Cal women's basketball vs. Lafayette: Gamethread

When: 2:00 pm PT
TV: none
Live stream: Pac-12.com

Cal will take on the 6-4 Lafayette Leopards in their final tune up before conference play starts at home against the Oregon schools next week. The Leopards are not traditionally a very strong team, having finished well below .500 each of the past few years. But they have started reasonably well this year despite having played 7 road games to just 3 at home. Included in those road games is a 3 point win over Pitt and a narrow two point defeat to Northwestern. On the right day, the Leopards can play with some major conference competition.

They have also lost to Villanova by 27 and St. Francis by 22, and I'd like to think that Cal is the best team they have played so far this season, so if the Bears are playing their best, this game probably shouldn't be very close.

Lafayette plays a very deep rotation with 10 players averaging at least 10 minutes per game and nobody playing more than 27 minutes a contest. As a result, they have relatively balanced scoring. Junior forward Emily Homan is their high scorer and also their most efficient shooter.

The Leopards have been competitive not because of their offense (250th in the nation in points/possession), but because of their defense, which has held teams to .87 points/possession. That could potentially pose a challenge for a Cal team that has been less than consistent with their ability to score, or to simply put the ball in the basket. That will be the main battle to watch this afternoon.