MANHATTAN – The California women’s basketball team had one of its most impressive offensive outings of the season to build a 25-point lead and come away with an 83-75 win at Kansas State in the second round of the NCAA Women’s Basketball Invitation Tournament on Sunday evening. The Golden Bears (21-14, 9-9 ACC) shot 55% from the field and 46% from beyond the arc and used a 17-0 run between the third and fourth quarters to put the game away against the Wildcats (19-18, 8-10 Big 12).
A number of Bears had impressive performances in the game. Lulu Twidale nailed four 3-pointers to give her Cal’s program record for 3-pointers for both single season (99) and a career (234). She passed former teammate Ioanna Krimili for the single-season mark and Asha Thomas for the career record. She had a great all-around game finishing with 17 points, six rebounds and five assists.
Sakima Walker had season highs of 26 points and 16 rebounds for her eighth double-double of the season. The 16 rebounds were the most by a Cal player since Michelle Onyiah grabbed 18 at Florida A&M on Nov. 20, 2023.
Taylor Barnes tossed in a career-high five 3-pointers to contribute to Cal’s 11 makes from beyond the arc and finished with 17 points and five rebounds. Puff Morris dished out seven of the Bears’ 22 assists – their most in a game since having 23 against Pittsburgh on Feb. 8.
Barnes’ first triple of the game gave Cal an early 5-4 lead just a few minutes into the first quarter and Twidale quickly followed up with a 3-pointer of her own on two possessions later to extend the lead to 10-6. The Wildcats however responded with a 6-0 run to take back the lead before Twidale nailed her second 3-pointer. Both teams shot over 60% from the field in the quarter but Kansas State was able to hit a 3-pointer at the buzzer to take a 23-21 lead into the second quarter.
Down by five points, Barnes drilled her third 3-pointer of the game to bring Cal to within 28-26 and Walker found Gisella Maul on a baseline cut for a reverse layup to tie the game a couple of possessions later. With 1:20 to go before halftime, Maul intercepted a pass near halfcourt and took it the distance to fuel a 6-0 run that gave Cal a 41-36 lead going into the break. Walker and Maul had eight and seven points respectively in the second quarter. The Bears hit 7-of-12 from deep in the half led by Barnes and Twidale who had three triples each.
Walker scored six early points in the third quarter to extend Cal’s lead to 49-40 with 7:12 to go. Twidale knocked down her fourth triple of the game at the 2:05 mark to give Cal its biggest lead at 62-51. Walker had 12 points in the third and the Bears closed the quarter on a 7-0 run to take a 66-51 lead going into the final frame. Barnes’ fifth triple of the night capped the 17-0 run in the fourth quarter.
“We're just really happy to be extending our season, earning another game and to be able to keep playing,” Cal head coach Charmin Smith said. “That's the goal in March. So I'm really proud of the first 35 minutes of this game. It’s really tough to go on the road and play a really good K State team. I thought their offense was really hard to guard. They gave us some issues. We figured it out in the second half and were able to get a solid lead that we obviously needed in the fourth quarter. I've been challenging Kima to really step up, and she was excellent tonight, and I'm just really glad that we get to keep playing.”
Kansas State was led by Taryn Sides’ 13 points.
NEXT UP
Cal heads back home to face Columbia at Haas Pavilion on Thursday at 7 p.m. PT.
