University of California Athletics

The California women's basketball team took a one-point lead on its first possession of the fourth quarter but gave up a pivotal 10-0 run that led to a 68-58 loss to visiting Virginia Tech at Haas Pavilion on Sunday afternoon. The loss snapped the Golden Bears' (16-11, 7-7) three-game winning streak as the Hokies improved to 20-7 overall and 10-5 in ACC play.
 
Freshman Puff Morris led the Bears with 15 points and three 3-pointers in her third game back from injury after playing 31 minutes. Naya Ojukwu scored 11 points in just 18 minutes and Sakima Walker added 11 points on 5-of-6 from the field. Mjracle Sheppard grabbed a team-high seven rebounds. The Bears had to play the final 5:30 of the game without Sheppard and Walker after both fouled out within two seconds of each other.
 
Walker opened the fourth quarter with a layup to give Cal the lead and then scored two possessions later to put Cal within two points, but the Hokies went on their 10-0 run immediately after and the Bears would only get as close as eight points the rest of the way.
 
Morris' first triple of the game gave Cal a 6-4 lead right before the media timeout at the 4:31 mark of the first quarter. Later, Claudia Langarita found Lola Donez on a backdoor cut along the baseline for a layup with just under a minute to go and the Bears would take a 13-12 lead into the second quarter.
 
In the second quarter, the Bears hit on four straight shots capped by a Walker midrange jumper to take a 21-16 lead at the 7:01 mark. Cal then went on a two-minute stretch without a basket and the Hokies used a 10-0 run to take a 30-23 lead with just over three minutes left in the quarter. Cal was finally able to end the run when Gisella Maul drew a shooting foul and hit both free throws. Virginia Tech hit on 5-of-6 from the field to end the quarter and took a 33-29 lead into the break. Naya Ojukwu led all Bears with nine points in the half.
 
With the Bears down by six points with just over five minutes left in the third quarter, Maul was able to draw a shooting foul on a 3-pointer and converted all three free throws to get them within three. Morris followed up drawing a shooting foul on a layup and converted the 3-point play to tie the game on Cal's next possession. Cal held Virginia Tech scoreless from the field for nearly six minutes until a fastbreak layup with just under a minute left in the quarter but was down 44-43 heading into the final frame.
 
"Virginia Tech is a really good team so credit to them," Cal head coach Charmin Smith said. "I thought they played aggressively, they played with a lot of passion, a lot of fight, and we didn't match that. I didn't think this was a very good game for us in terms of our energy. We just weren't connected on the floor and our body language just wasn't the same. It was a one-point game to start the fourth and it felt like twenty. Pulling energy out of people just felt challenging."
 
Virginia Tech was led by Samyha Suffren's 19 points and Kilah Freelon's 10 rebounds.
 
NEXT UP
Cal hits the road to face Florida State on Thursday at 3 p.m. PT.
 
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