Cal Women’s Basketball: Bears Improve to 2-0 by Beating Santa Clara

Cal signs four players for 2024, and two are ranked among the top 100 prospects

The Cal women did not shoot well from long range Wednesday night at Haas Pavilion, but the Bears did enough to beat Santa Clara 71-56 and improve to 2-0.

Four Cal players scored in double figures as the Bears rallied from a one-point halftime deficit to take control in the third quarter against the Broncos, a West Coast Conference team whose record slipped to 1-1.

--Wednesday was letter-of-intent signing day, and the Bears signed four players for 2024, as noted below the game story.--

McKayla Williams, a transfer from Gonzaga, led the Bears’ balanced scoring with 16 points. Tennessee transfer Marta Suarez and Kemery Martin contributed 15 points apiece, and San Francisco transfer Ioanna Krimili added 13 points. Cal points guard Leilani McIntosh had just five points put she had eight assists and just one turnover.

Cal won despite shooting just 5-for-23 from the 3-point range with the Bears' last made three coming with just 4.6 seconds left in the game.

The Bears were 1-for-14 from long distance in the first half, which ended with Santa Clara holding a 33-32 lead. But Martin hit a 3-pointer 14 seconds into the second half and Williams added a 3-pointer a minute later to put Cal ahead to stay. The Bears made three of their first four 3-point shots in the second half to give them a 10-point lead that held up the rest of the way. That short span was about the extent of Cal's long-range accuracy for the evening.

“Obviously we had a much better second half than we did in the first half,” Cal coach Charmin Smith. “When shots aren’t falling you’ve got to create some offense off your defense.

“We’re a great shooting team, [but] we have to have a Plan B when shots are not falling.”

Cal forced Santa Clara into 18 turnovers, while the Bears committed 12, and Cal made 62.2% of their two-point attempts to end up shooting 46.7% overall. That made up for the poor shooting from distance.

“I thought they would start going in a little bit sooner,” Smith said. “After the first quarter, I was thinking, ‘OK, we’re going to make them in the second,’ and then we didn’t. I don’t know. I have a lot of confidence in everyone on the floor in their shooting abilities. There was just a lid on the basket. I thought we were taking good 3-point shots. But when those shots aren’t going in, we have to be able to do something different.

Cal played defense well enough, but Smith is hoping for better. The Broncos shot 40.4% from the floor, but Santa Clara star Tess Heal was limited to 15 points on 6-for-15 shooting.

“We will be a better defensive team,” Smith said. “We know that’s the key when we get into conference play.”

Two of Cal’s four signees are ranked in ESPNW top 100

Charmin Smith announced on Wednesday that Gabrielle Abigor, Lola Donez, Zahra King and Kamryn Mafua have signed National Letters of Intent to play for the Golden Bears beginning in the 2024-25 season.

Both Mafua (No. 52) and King (No. 76) are currently ranked in the ESPNW HoopGurlz class of 2024 top 100 rankings. Abigor, Donez and Mafua were also teammates on the Jason Kidd Select AAU team that won the Select 40 national championship in July.

"In addition to what these young ladies bring on the basketball court, they exude high character, are invested in making an impact in our community and are the definition of student-athletes," Smith said. "They are a great fit for our culture and are Perfectly Berkeley!"

Abigor is a 6-foot-3 center out of Berean Christian High School in Walnut Creek, where she averaged 25.5 points, 18.4 rebounds and 9.7 blocks per game over the past three seasons.

"Gabby is an elite athlete who can finish around the rim and aggressively impact the game on the defensive end of the floor," Smith said. "Gaby just gets better every year and I'm thrilled about having the opportunity to continue her development with us as a Bear!"

Donez, a 5-foot-11 guard, is in her first season playing for Lahainaluna High School in her hometown of Lahaina, Hawaii. She spent the previous three years of her prep career at Oaks Christian High School in Westlake. As a junior in 2022-23 season, she averaged 13.7 points, 5.0 rebounds, 2.7 assists and 2.7 steals per game.

"Lola is a dynamic and explosive guard that can create her own scoring opportunities," Smith said. "Her length and athleticism will help us improve our defensive presence! She was assigned to guard some of the top players in the nation during her run to the Select 40 national championship this past summer."

King is a 5-foot-10 guard out of Brooklyn and currently plays for Westtown School in West Chester, Pennsylvania. Going into her senior year, she owns career averages of 10.7 points, 2.5 assists, 4.3 rebounds and 2.3 steals per game.

"Zahra is a strong combo guard who has shown the ability to finish tough shots at the rim," Smith said. "She has a high basketball IQ that allows her to anticipate action on the court and brings an aggressive mentality on the defensive end. We're also looking forward to having that Brooklyn swagger here in Berkeley."

Mafua is 6-foot-1 guard/forward from Folsom Hish School in Folsom. During her junior season in 2022-23, she averaged 17.0 points and 7.0 rebounds per game and led the Bulldogs to a Sac-Joaquin Section Division 1 championship and was the MaxPreps Sac-Joaquin Section Player of the Year.

"Kam is an extremely versatile player that can shoot the ball and stretch the floor as well as dominate in the paint," Smith said. "She's an aggressive rebounder and brings a competitive fire that helped her elevate her high school and club team! I know she'll bring that same mentality and energy to our squad next season."

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