Last weekend under the national spotlight at Duke, the Bears fell flat. The Bears failed to register what would have been a signature win for the program, falling to the No. 4 Blue Devils, 77-63.
No. 11 Cal responded the only way an elite team should, drubbing an overmatched non-conference opponent in Cal State Bakersfield.
On Friday night, the Bears won 84-46 against the Roadrunners (1-7) at the Icardo Center, showing some resilience following the Sunday letdown.
“People ask if you’re going to be able to get them up for this game after playing a team like Duke, and I don’t even have to worry about that,” Cal coach Lindsay Gottlieb said. “They were excited to play again, so I was happy that we were able to come out and play better.”
Cal (7-1) was the first ranked team to visit the Icardo Center since Bakersfield made the switch to Division 1. The Bears announced their presence with a 13-1 run to begin the game, never looking back from that point on.
Cal smothered the Bakersfield defensively, holding the Roadrunners to a mere 25.6% from the field in the first half.
Behind an offense led by guard Brittany Boyd and forward Gennifer Brandon, Cal quickly built up a sizeable advantage. By halftime, the Bears had already doubled up Baskerfield, up 50-23.
When the second half began, Boyd picked up right where she left off. The sophomore, coming of scoring 28 points against Duke, scored the first 10 Cal points of the second half. She finished the night with 19 points, only taking 23 minutes to do it and shooting 7-for-11 from the field.
While Boyd orchestrated the offense, substitutes such as forwards Justine Hartman and Reshanda Gray jumped in on the front court success.
“We talked about if you want to be an elite team, you really expect anybody that comes off the bench to perform at that level,” Gottlieb said. “Today they were giving us that high post area, and Justine (Hartman) is arguably the best from that area. She got in a great rhythm.”
Hartman and Gray both finished with 12 points, shooting a combined 8-16. As a team, Cal shot an impressive 50.8 percent. The Roadrunners never threatened the Bears, as their 32.1% shooting percentage in the second frame played a key part in Cal’s lead ballooning as much as 43 points.
For Cal, the best news is to see an all-around effort coming off their first loss of the season. No player played more than 25 minutes, and nine Bears showed up in the points column.
“When you come in here and win by a lot and have no one play more than 25 minutes, that really speaks to how our team is built with our depth and versatility,” Gottlieb said.
Austin Crochetiere covers women’s basketball. Contact him at Click here to read the full comment policy.