LOS ANGELES -- Ashley Walker, Devanei Hampton and Alexis Gray-Lawson walked onto the Cal campus as freshmen together four years ago, members of one of the most heralded women's basketball classes to ever set foot in Haas Pavilion.

But over the course of their record-setting careers with the Bears, they had never been to the Sweet 16 of the NCAA tournament.

Until now.

The trio had arguably their best performances of the NCAA tournament -- and of the season -- in leading the No. 4 seed Bears to a 99-73 victory over No. 5 seed Virginia at the Galen Center on Monday night.

Walker notched a double-double, finishing with a game-high 32 points and 10 rebounds. Hampton also had a double-double, getting back on track with 22 points and a game-high 11 boards, while Gray-Lawson -- the redshirt junior -- chipped in 22.

Cal will now make its first-ever Sweet 16 appearance and play either No. 1 Connecticut or No. 8 seed Florida in Trenton, N.J., next weekend.

"I knew this was in my team," said Bears coach Joanne Boyle, whose squad posted its highest point total in an NCAA tournament game. "The emphasis this week was sharing the basketball. That really showed in these two games that we played here. You like to see that plan go into action this time of the year."

Walker was going to get hers. She always has come tournament time, averaging 20.4 points in her five tournament appearances with Cal (27-6).

But for Hampton -- Walker's partner in crime down low -- the game was very much vindictive. Hampton was coming off a four-point, five-rebound performance in the Bears' first-round win Saturday night. She sat most of that game on the bench with four fouls.

That wasn't going to be the case for her this time -- not with a trip to uncharted territory on the line.

"ACC basketball has a lot of one-on-one coverage compared to Pac-10 basketball," Hampton said. "We thrive off of that. We're used to triple teams and double teams. One-on-one coverage is like the green light for the both of us."

The Bears again brought their stingy defense to the Galen Center floor. As it did with Fresno State on Saturday, Cal shut down a potent offensive attack.

The Cavaliers (24-10) came into the postseason as the third-highest scoring team in the ACC, but the Bears used a mixture of defensive schemes to hold Virginia at bay. Most prevalent was their 3-2 zone, which helped cause a number of turnovers.

Virginia committed 14 turnovers on the night, leading to 15 Cal points. Conversely, the Bears committed just six turnovers, after averaging 16 a game during the regular season.

"We watched a lot of tape and watched what other people did against them," said Boyle, who won her first second-round game in her head coaching career. "We've used a 3-2 defense before. We're usually a man-to-man team, but you've got to play the game a little bit. The kids did a great job in buying to the game plan and really understanding personnel tonight -- really understanding who to guard, where to sag off of, who to double."

The Bears' defense was also crucial in slowing down the Cavaliers' leading scorers.

While guard Monica Wright led Virginia with 26 points, senior forward Lyndra Littles -- who averaged 20.2 points per game during the regular season -- was stifled by Hampton and Walker's defensive play.

Littles finished the game with 13 points on 6-of-13 shooting from the field.

The closest Virginia got to the Bears was two, when it trailed 18-16 midway through the first half. After a 16-5 run, the Cavaliers got to within 11 with 12:45 left to play in the second half.

But Cal went on an 8-0 run of its own to retake the momentum. Afterward, the Bears never looked back.

"We definitely know how it feels to be in situations where we're up by 30 and to lose by 10. Or we were in a situation last year where in the second round we're up with three minutes to go in the game and we lose at the buzzer," Gray-Lawson said. "For us the energy was incredible in our locker room at halftime. We're just a different team right now. I don't really know how to explain it. We just don't want to go home. That's pretty much it."

Tags: CAL WOMEN'S BASKETBALL, 2009 NCAA TOURNAMENT, JOANNE BOYLE, ALEXIS GRAY-LAWSON, ASHLEY WALKER