BERKELEY – The No. 24 California women's basketball team (14-2, 2-1 ACC) will host the first top 25 matchup at Haas Pavilion since the 2017-18 season when it faces No. 21 NC State on Thursday at 7 p.m. PT. This marks the first-ever meeting between the two programs.
 
A win would give Cals two top 25 wins at home in a season since 2018-19 (No. 8 Stanford and No. 17 Arizona State) and their first 10-0 start at home since the 2008-09 season.
 
NC State is led by 11th-year head coach Wes Moore, who has guided his team to seven consecutive NCAA Tournament appearances - including a trip to last year's Final Four - and four straight ACC Tournament title games. The Wolfpack feature three players who are averaging double-digit scoring, led by Aziaha James (16.5 points per game).
 
Thursday's game will be streamed on ACCNX with Ashlee Jones and Chris Sylvester on the call.
 
GAME INFORMATION
Date & Time: Thursday, Jan. 9 | 7 p.m. PT
Broadcast: ACCNX
Live Stats: StatBroadcast
 
QUICK HITS
In the 81-66 win at SMU on Sunday:

• Marta Suárez had her most efficient outing of the season, finishing with a team-high 19 points on 8-of-12 shooting - including a perfect 3-for-3 from downtown to go along with six rebounds.
• Kayla Williams had an efficient outing herself, shooting 7-for-11 from the field and 3-of-4 from deep for 17 points to go along with seven assists - her second highest total of the season.
• Jayda Noble grabbed a season-high nine rebounds.
• Anastasia Drosouni had a career-high seven points.
• The Bears shot 50-40-90 from the field, 3-point range and the free throw line - just the 11th time this season a team has had those percentages in a game (min. 20 3PTA, 10 FTA).
• Cal had three runs of at least 8-0 in the game.

 
NCAA Team Rankings (as of Jan. 5)

• Total 3-pointers made - 3rd (161)
• 3-point makes per game - 8th (10.1)
• 3-point percentage - 15th (37.8%)
• Field goal percentage - 39th (46.2)
• Scoring - 44th (77.2)
• Field goal percentage defense - 45th (36.6%)

 
Player Notes

• Ioanna Krimili is currently the nation's leader in both career triples (389) and most career games with at least five made 3-pointers (26). She ranks fifth in the NCAA in career points (2,359) among all active players.
• Krimili needs just 11 3-pointers to reach 400 for her career - a milestone only 16 other players in the history of college women's basketball have reached. If she maintains her pace of 3.3 triples per game, she can finish in the top 10 all-time.
• Krimili and Lulu Twidale are the best 3-point shooting duo in the nation. Krimili is 4th in the NCAA with 52 made triples and Twidale is 8th with 48 (through Jan. 5).
• Twidale currently leads all sophomores in the nation in made 3-pointers (through Jan. 5).
• Suárez is averaging 18.3 points per game over her last five outings. She has had two 20+ point games and is shooting 52.1% from the field and 46.1% from deep during that span.
• Suárez's 23 3-pointers this season rank second among all forwards in the ACC.
• Over the last five games, Williams has scored at least 17 points and hit three 3-pointers three times and is averaging 5.2 rebounds and 5.0 assists over that span.
• Michelle Onyiah has had two games with five blocks this year, joining only three other players in the ACC to have reached that mark this season .

 
Team Notes

• Cal is the only school in the country to have two players (Krimili and Twidale) rank in the top 10 nationally for 3-pointers made. No other school has a duo in the top 35.
• Cal is one of only three ACC schools with five different players having scored 20+ points at least once in a game this season (others are Duke and Notre Dame).
• The Bears are one of 27 schools in the country to have at least five top 100 (NET) wins.
• A Bear has scored 20+ points 13 times this season which ranks third in the conference behind Notre Dame and Florida State.

 
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