No. 21 Cal Wraps Road Trip At No. 3 Notre Dame

The No. 21 California women's basketball team (19-5, 7-4 ACC) will face its toughest opponent of the season when it takes on No. 3 Notre Dame (20-2, 9-2) at Purcell Pavilion in South Bend, IN on Sunday at 11 a.m. PT.

This marks just the fourth meeting between the two programs with Notre Dame winning all of the previous three matchups. The two teams last met up in the inaugural Shamrock Classic which at the time was the first ever women's college basketball game broadcast on NBC. In that game the Bears kept it close throughout and were down just seven points in the fourth quarter against the then-No. 9 Fighting Irish but ere unable to complete the comeback.

A win against Notre Dame would tie for Cal's highest-ranked win ever (No. 3 Rutgers on Nov. 21, 2008) and be its highest ranked win since beating then-No. 5 Stanford on Jan. 13, 2013. It would also give the Bears three ranked wins in a season for the first time since 2019-20.

Notre Dame is led by fifth-year head coach Niele Ivey who has led her team to three consecutive Sweet 16 appearances since taking over. The Fighting Irish are led by the backcourt duo of Hannah Hidalgo who is second in the country in scoring (26.0 points per game) and third in the country in steals (80) and Olivia Miles who is fourth in the country in assists (141).

Sunday's game will be broadcast on the ACC Network with Jay Alter and Debbie Antonelli on the call.

GAME INFORMATION
Date & Time: Sunday, Feb. 9 |11 a.m. PT
Broadcast: ACC Network
Live Stats: StatBroadcast

QUICK HITS
In the loss at Louisville on Thursday:

Michelle Onyiah posted her sixth double-double of the season with 15 (7-of-10) points and 11 rebounds.
Gisella Maul tied her career high with five rebounds in just 13 minutes off the bench
Five Bears scored in double figures for the second time this season.
Cal allowed just three made 3-pointers tying for its fewest allowed during ACC play.
The Bears got to the free throw line 22 times marking its most in conference play.

NCAA Team Rankings (as of Feb. 7)

Total 3-pointers made - 12th (215)
3-point makes per game - 17th (9.0)
Field goal percentage - 35th (45.9)
3-point percentage - 43rd (35.1%)
Field goal percentage defense - 59th (37.9%)
Scoring - 59th (73.9)

Player Notes

Krimili was named to the Ann Meyers Drysdale National Player of the Week Watch List – which consists of 50 of the top women's college basketball players in the country.
On Feb. 4, Krimili and Kayla Williams were named to the Women's College All-Star Game Watch List, comprised of 70 of the top seniors in the country.
Krimili's 406 career 3-pointers rank 14th on the NCAA's all-time career list. She needs to hit 17 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 fifth while Twidale is ranked ninth (through Feb. 7). No other school has a duo who have combined for more made 3-pointers or rank in the top 25.
While Krimili holds Cal's single-season 3-point record at 71, Twidale's 68 triples this season rank second on the list.
Twidale leads all sophomores in the nation in made 3-pointers (through Feb. 7).
Marta Suárez has scored in double figures in all but two games during conference play averaging 14.0 points per game over that stretch - the second highest on the team. She also leads the team in rebounding (7.3 rebounds per game) during ACC play.
Entering this week, Suárez is one of three players in the conference to rank in the top 20 in scoring (14.3 ppg) and rebounding (7.4 rpg) and top 10 in field goal percentage (50.0) during ACC play.
Williams is just one of two players in the nation shooting at least 50.0% from the field and 40.0% from deep and totaling at least 100 assists on the season. The other is Notre Dame's Olivia Miles.
Michelle Onyiah is setting career single-season highs across several categories this year: FG% (61.1), rebounding (7.2) and scoring (10.7). During ACC play she is shooting 64.0% from the field.

Team Notes

At 19-5, 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 21 teams in the country with three Quad 1 (NET) wins.
Cal is currently 8-4 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).
Entering this week, Cal is 1 of only 10 schools in the country to have five players averaging over 10 points per game.

STAY POSTED
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Players Mentioned

Gisella Maul

Kayla Williams

California Golden Bears Athletics