The California women's basketball team led nearly wire to wire, but it was a single-possession game late in the fourth quarter, and Gisella Maul came up with several clutch shots to help the Golden Bears (14-10, 5-6 ACC) earn a 63-56 win against Georgia Tech at McCamish Pavilion on Thursday evening. Maul scored 10 points in the fourth quarter and posted her third double-double of the season with 17 points and a career-tying 13 rebounds. The Bears outrebounded the Yellow Jackets (10-14, 5-7) 41-31 after they came into the game averaging 41.4 boards per game.
 
Sakima Walker joined Maul with a double-double for her fifth of the season after finishing with 15 points and 10 rebounds. Mjracle Sheppard rounded out the Bears in double figures with 13 points while adding four steals – two of which she took the distance for layups.
 
In the fourth quarter, Georgia Tech got to within a single possession four separate times, but each time Maul answered with a bucket to keep the Yellow Jackets at bay. After Georgia Tech cut the Bears' lead to three with 3:05 to go, Sheppard found Maul at the top of the key for a 3-pointer. Later in the quarter, Georgia Tech once again got to within three with 35 seconds to go and Maul hit her biggest bucket of the night nailing a jumper from the baseline as the shot clock expired.
 
"She's [Gisella] been a rock for us and instrumental in our wins and what she's doing for our team," Cal head coach Charmin Smith said. "I'm really happy for her, to see her out there, contributing and having an impact, the way that she has with her third double-double now. She's really helping our team and I know her teammates are happy for her as well."
 
In the first quarter, Cal went up 13-8 after Sheppard hit a 3-pointer and finished with seven in the period. The Bears got their biggest lead of the game at 11 points with 3:03 to go in the second quarter after Grace McCallop found Lulu Twidale for her second triple of the game that fueled a 7-0 run. Cal had a major advantage on the glass outrebounding the Yellow Jackets 26-12 for the half and took a 33-24 lead into the break.
 
Georgia Tech used a 6-0 run in the third quarter to get within three points with under a minute to go but as time was winding down, Walker grabbed a defensive rebound and sent the outlet pass to Lola Donez who took the ball down the court and drilled a 3-pointer from close to 35 feet as the buzzer sounded to give Cal the momentum going into the final frame.
 
"I think we made life tough for Talayah Walker and I thought Lulu did a good job on her defensively," Smith said. "We wanted to keep them off the boards. We did an excellent job there as they only had six offensive boards, and we wanted to play inside out. We didn't finish as well as I hoped, but we did enough to get the win. Closing the game, we're a team that fights and we knew that they weren't going to quit. We made some key plays down the stretch to hold on, and that's what you have to do on the road. Nothing's going to be easy, it's hard to run away with games."
 
Georgia Tech was led by Talayah Walker's 14 points and Brianna Turnage's 13 rebounds.
 
NEXT UP
Cal stays on the road to take on Pitt on Sunday at 10 a.m. PT.
 
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