Cal Women's Basketball: Bears Stay Unbeaten by Beating Auburn

Bears play without their top scorer, Ioanna Krimili, but still win convincingly on the road

Cal's women's basketball team was without leading scorer Ioanna Krimili but it didn't matter as the Golden Bears handled Auburn 67-53 Friday night in Auburn, Alabama.

The win improved Cal's record to 4-0, while Auburn (3-1) suffered its first loss.

Krimili has been bothered by knee soreness and did not play against the Tigers. Her  place in the starting lineup was taken by Michelle Onyiah, who had a big game with 19 rebounds to go along with six points.  

The Bears' top scorer on Friday was Marta Suarez, who is familiar with the the Southeastern Conference, having played for Tennessee last year before transferring to Cal.  She scored 27 points while hitting 5-of-9 shots from beyond the 3-point arc.

Cal point guard Leilani McIntosh had a productive all-around game for Cal with 19 points, eight rebounds and six assists.

The Bears took control of the game in the first half, and led buy as many as 14 points before settling for a 12-point halftime lead. 

Cal held off all of Auburn's comeback attempts as the Tigers never got closer than seven points on the second half.

Auburn is a member of the Southeastern Conference, considered a women's basketball power conference.  The last two national champions have come for the SEC -- LSU last season and South Carolina the year before.

Auburn is not expected to contend with those teams as the Tigers were picked to finish 12th of 14 teams in the preseason poll.

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