Cal Women's Basketball: Bears Roll Past Saint Mary's in Opener

Sophomore Lulu Twidale scores 24 points, Cal never trails en route to 90-58 victory

Cal's women led 15-2 to start and never trailed / Photo by Jeff Faraudo

Sophomore Lulu Twidale scored 24 points and Cal’s women were never threatened in their season opener Monday night, beating East Bay neighbor Saint Mary’s 90-58 at Haas Pavilion.

Coach Charmin Smith, whose squad won 19 games a year ago, talks in the video above about what she saw from her team in its season debut.

Marta Suarez contributed 17 points and eight rebounds, Ioanna Krimili scored 14 points and center Michelle Onyiah had 11 points, five rebounds, four blocked shots and three steals. Onyiah cracked the 100 block plateau for her career and now has 103.

Twidale made 5 of 8 from 3-point range and Krimili, whose 337 career 3-pointers entering this season were the most by any active Division I player in the country, made 4 of 7 from deep.

Cal improved to 23-5 all-time vs. Saint Mary’s.

Twidale, a guard from Queensland, Australia who averaged 6.3 points as a freshman last season, says in the video above she wants to provide more to her team this season.

The Bears wound up making 14 of 30 shots from the 3-point arc, converted 20 of 26 free throws, outrebounded the Gaels 41-25 and scored 31 points off 18 turnovers by the Gaels.

Eight first-quarter turnovers prevented Cal from making the game a blowout early, but the hosts led by 16 at halftime and took a 20-point margin into the final period.

The Bears jumped out to a 15-2 lead, gave most of it back then stretched their advantage to as many as 21 points late in the second quarter. Cal doubled up the Gaels at 42-21 when Twidale converted a drive and a free throw with 1:49 left in the half.

Saint Mary’s scored the final five points of the half to pull within 42-26.

Cal attacked from the perimeter to start the game, scoring its first 18 points on six 3-pointers. Krimili and Suarez had two apiece to help sculpt a 15-2 lead after 5 1/2 minutes.

But turnovers cost the Bears in the first quarter and when Emily Foy made a jump shot with 1:06 left, the Gaels had completed an 11-0 run that cut the margin to 15-13.

That was as close as the Gaels got. Twidale made a 3-pointer and Cal led 20-15 at the end of the period.

The Bears then seemed to make a conscious decision to take the ball inside, and it got them good shots or fouls. The Bears were 9 for 9 from the free throw line in the half and outscored the visitors 22-6 in the second quarter to surge into their 21-point lead.

Cal outrebounded Saint Mary’s 24-11 in the half and didn’t allow the Gaels an offensive rebound until the final 3 minutes before the break. The Bears’ defense forced more giveaways in the second quarter and by halftime Cal had a 17-9 edge on points off turnovers.