Cal Women's Basketball: Bears Rally to Beat Eastern Washington

Cal overcomes a 15-point, fourth-quarter deficit to post its ninth win

Cal rallied from a 15-point deficit in the fourth quarter to beat Eastern Washington 78-70 on Saturday afternoon in a women's basketball game, much to the delight of the approximately 4,000 elementary school children who attended the game at Haas Pavilion.

The Bears improved to 9-2, their best start since 2018-19, by coming up with a big fourth quarter.  And it was a significant win over a Eastern Washington team that was picked to win the Big Sky conference title in the preseason coaches poll and nearly defeated nationally ranked Gonzaga earlier this season. EWU led Gonzaga by five point with 3:32 left before losing by two points.

On Saturday, Cal seemed destined for defeat when Eastern Washington (6-3) scored the first bucket of the fourth quarter to take a 61-46 leac.  But the Eagles made only three field goals on 13 attempts the rest of the way while the Bears went 10-for-13 in the fourth quarter.

The Bears took their first lead since the first half when McKayla Williams made a contested 10-footer with 2:14 remaining. After the Eagles' Aaliyah Alexander tied the game with 1:08 left, Leilani McIntosh but Cal ahead to stay with a driving layup with 39.2 seconds to go to put Cal back up by two.

McIntosh recorded a steal on Eastern Washington's ensuing possession, and that led to a fastbreak bucket by Williams with 32.7 seconds remaining. Cal increased the lead to six points on Marta Suarez's two free throws with 19.0 seconds left, assuring Cal the comeback victory.

Cal had 18 turnovers but only one in the final eight minutes.

Five Cal players scored in double figures. Suarez had 17 points, McIntosh added 14, Kemery Martin and Michelle Onyiah scored 12 apiece, and freshman Lulu Laditan-Twidale had 10.

It was the consecutive three-pointers by Laditan-Twidale that seemed to get Cal's comeback started. Her long-range shots on two straight Cal possessions reduced a 13-point Eastern Washington lead to seven with 6:51 remaining in the fourth quarter.

That seemed to stir the crowd and was part of a 10-0 Cal run that got the Bears back in the game.

Eastern Washington was 8-for-21 on three-point shots for the game, but the Eagles' shooting touch deserted them at the end, going 0-for-5 from distance in the fourth quarter.

Cal ended up outscoring Eastern Washington 32-11 in the fourth quarter.

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