Cal Women Overcome 29 Turnovers to Beat Auburn, Stay Undefeated

Bears improve to 6-0 by clamping down on the Tigers over the final 5 minutes

Ioanna Krimili, coach Chamin Smith and Lulu Twidale enjoy their win. / Photo by Jeff Faraudo

Turnovers figured to be a significant factor in the women’s basketball matchup between unbeaten Cal and visiting Auburn on Friday night.

As it turned out, they weren’t ultimately decisive, even though the Bears committed a season-high 29 of them.

Somehow, the Bears survived the Tigers and themselves, improving to 6-0 on the season with a 63-59 victory at Haas Pavilion.

Cal led by 10 after the first quarter but turned the ball over 10 times in the second period and 12 more in the third.

They trailed 57-51 with 5 minutes left but got back-to-back 3-pointers from sophomore Lulu Twidale and shut out the Tigers (3-2) until just 16 seconds remained.

“I don’t love the way we played, but I love the way we fought,” coach Charmin Smith said. “I love the way we fought and I love the way we finished.

“It shows what we’re made of to be able to play so ugly and to have so many mistakes against a good team and still come up with a win. We talk about being resilient and I think that was exactly that.”

ESPN projected earlier this week that the Bears would land a No. 11 seed in the NCAA tournament next March. This certainly won’t hurt that pursuit. Auburn was listed as a No. 9 seed in that early-season bracketology report.

The Bears had given up a season-worst 26 turnovers in their 23-point win over Grambling State two nights earlier and the Tigers make their living by pressuring with the defense. The entered the game ranked seventh nationally in turnovers forced at 28.25 per game.

In a ridiculous 128-36 win over Virginia-Lynchburg, Auburn had 25 steals, forced 41 turnovers and forged a 65-2 scoring advantage off those takeaways.

"They're not easy to play," Oregon coach Kelly Graves said after his Ducks beat Auburn 70-68 on Wednesday night.

Down 49-45 at the end of three quarters, Cal trailed 53-47 after a giveaway allowed the Tigers to score their 27th point off turnovers. The margin remained six points until Twidale, who had 22 points, hit a 3-pointer with 5:02 left then another at 4:16, knotting the score at 57-all. 

A layup by center Michelle Onyiah off a feed from Ioanna Krimili gave Cal the lead for good with 3:16 to play. The Bears closed out the win, in part because they had just four turnovers in the fourth quarter.

“We talk about pressure bursting pipes or making diamonds,” Smith said. “The pipes were leaking a little bit, but at the end of the day we ended up being diamonds.”

Krimili, the NCAA’s current active leader in career 3-pointers, made three of them in the first half on the way to scoring 14 points. She also had six assists for the second straight game.

Onyiah survived foul trouble to contribute 11 points, eight rebounds, two blocked shots and two steals. A year ago, she collected 19 rebounds in the Bears’ win at Auburn.

Marta Suarez had eight points, eight rebounds and two blocked shots and Kayla Williams chipped in seven points and three steals.

Cal prevailed despite the fact that 29 of its 71 possessions ended with a turnover. The Bears’ defense held Auburn to 37 percent shooting, including 1 for 5 on 3-pointers, and squeezed 18 turnovers out of the visitors.

Cal shot 50 percent in the first half, but its 22 field-goal attempts were 14 fewer than the Tigers managed. That was the result of 13 lost possessions on turnovers that fed 10 Auburn points and the visitors’ 11-1 edge in offensive rebounds in the half.

Cal finished the game with a 39-34 rebounding advantage.