Cal women’s basketball swept in Arizona

Cal women’s basketball continues to have awful luck in close games. After dropping close losses to Harvard and UCLA at home, the Bears had similar issues on the road, losing a five-point squeaker to Arizona and a one-point game to Arizona State.

Cal again struggled to stop a star guard on the other side in Tucson, as Aari McDonald lit the Bears up for 36 points on 11-17 FG shooting. This negated a 20 rebound, 19 point performance for Kristine Anigwe. Cal held the rest of the Arizona team to 25% shooting, but the Bears turned the ball over 18 times and only Reece Caldwell hit double figures. Cal’s backcourt rotation of Kianna Smith, Asha Thomas, and McKenzie Forbes shot 4-22. The Bears fell behind in the first half, found their way back, then proceeded to hit a cold stretch at the worst time.

Cal had a far more encouraging performance against Arizona State, taking the lead going into halftime and nursing a narrow lead with under two minutes left. But bad late game luck and execution befell Cal again, as ASU rallied to tie and take the lead with seconds left. A questionable Pac-12 officiating decision probably also robbed Anigwe of a free throw opportunity to win the game, but Anigwe has become someone the refs play hands off on more often than not.

The Bears are now 1-3 in the Pac-12, will likely fall out of the top 25 today and are sinking well below preseason expectations. Cal probably has to sweep their next four games to salvage any hopes of a top four seeding for the NCAA tournament.

Disappointing. But still correctable. Two months left of basketball to play until we hit the Madness.