Cal takes down No. 8 Louisville, ends road trip in a sweep
Cal release:
In one of the nation’s premiere matchups of opening weekend, Cal (2-0) used its length and versatility to knock off eighth-ranked Louisville (0-1), 75-71, for its first win over a Top 10 opponent since Jan. 2013. The Bears start the season 2-0 for the third time in head coach Lindsay Gottlieb’s career.
Four Bears scored in double figures, led by junior Courtney Range’s double double on 19 points and 13 rebounds. Sophomore Mikayla Cowling notched a double double of her own with 12 points, including an 8-10 day from the charity stripe, and 11 boards. Freshmen Kristine Anigwe and Asha Thomas added another 19 and 16 points, respectively.
“It’s the first or second game of the year, so no one is winning championships or finishing anything, but for our program right now this is big for the young women in our locker room,” Gottlieb said. “There’s been a lot of talk about who we lost to the WNBA and about our young team. We have a lot to prove in terms of our confidence and our ability to put young players on the court and have them perform. I’m just really proud of our players.”
Though similar in makeup, with only two returning starters and a crop of highly touted freshmen on each team, Cal’s advantage came from its size. The Bears outrebounded the Cardinals 50-27, holding every Louisville player to seven rebounds or less while Cal’s starting lineup each had seven or more boards. Range’s 13 boards were a team-high and included five offensive rebounds.
“(Louisville) is so good on the boards. I was watching film from last year saying that was going to be the key, so we emphasized it,” Gottlieb said. “I’m proud of our willingness to do it to win. Our players understood that rebounding was going to be huge. If you told me we were going to win the game, I’d tell you the necessity would be rebounding and winning the basketball, and they did a great job.”
Cal showed off a much-improved offense from Friday’s game, shooting 50 percent in the first half, while the Bear defense limited Louisville to 31.6 percent from the floor, to lead 35-27 after the first half. The Bears dominated in the paint with 26 rebounds to the Cardinals’ 12 and Anigwe matched her point total from Friday’s season opener with 11 on top of six rebounds. Range continued her strong weekend of shooting with nine first-half points on a 4-6 clip. Range’s all-around effort showed on defense too, with eight boards.
Louisville came roaring back in the third quarter, outscoring Cal 19-11 after shooting 50 percent from beyond the arc and 46.7 percent for the quarter. Meanwhile, Cal’s strong offensive start tapered off as Cal shot 29.4 percent from the floor to keep the game tied up at 46-46 entering the final quarter.
“When you have really good players who are capable, you just need to calm them down, let them know what they can do and then watch what they do,” Gottlieb said. “Our players got to the right spots and took advantage of one of our strengths, which was height advantage inside and the ability to move the ball out of the traps and get to a good look.”
The Bears settled in for the fourth quarter and the shots fell easily as the Bears went 10-15 (66.7 percent), including a key 9-12 (75 percent) from the free-throw line. Range drove to the basket for a layup with 34 seconds to go to give Cal a 69-66 edge, and Thomas hit 4 of 6 in the final 22 seconds to help seal the win.
Briahanna Jackson led Louisville with 21 points, and Mariya Moore notched 20 for the Cardinals.
The win Cal’s first all-time win over Louisville in three meetings between tue teams. The Cardinals defeated the Bears 64-57 in Cal’s historical Final Four run and again 70-57 in Berkeley last season.
