BERKELEY – The California women's basketball team wraps up its final home stand of the season beginning with a matchup against No. 16 UCLA on Friday, February 17 at 6 p.m. The game can be viewed on Pac-12 Network Bay Area.
 
This game serves as the program's Black History Month game which will include a performance by the Bearettes, feature Dania Matos, UC Berkeley Vice Chancellor for Equity and Inclusion, as the game's honorary coach and recognize former players during the game.  There will also be multiple opportunities for giveaways for students in attendance.

This game marks the 82nd all-time meeting between the two programs with UCLA holding a 58-23 series lead and a nine-game winning streak coming into the contest. Cal's last win against UCLA came on Feb. 3, 2017 in a 80-77 win at Haas Pavilion.
 
In the first meeting on Jan. 15, Cal jumped out to a 15-2 lead  behind Kemery Martín's eight first-quarter points. Martín would end up hitting her first eight shots of the game, including five 3-pointers, to finish with a game-high 23 points. UCLA climbed back into the game by the end of the third quarter with a one-point lead. Cal was down just two points with just over six minutes left before giving up a 12-2 run and losing the game.

UCLA is led by 12th year head coach Cori Close and is coming off an 18-13 season in which the Bruins advanced to the semifinal round of the WNIT before falling to South Dakota State. They are led by lone returning starter Charisma Osborne who was named to the Wooden Award Midseason Top 25 list.

GAME INFORMATION

• Date & Time: Friday, Feb. 17 | 6:00 p.m. PT
• Location: Berkeley, CA | Haas Pavilion
• Watch: Pac-12 Network Bay Area
• Live Stats: StatBroadcast

QUICK HITS

• In the 87-70 loss at No. 17 Arizona:
  • Cal was led by Jayda Curry's team-high 15 points, all of which came in the second half.
  • Michelle Onyiah scored 14 points off the bench while grabbing eight rebounds for her fifth game this season with at least eight and Leilani McIntosh added 10 points while swiping a season-high three steals.
  • The Bears turned up the defensive pressure in the second half and went on an extended 15-0 run between the third and fourth quarter to get within 61-54 with 5:01 remaining in the game but finished on a 1-for-11 shooting slump.
  • Cal forced the Wildcats into 19 turnovers, their third most in any game this season.
• 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).
  • Against No. 8 UCLA On Jan. 15, Cal was able to take control of the game early with a 15-2 lead and was down just one point in the fourth quarter before going on a scoring drought to seal the loss. The Bears shot 47.1 percent from deep, their second highest mark of the season.
• In five of the eight losses to ranked opponents, Cal has had a lead or trailed by no more than three points in the fourth quarter.
• Team national rankings: 63rd asst/to ratio (1.10), 70th fewest turnovers per game (14.2), 72nd 3PT% (33.8), 73rd assists per game (15.0)
• This season Cal is averaging 68.5 points per game, the sixth highest average in program history since the 1999-00 season.
• The Bears are 8-3 when scoring at least 70 points this season.
• With her 3-pointer against Arizona, Curry kept her streak of consecutive regular season games with at least one 3-pointer going at 47 games. Her streak is the longest among all active Pac-12 players and now marks the longest streak of any Pac-12 player since the 1999-00 season.

Jayda Curry, Cal	47	11/09/2021 - PRESENT
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
Sabrina Ionescu, Oregon	30	02/11/2018 - 02/15/2019

 

• Curry is the only player in the Pac-12 who has a hit a 3-pointer in every game this year.
• Cal has two players in the top 15 of the Pac-12 in 3-point makes: Martín (7th) - 49 and Curry (8th) - 48 and 3-point percentage: McIntosh (3rd) - 43.8, Martín (13th) - 38.0. Martín's percentage ranks 66th nationally among qualified players. The duo of Curry and Martín rank third in the Pac-12 for 3-point makes (97) is one of only two pairs among Pac-12 schools with 48+ 3-pointers.
• Evelien Lutje Schipholt's career as a Bear will go down in Cal's history books as she took the fifth spot on Cal's all-time list for career blocks with 104 career blocks.
• Cal is one of two schools in the Pac-12 with two players in the top 10 in assists: Curry (6th) at 3.8 apg and McIntosh (10th) at 3.6 apg.
• Curry ranks second among all sophomores in the Pac-12 in scoring (14.2) and 34th nationally. She has scored in double-figures in all but six games this season.
• Lutje Schipholt has been a steady force leading the team in rebounds (128) and ranking third in scoring at 10.1 points per game (career-high). Her 57 offensive rebounds rank 9th in the Pac-12. Her 45.3 offensive rebounding percentage ranks 1st in the Pac-12 among the top 30 rebounders.
• McIntosh has dramatically improved her accuracy from deep, continuing her year-over-year improvement. She is currently shooting a career-high 43.8 percent from 3-point range and is one of only four players in the Pac-12 shooting at least 48 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 38.0 percent rate. She has hit at least two 3-pointers in all but 11 games this season and seven of 14 conference games.
• Off The Bench: Michelle Onyiah has been a key contributor off the bench this season. Onyiah is the leading scorer off the bench (6.3) and has a team-high two double-doubles this season.  In the last eight games, 21 of her 46 rebounds have come on the offensive end and she has been leading the team in rebounding (5.6) during Pac-12 play. Her 49 offensive rebounds this season rank in the top 20 of the Pac-12 and she is the only player on that list who has not started a game this year.
• Cal's offense is coming from multiple sources this season with four Bears averaging double-figure scoring: Curry - 14.2, Martín – 10.4, Lutje  Schipholt - 10.1, McIntosh - 10.0. Last season only Curry averaged double-figures.
• Peanut Tuitele has been instrumental in helping the Bears control the glass this season, currently leading the team in rebounding average at 5.2 boards per game and has had 34 offensive rebounds so far which ranks in the top 35 in the Pac-12, while having missed two games.
• The Bears' bench has been a solid contributing factor this season accounting for 27.3 percent of the team's scoring to date. Cal's bench has outscored its opponents in all but nine games this season.

UP NEXT
The Bears host their final home game of the regular season against No. 25 USC on Sunday, February 19 at 1 p.m.