Cal Women's Season Ends With First-Round Loss in Pac-12 Tournament

Bears come close but lose to Utah to finish season with 11-13 record

As has been the case in many recent games, Cal's women's basketball team had a chance to win in the closing minutes, but again fell short, losing to Utah 66-60 Wednesday night in a first-round game of the Pac-12 tournament in Las Vegas.

Cal, the 11th seed in the tournament, finishes with an 11-13 overall record, the third straight losing season in Charmin Smith's three seasons as head coach but a clear improvement over last season when the Bears went 1-16 in a pandemic-impacted 2020-21 season.

Picked to finish last in the conference in the preseason poll, the Bears officially ended up 11th, thanks to a forfeit win over Arizona State. However, on the court, Cal was just 1-10 in conference games, not including Wednesday's loss to Utah.

Every Cal player who saw playing time against Utah is scheduled to return next season, assuming no one transfers. That includes freshman Jayda Curry, the Pac-12's leading scorer and the Bears' only representative on the media's all-Pac-12 team.

It has not yet been determined whether Cal's two grad transfers, Jadyn Bush and Carisma Ortiz, will be back next season. Both were expected to play major roles this season but both missed much of the season with injuries. Bush played 12 games, including 11 starts, and Ortiz did not play any games.

Curry, the media's selection for conference freshman of the year, scored 16 points on 6-for-18 shooting (0-for-3 on three-pointers), and added seven rebounds, three assists and two steals. She wound up averaging 18.6 points for the season, although her shooting percentage of 38.6% could be better. No other Cal player averaged in double figures in scoring.

Utah's Gianna Kneepkens, who was the coaches' pick for Pac-12 freshman of the year, had 20 points on 9-for-13 shooting (2-for-5 on three-pointers), five rebounds, one assist and one steal.

The Bears' best player on Wednesday was sophomore Michelle Onyiah, who came off the bench to collect 14 points on 6-for-7 shooting to go along with a game-high eight rebounds and two blocks in just 23 minutes of court time. Her scoring, rebounding and blocked shot totals were all season highs against Pac-12 competition.

Cal held a one-point lead over the seventh-seeded Utes (18-10) heading into the fourth quarter, and the game was tied 56-56 with 3:33 remaining in the game..  But the Utes outscored Cal 6-0 over the next two minutes to take control. Utah scored on three straight possessions in that span, while Cal missed a layup and committed a turnover in that pivotal drought.

The difference in the game was the 20 second-chance points the Utes collected based on their 13 offensive rebounds. The Utes also had six three-pointers compared with two for Cal.

Cal's postgame interviews:

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Cover photo of Michelle Onyiah by Cal Athletics

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Follow Jake Curtis of Cal Sports Report on Twitter: @jakecurtis53

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