season, ranking second on the team in rebounding at 5.6 boards per game and has had 23 offensive rebounds so far which ranks in the top 30 in the Pac-12, while having missed two games. She had grabbed at least six rebounds in five of the past eight games played.
The Bears' bench has been a solid contributing factor this season accounting for 28.0 percent of the team's scoring to date. Cal's bench has outscored its opponents in all but six games this season.

UP NEXT
The Bears stay home to face No. 23 Oregon on Jan. 27 at 7 p.m.

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