Cal Women Improve to 5-0 by Beating Grambling State

Golden Bears win easily but they committed 26 turnovers, and Auburn is coming to Haas on Friday

Marta Surarez / Photo by Kelley L Cox, KLC fotos

Cal’s women’s basketball team did not produce a masterpiece on Wednesday night, but the Bears remained unbeaten with a convincing 86-63 victory over Grambling State at Haas Pavilion.

Cal improved to 5-0 for the second year in a row, and, after a slow start, the Bears dominated Grambling, which was the preseason pick to win the Southwestern Athletic Conference title.

But Cal coach Charmin Smith is not going be pleased with her team’s season-high 26 turnovers.  That’s three more turnovers than the season-high 23 turnovers the Bears committed in a game last season, and is 18 more than the eight turnovers Cal committed in last week’s 86-65 victory over Gonzaga when the Bears ended the Zags’ 37-game home winning streak.

The Bears must take better care of the ball on Friday night when they host Auburn, which was 3-0 heading into Wednesday’s game at Oregon. Cal will need to start off better than it did Wednesday too.

Grambling State (2-3) took a 13-7 lead five minutes into the game, and Cal had five turnovers at that point. The Bears dominated the rest of the game, though.  A 12-0 run helped the Bears to a 22-15 lead, and they led by 15 points at halftime. The Bears made eight of their first nine three-point attempts of the second half, extending their lead to 26 points in the third quarter before coasting in.

Lulu Twidale led the Bears with 19 points, and Marta Suarez contributed 16 points.  But the best all-around game was turned in by Ioanna Krimili, who scored 15 points, was 3-for-6 on three-points, and added four rebounds and six assists while committing just one turnover.  She might had added to her statistics, but she did not play in the fourth quarter.  Neither did Suarez.

Cal has relied on the three-point shot this season and ended up making 12-of-32 shots from long range, while the Tigers made just one three-pointer in eight attempts. More than half of Cal’s 63 field-goal attempts were from beyond the three-point line. For the season Cal has attempted 127 two-point shots and 108 three-point shots.

The Bears have scored more than 80 points in all five of their games this season and are averaging 86.4 points per game. They have won every game by more than 20 points.

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