BERKELEY – The California women's basketball team (3-0) used an impressive shooting display in the first quarter to build a 19-point lead and come away with a 74-60 win and improve to 8-0 all-time against Cal Poly (1-3) at Haas Pavilion on Monday afternoon. Five different Bears hit a 3-pointer in the first quarter, led by Ioanna Krimili who went a perfect 3-for-3 from beyond the arc. Leilani McIntosh passed former Bear and current WNBA player Layshia Clarendon to move up to the eighth spot on Cal's all-time career assists list (399) and is just six away from moving into the seventh spot.
 
The Bears forced 10 Mustang turnovers which turned into 17 points in the first quarter. For the game, Cal came away with 33 turnovers, the most in any game since 2009 when it forced 34 turnovers against Idaho St. on Nov. 9. The total was also the third most all-time since the 1999-00 season. Mia Mastrov led the way with a career-high five steals. As a team, Cal had double-digit steals (15) for the third straight game.
 
After a first quarter that saw Cal hit seven 3-pointers on 77.8% shooting, the offense cooled off for the rest of the game. A Krimili 3-pointer at the 8:25 mark in the second quarter gave the Bears a 20-point lead, but they went scoreless from the field until Michelle Onyiah hit a layup with about four minutes to go in the quarter. Cal's defense maintained the lead holding Cal Poly to without a field goal over the last six minutes of the quarter until the Mustangs hit a 3-pointer with 20 seconds left. A McIntosh 3-pointer at the end of the half gave the Bears a 42-22 lead going into the break.
 
In the third quarter, the Bears only hit one field goal, a layup from Onyiah, while the Mustangs ended the quarter on a 10-0 run to go into the fourth quarter down just 10 points. Kemery Martín hit a layup at the start of the fourth quarter to end the run and back-to-back steals from Mastrov fueled a 6-0 run to extend the lead to 18 with about four minutes to go in the game. Cal Poly cut the deficit to 13 points at the 1:53 mark but was never able to make a major move and contend the rest of the way.
 
"It wasn't Cal basketball and we weren't ourselves tonight," Cal head coach Charmin Smith said. "Credit to Shanele's [Stires] team. They were scrappy and they kept fighting. We just didn't look like we were in a rhythm. I'm glad we could have this type of game and still be 3-0. We still have work to do. We're not where we want to be in terms of our goals but we're where we need to be right now in terms of being 3-0."
 
Cal Poly was led by Mary Carter who had 12 points and 10 rebounds.
 
Cal heads east on the road to take on Auburn on Nov. 17 and Florida A&M on Nov. 20.
 
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