After earning its first NCAA at-large berth into the NCAA Tournament, the No. 8 seed California women's basketball team (25-8, 12-6 ACC) will square off against the No. 9 seed Mississippi State (21-11, 7-9 SEC) in the first round on Saturday at 2:30 p.m. at the Galen Center in Los Angeles. This marks the first meeting between the two programs.
 
The matchup will air on ESPN2 with Eric Frede and Christy Thomaskutty on the call and Holly Rowe handling sideline duties.
 
The Bulldogs finished in 10th place in the SEC and are coming off their third-straight 20-win season and are making their second NCAA Tournament appearance in the last three years. Mississippi State features three players who average double-figure scoring highlighted by Medina Okot who is nearly averaging a double-double at 11.3 points and 9.6 rebounds per game. 
 
A win against Mississippi State would be Cal's first tournament win since beating North Carolina in the first round of the 2019 tournament.
 
GAME INFORMATION
Date & Time: Saturday, Mar. 22 | 2:30 p.m. PT
Broadcast: ESPN2
Live Stats: StatBroadcast
 
QUICK HITS
In the loss to #6 Notre Dame at the ACC Tournament:

• Marta Suarez registered her third-straight double-double and sixth of the season with 14 points and 11 rebounds.
• Lulu Twidale and Kayla Williams tossed in four and three 3-pointers respectively.
• Michelle Onyiah just missed out on her fourth straight double-double with 13 points and eight rebounds to go along with three blocks.
• The Golden Bears (25-8) held the Fighting Irish (26-4) to just four 3-pointers on 28.6%, well below their season average of 40.3%.

 
NCAA Team Rankings (as of Mar. 18)

• Total 3-pointers made - 14th (294)
• 3-point makes per game - 16th (8.9)
• Field goal percentage - 31st (45.8)
• 3-point percentage - 35th (35.2)
• Scoring - 53rd (73.7)

 
Milestone Watch

• Ioanna Krimili is just four 3-pointers from tying for 10th place on the ACC's all-time single-season top 10 list.
• Twidale sits in fourth place for 3-pointers on the ACC's all-time single season top 10 list among sophomores.
• Currently in the eighth spot for 3-pointers on the ACC's all-time single-season top 10 list, Cal is 10 away from tying for the fourth spot.

 
In games against ranked teams or teams receiving votes (9 games total):

• Four Bears averaged double-figure scoring: Krimili (13.3), Suarez (12.4), Twidale (12.0), Onyiah (11.6). Williams just missed out with 9.9 points per game.
• Onyiah shot 56.8% from the floor and averaged 7.6 rebounds per game.
• Suarez grabbed 8.2 rebounds per game.
• Williams shot 38.9% from deep.

 
Player Notes

• Krimili earned All-ACC Second Team honors while Suarez was named to the ACC All-Tournament Second Team.
• Krimili is currently the nation's leader in both career triples (432) and most career games with at least five made 3-pointers (28) among active player. She ranks fourth in the NCAA in career points (2,576) among all active players which ranks 63rd all-time in NCAA DI women's basketball (since 1981-82).
• Krimili and Twidale are the best 3-point shooting duo in the nation. Krimili is ranked 10th (95) while Twidale is ranked 11th (93) (through Mar. 18). No other school has a duo who have combined for more made 3-pointers or rank in the top 30.
• Twidale leads all sophomores in the nation in made 3-pointers (through Mar. 18).
• Suarez is one of only 14 forwards in the country and only one of three in the ACC shooting at least 46% from the field and 32% from deep (min. 100 3PTA).
• Kayla Williams is one of just four players in the nation shooting at least 49.0% from the field, 39.0% from deep and totaling at least 125 assists on the season. The other three are Paige Bueckers (UConn), Olivia Miles (Notre Dame) and Katie Dinnebier (Drake).
• Onyiah finished first in the ACC in field goal percentage for both overall (61.3) and conference games (63.0%).
• Over her last four games, Onyiah averaged 19.6ppg (on 64.0% shooting) and 9.5rpg.

 
Team Notes

• Cal is one of just three teams in the NCAA Tournament to feature five players averaging 10+ points per game.
• The Bears are one of 33 teams in the country with at least three Quad 1 wins.
• Cal's 25 wins this season are the most in a season since the 2012-13 season when it won 32 games.
• The 16 wins at Haas Pavilion this season are a program record breaking the previous record of 15 set in 2012-13.
• The Bears' 294 3-pointers this year are a single-season program record breaking the previous record (282) that was set last year.

 
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