No. 19 Cal Hosts Pittsburgh

After the No. 19 California women's basketball team (18-4, 6-3 ACC) suffered just its first loss at Haas Pavilion to No. 15 North Carolina, it will look to bounce back when it hosts Pittsburgh (9-13, 1-8) on Sunday at 2 p.m. PT at Haas Pavilion. This marks just the second meeting between the two teams with Cal having won the sole matchup in a 40-35 win on Dec. 20, 1998.

The game will also serve as the team's annual Play4Kay game. The team will wear its special pink jerseys and auction player-designed shooting shirts to raise funds for the Kay Yow Cancer Fund whose mission is to raise money for life saving cancer research, fund programs that provide access to quality cancer healthcare for underserved women and unite people in the fight against all cancers affecting women.

A win against Pittsburgh would match head coach Charmin Smith's most overall (19) and conference wins (7) in a season, which she achieved last season.

Pittsburgh is led by second-year head coach Tory Verdi who in his first season at the helm last year helped develop then-Panther Liatu King into the ACC Most Improved Player. The Panthers feature Khadija Faye, who leads the team in scoring (17.7 points per game), rebounding (9.5 rebounds per game) and blocked shots (55).

Thursday's game will be streamed on ACCNX with Ashlee Jones and Chris Sylvester on the call.

GAME INFORMATION
Date & Time: Sunday, Feb. 2 |2 p.m. PT
Broadcast: ACCNX
Live Stats: StatBroadcast

QUICK HITS
In the 65-52 loss to #15 North Carolina on Thursday:

Ioanna Krimili became just the 17th player in the history of college women's basketball to reach 400 3-pointers for her career.
Krimili nailed four 3-pointers to give her 66 on the season which broke Cal's all-time single-season record of 64 and finished with a game-high 20 points - her fourth 20-point game of the season.
Michelle Onyiah was nearly perfect from the field (6-of-7) and finished with 14 points.
Cal was down just two points heading into the fourth quarter but went cold from the field the rest of the way.

NCAA Team Rankings (as of Feb. 1)

Total 3-pointers made - 12th (201)
3-point makes per game - 16th (9.1)
3-point percentage - 22nd (36.2%)
Field goal percentage - 33rd (46.0)
Field goal percentage defense - 52nd (37.8%)
Scoring - 61st (74.0)

Player Notes

Krimili's 403 career 3-pointers rank 16th on the NCAA's all-time career list. She needs to hit 22 more to move into a tie for 10th place all time.
Krimili and Twidale are the best 3-point shooting duo in the nation. Krimili is ranked sixth while Twidale is ranked 10th (through Feb. 1). No other school has a duo in the top 40.
While Krimili holds Cal's single-season 3-point record at 66, Lulu Twidale's 63 triples this season rank third on the list.
Twidale is currenty tied for first among all sophomores in the nation in made 3-pointers. (through Feb. 1).
Marta Suárez has scored at least 16 points in four of her last seven games and shot 48.8% from the field and 45.0% from deep while averaging 8.0 rebounds over that stretch.
Suárez is one of four players in the conference to rank in the top 20 in scoring (14.9 ppg) and rebounding (7.6 rpg) and top 15 in field goal percentage (51.7) during ACC play. She is the only one of the four shooting over 50% from the field.
Suarez is one fo only eight forwards in the country shooting at least 48% from the field and 39% from deep (min. 60 3PTA).
Kayla Williams is just one of two players in the nation shooting at least 50.0% from the field, 43.0% from deep and totaling at least 90 assists on the season. The other is Notre Dame's Olivia Miles. Over the last four games, Williams is shooting 51.9% from the field.
Michelle Onyiah is setting career single-season highs across several categories this year: FG% (60.4), rebounding (6.9) and scoring (10.5). During ACC play she is shooting 62.7% from the field.

Team Notes

At 18-4, Cal is off to its best overall start under Smith and since the 2012-13 season (19-2). Cal's six road wins are the most under Smith.
The Bears are one of just eight teams in the country with four Quad 1 (NET) wins.
Cal is currently 8-3 against teams from the 2024 NCAA Tournament with wins over No. 19 Alabama, No. 21 NC State, Florida State, Gonzaga, Auburn, Arizona and Stanford (twice).
The Bears' 36.4 shooting percentage from deep this season currently ranks third in program history.

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