Cal Women's Basketball: Bears Win, but Pac-12 Challenge Is Next

Cal blows out Florida A&M, but it opens conference play next against No. 2 Stanford

Cal's women's basketball team got the preliminary work out of the way with Sunday's 88-58 victory over Florida A&M, and now the important part of the Bears' season begins.

The Bears open Pac-12 play Friday on the road against second-ranked Stanford. Cal ended nonconference play with a 9-2 record, but the level of competition rises signficiantly in conference play. 

Is Cal ready for that? Last season Cal went 10-2 in non conference play, but went just 2-10 in conference play, and one of those wins was a forfeit.

"I think we are ready in the sense of we're confident of what we have," said sophomore Jayda Curry, who led Cal with 19 points. "What's going to help us is our defense. We have to keep taking pride in it, keep getting better at it. . . . Offense will take care of itself."

Cal has enough offensive weapons.  Five Cal players scored in double figures in Sunday's win over FAMU (2-8).  And the Bears showed they can be competitive with top-tier teams.

"I think we have shown we can play with the best in the country," head coach Charmin Smith said. "I think we did that in St. Louis against [then-No.9] Notre Dame [in a 90-79 defeat].

"What I want is for us to play at a high level no matter who the opponent is. I think that's where we've struggled, sometimes playing to the level of our compeitition. But the good news is everyone's good in the Pac-12, so if we play to the level of our compeition we'll be playing really well."

What Cal does best is score, as Smith articulated in the video below.

And what Smith liked best about Sunday's performance is that Cal had five players score in double figures.

Curry led the way with her 19 points, which included 3-for-5 shooting on three-pointers, extending her streak of games with at least one made three-pointer to 33 in a row, the longest active streak in the Pac-12 and the fourth longest in the conference since 1999.

But Kemery Martin added 15 points, Mia Mastrov had 11 off the bench, and Leilani McIntosh and Peanut Tuitele had 10 apiece.

Cal shot 58.9% from the field and made 9-of-14 three-point shots.

The question now is whether Cal can defend well enough to be compeitive in Pac-12 games.  The Bears start with the toughest game on their schedule -- a road game against the No. 2 team in the country.

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