BERKELEY – The California women's basketball team used a dominant defensive and rebounding performance to cruise past Louisiana-Monroe (8-3), 79-55, at Haas Pavilion Thursday afternoon and improve to 10-2 on the season. The Bears held the Warhawks to their second-lowest scoring total of the season and season lows of just two 3-pointers and 9.5% shooting from deep. Cal dominated the boards with season highs of 24 offensive and 54 total rebounds compared to just nine and 32 respectively for ULM.
 
Lulu Twidale led all scorers with a career-high 21 points on 8-of-13 shooting while adding three steals. This was her fifth straight game scoring in double figures. Ila Lane had her most rebounds in a Bear uniform with 11. McKayla Williams had a great all-around game with eight points, 11 rebounds, six assists and two blocks. Leilani McIntosh tied the game high with seven assists and added 11 points, while Marta Suárez chipped in with 12 points to round out the Bears in double figure scoring. In just her second game back from injury, Claudia Langarita added eight points.
 
Cal opened the game on a 11-0 run powered by a couple of 3-pointers from McIntosh. ULM responded with a 8-0 run, which was snapped by Langarita's 3-pointer at the 4:01 mark. Consecutive buckets from Williams and Twidale gave the Bears a 22-11 lead after the first. For the quarter, Cal went 5-for-8 from deep and converted eight offensive rebounds into 10 second chance points.
 
Cal held ULM scoreless for the first two and a half minutes of the second quarter. After taking a 27-11 lead at the 8:39 mark however, the Bears went 2-for-15 over the rest of the quarter to let the Warhawks back in the game. ULM went on a 6-0 run to end the second quarter to go into the half down just 33-26. The Bears held the Warhawks to 0-for-9 from deep in the half.
 
In the third quarter, ULM cut the Bears' lead to just three at the 8:26 mark, but that was as close as the Warhawks would get. Cal responded with three consecutive 3-pointers over the next two minutes to keep the Warhawks at bay. After ULM cut the lead to six at the 3:53 mark, Suárez made a layup followed up by a Williams 3-pointer to give the Bears an 11-point lead at the 2:33 mark. Cal took a 54-44 lead into the final period after Suárez converted a layup with 31 seconds remaining.
 
The Bears put the game away early in the fourth quarter. Cal opened on a 13-2 run fueled by a Williams corner 3-pointer and a Twidale steal and 3-point play to give the Bears a 67-46 lead at the 6:39 mark. Cal ended the game on a 8-0 run to coast to the victory.
 
ULM was led by Daisha Bradford and Jakayla Johnson who both scored 14 points each. Bradford added seven assists.
 
UP NEXT
Cal opens conference play hosting No. 9 Stanford in the 100th edition of the Battle of the Bay on Dec. 29 at 2 p.m.
 
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