The one last memory for the Cal women's basketball team from the 2007-08 season may be the sight of Sarah-Jo Lawrence's buzzer-beater to send the Bears home in the second round of the NCAA Tournament.

That might live with Cal the entire offseason.

But coach Joanne Boyle said after her team's loss to George Washington at Maples Pavilion a week ago, that the defeat should not be the lasting memory for her squad or for anyone looking back on Boyle's third season at the helm with the Bears.

"This doesn't define our season," Boyle said fighting back tears after last Monday's loss. "We've changed Cal basketball in a very short period of time; gotten a community involved. There's been a lot of great things that have happened for us this year."

Those great things are a laundry list of new program bests and firsts.

Cal won more games this year (27) than any other squad in the school's history-breaking the 1983-84 team's previous mark of 24-which includes program record 15-3 mark in Pac-10 play.

The Bears received their highest national ranking in school history, topping out at No. 8 twice.

Cal also received its highest seed ever in the NCAA Tournament, being named a No. 3 seed. With that in its pocket, the Bears advanced out of the first round of the Tournament for the first time in 15 years.

All of those marks point to a banner season for Cal, but one that might be lost because of a second-round exit.

"Overall it was a really special year for us," Boyle said. "All of this kinds of shows where our program has taken off and where it's headed. It takes you a week or so to step back from a loss and say wow, we really did some great things."

But leaving scars in the Bears' season are their three losses to Stanford-which included two blowouts and that close loss at Haas Pavilion.

Cal was outscored by 43 points in the three games against the Cardinal-which will compete in the Final Four this weekend.

Boyle reflected that the Bears are still trying to build a program that can rival Stanford's in the conference.

"We have a couple of great teams in this conference, Stanford being one of them," Boyle said. "We're trying to raise our bar like they're trying to raise their bar. Hopefully we can be on that stage one day."

The Bears finished one game behind the Card for the Pac-10 regular season title. Cal then lost to Stanford in the conference tournament final. The team was one minute away from securing its first ever Sweet 16 appearance.

It's left the players and Boyle wanting more.

"We were so close to doing so much more," she said. "Because of that, how does that get us excited for next year? What do we need to do to make sure that next year we don't let those chances slip away?"

The Bears starting lineup is expected to be back next year. It will again be headlined by a trio of players that came in with Boyle three years ago to turn a struggling program into a top 10 team in the country.

It will be the last chance for All-Pac-10 honorees Ashley Walker, Devanei Hampton and Alexis Gray-Lawson to accomplish all that they set out to when they came to Berkeley three summers ago.

And in the fashion the team finished this season, there is probably no brighter future for Cal.

"You have to use that as motivation," said Boyle about the Bears' NCAA exit. "We really challenged the kids this week in meetings to really look at themselves and as a team by saying where can we all, in the next six months, make huge strides to get this team further than what we did last year."

Tags: PAC-10 CHAMPIONSHIP, NCAA TOURNAMENT