California Golden Bears Athletics
Friday, November 24
Berkeley, CA
12:00 PM
California
vs
San Jose State
Michelle Onyiah is averaging 18.5 rebounds over her last two games.
Cal To Host Third Annual Raising The B.A.R. Invitational
11/22/2023 4:21 PM | Women's Basketball
Bears Face San Jose State Friday
BERKELEY – The California women's basketball team is set to host its third annual Raising The B.A.R. (basketball, activism, representation) Invitational this Friday and Saturday. The Bears will take on San Jose State in the first game Friday, which tips off at noon PT, followed by the second game which has Texas A&M taking on Winthrop at 2:30 p.m. On Saturday, the consolation game will take place at noon, followed by the championship game at 2:30 p.m.
The all-tournament team and tournament MVP will be announced at the conclusion of the championship game.
Cal head coach Charmin Smith Charmin created the tournament to elevate the voices, stories and people in the Diversity, Equity, Inclusion, and Belonging space and highlight the lack of diversity in women's basketball college coaching. All three teams invited to the tournament each year are led by Black female head coaches.
Cal and San Jose State have faced each other 34 times in the series that dates back to the 1975-76 season with the Bears owning a 24-10 lead although the Spartans took the most recent matchup, 56-48, on Nov. 25, 2020. That game featured current Bears Leilani McIntosh, Ornela Muca and Michelle Onyiah.
The Spartans are led by second-year head coach and former Cal assistant April Phillips and are coming off a 6-25 season that included a win in the opening round of the Mountain West Tournament. Key returners for San Jose State include Sabrina Ma, Marisa Davis-Jones and Jasmine Singleton.
All four games for the tournament will be broadcast on the Cal Live Stream.
GAME INFORMATION
Date & Time: Friday, Nov. 24 | 12 p.m. PT
Live Stats: StatBroadcast
Live Stream: Cal Live Stream
QUICK HITS
- In the 76-38 win over Florida A&M:
- McIntosh led the offense with career-highs of 25 points and five 3-pointers to go along with five assists.
- Michelle Onyiah had another monster game on the glass pulling down 18 rebounds along with three blocks. This followed her career-high 19-rebound effort in the previous game against Auburn.
- Twidale had her first multi-3-point game of her career hitting three from beyond the arc.
- The Bears held the Rattlers to just 24.6% shooting from the field.
- For the third time this season, Cal hit 10+ 3-pointers.
- Four different players scored in double figures in two games this season, a significant improvement from last season where four players scored in double figures just four times all season.
- The Bears have had 10 or more steals in three of the first five games of the season, beating their total (2) from all of last season.
- Through the first five games of the season, the Bears have hit 10 or more 3-pointers in three games surpassing last year's total where they hit double-figure 3-pointers in just one game.
- After the first two weeks of the regular season, several Bears rank among Pac-12 leaders in various categories: Michelle Onyiah - 1st in total rebounds (47) and 5th in total blocks (8); Leilani - 2nd in total assists (28); Marta Suárez - 5th in 3PM (11).
- McIntosh has scored in double-figures in three straight games averaging 20.3 points per game over that span.
- Williams' 7.4 rebounds per game ranks third among all guards in the Pac-12. She has pulled down at least eight in all but one game this season.
- Returners McIntosh and Kemery Martín received 2023-24 Pac-12 preseason All-Conference honorable mention honors.
- The Bears welcome six newcomers to the team: freshmen guards Anastasia Drosouni (Greece) and Lulu Twidale (Australia), junior forward Marta Suárez from Tennessee, senior forward McKayla Williams from Gonzaga and graduate transfers Ila Lane from UCSB and Ioanna Krimili from the University of San Francisco.
- Martín ended the 2022-23 season tied for the team lead with 59 made 3-pointers, which ranked eighth in the Pac-12 and were good for seventh on Cal's all-time single-season list.
- Lane was named to this year's Lisa Leslie Award preseason watch list for the third time in her career. The annual award is given to the country's top center.
- Krimili joins the Bears as one of the top 3-point shooters in the country. Last year she ranked 30th in the nation with 84 made 3-pointers while shooting at a 39.4 percent clip.
- The Bears are coming off an incredibly competitive 13-17 season in which they played the second most ranked opponents (16) in the country. In nine of the 16 ranked games, Cal had a lead or was within single digits with under five minutes left in the game.
Cal will face either Texas A&M or Winthrop on Saturday. The game time will be determind by the matchup.
STAY POSTED
For further coverage of Cal women's basketball, follow the Bears on Twitter (@CalWBBall), Instagram (@CalWBBball) and Facebook (/CalWBBall/).
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