(Las Vegas, NV) The second act of California and Arizona took place in the entertainment capital of Las Vegas and no where would have been a more appropriate place to hold this quarter final game.
Last Sunday after an epic win over #4 Stanford in at home, the Cats on Sunday came out flat and unexpectedly lost to the last place Bears.
To get to this point, California had to play the fifth seeded Arizona State Sun Devils yesterday in the opening round of the PAC-12 Tournament. After a slow start, the Golden Bears came alive in the second half and disposed of the Devils 71-67.
Listening to the Wildcat players, they wanted a chance for revenge against the Bay Area Bears and so they got their wish.
Zona jumped off to a quick 7-0 lead in the opening moments of the game with great passing and good shot selection. This forced Cal to call a time out to regroup.
The Bears didn’t score until the 8:12 mark for the quarter on a three pointer by Cailyn Crocker from the top of the key, 9-3 Arizona.
Cal found their shot and went in a 5-0 run before Dominique McBryde put back an offensive rebound.
Cal’s Jalen Brown canned a three from the left wing to draw the Bears with three at 19-16.
The Wildcats got score four of the last six points of the quarter and led 23-18 at the end of the opening quarter.
Both teams shot the ball well in the quarter with Arizona going 12-21 (57%) and Cal 6-15 (40%).
The Cats continued to shoot the ball well into the second quarter and at the media timeout were 16-31 (52%) and had their largest lead at 34-22.
Cal in games at the end of the conference season would fall into scoring lapses but then come roaring back against opponents.
Arizona extended its lead to 39-22 off a Helena Pueyo three from the top of the key but the Golden Bears with another mini 5-0 run kept the Zona lead in perspective.
The Cats took a 41-27 lead into the halftime locker room on great shooting and only committing three turnovers. In the second quarter, Arizona’s defense clamped down on the Bears shooters forcing mistakes and held them to a 3-12 shooting effort.
Twenty six of of the Wildcats points in the first half were in the paint and Cal had no answer as they led the entire first half.
Cal made adjustments to go down low trying to get the Cats in foul trouble and initially it paid off with CJ West hitting 3-4 free throws but on the other end, West committed her fourth foul and was forced to the bench for most of the second half.
McBryde got herself into a bit of foul trouble with her third foul at 7:58 to go in the third quarter.
The Wildcats were in complete control in the third quarter with leads of fifteen, seventeen and eighteen as California just couldn’t put anything together offensively and couldn’t stop the Cat’s offense.
Aari McDonald committed her third foul at the 5:38 mark and had to sit, but that didn’t stop Arizona as they still led 52-35 at the media timeout with 3:54 left in the third quarter.
With one minute remains Sam Thomas got her fourth foul and had to go to the bench with McDonald. A few seconds later, McBryde was whistled for her fourth foul and suddenly Arizona had three starters on the bench in foul trouble as did California.
Reese hit a baseline jumper at the third quarter buzzer to give the Wildcats a 62-44 lead going into the final quarter.
Right off the rip in the fourth quarter, Reese hit a very difficult three pointer from the left baseline that actually slightly banked off the glass.
The treys started falling for both teams as Jazlen Green hit three consecutive shots beyond the arc with Reese and Lucia Alonso hitting for Arizona.
It was time for the Bears to make their late game surge as they cut the Arizona lead from twenty one to thirteen but this time the Cats wouldn’t crumple.
McDonald closed the door with her top of the key three with two minutes left and McBryde turned out the lights with a three at the buzzer.
Cats got it done 86-73.
Cal gave it their best shot with ten three pointers on tired legs. Even though the number of fouls called were basically even 19-17, there was a big disparity in free throws attempted with the Bears hitting 17-21 and Zona going 8-12.
The Bears had no answers down low for the Arizona bigs with Thomas, McBryde and Reese combined to score forty nine points. Reese had her career high with thirty points on an amazing 13-15 shooting performance.
The Wildcats never shoot under 50% in any quarter today; 52.4% first quarter, 50.0% in the second quarter, 54.5% for the third quarter and sizzling 62.5% to end the game.
Arizona will move on to face the winner of the Oregon/Utah. This team is now in uncharted territory being in the semi-finals of the PAC-12 Tournament.
Even if they don’t take the title here in Las Vegas, more basketball is still to come as they most likely will host the first two rounds of the upcoming NCAA Tournament at McKale Center.
