No. 5 Colorado Women Wear Down Cal, Pull Away For 76-61 Victory

The Bears stayed close through much of the first three quarters but CU took charge late in each period.

The No. 5 Colorado women’s basketball team closed each of the first three quarters with a burst and finally wore down visiting Cal, posting a 76-61 victory at Boulder on Friday night.

The Bears (12-4, 2-2 Pac-12) were within five points late in each of the first three periods before the Buffaloes (14-1, 4-0) extended their lead each time.

Finally, down 57-45 entering the final quarter, the Bears had no answer. Colorado, hitting 8 of 15 from the 3-point arc in the second half, stretched its advantage to 72-52 on a 3-pointer by Frida Formann with 4:03 to play.

CU, one of four Pac-12 teams ranked among the top-10 in the AP poll, won its eighth straight game overall and beat Cal for the eighth time in a row.

Cal, which was off to its best start to a season under fifth-year coach Charmin Smith, was projected this week by ESPN’s Charlie Creme as the last team to earn a spot in the NCAA tournament field. The Bears also received votes in AP Top-25 this week.

“We want to win every game,” Smith said. “This was a huge opportunity against the No. 5 team in the country but we know we have work to do. We’re just going to get back to work and get ready for Utah.”

The Bears return to action Sunday with an 11 a.m. matchup against the No. 19 Utes (11-5, 1-3), which lost 66-64 to Stanford on Friday night.

Marta Suarez led Cal with 14 points and nine rebounds, Kemery Martin scored 11 and McKayla Williams and Leilani McIntosh each scored 10.

Senior guard Ioanna Krimili was scoreless at halftime and finished with 11 points, nine of them in the final 4 minutes after the outcome was settled.

“Their pressure’s very disruptive. I think it was a goal of their to try to limit (Krimili),” Smith said. “But we have a lot of weapons, we just turned the ball over too much.”

Cal shot 37 percent for the game and, after hitting 5 of 10 from 3 in the first half, made only 4 of 17 from deep the rest of the way. The Bears had 15 turnovers.

Aaronette Vonleh led Colorado with 19 points, Formann scored 14 including four of her team’s nine 3’s, and Quay Miller had 12 points and 12 rebounds. The Buffaloes wound up shooting 53 percent, including 9 for 18 from deep.

“Collectively, we just needed to be a little better, defend the 3-point line a little better,” Smith said. "We were fighting, playing hard, shots didn’t fall our way in the second half. The 3-ball is really the difference.”

The Bears led 9-5 after a 3-pointer by Suarez with 4:29 left in the first quarter. The Buffs answered with a 10-0 run to end the period and take a 15-9 lead.

The Bears pulled within 28-23 with 1:05 left in the first half after a 3-pointer by McIntosh and a layup by Williams.

But the Buffaloes scored the final six points of the period, including a 3-pointer by Kindyll Wetta, to stretch out to a 34-23 lead at the break.

The Bears hurt themselves with 11 first-half turnovers.

“The lesson we take away from this is we’ve got to be tough and strong with the ball and limit our turnovers,” Smith said. “This is a real aggressive team and they got us out of our comfort zone a little bit. It goes us off rhythm and we weren’t able to score the ball we usually do.”

Down by as many as 11 points in the third quarter, the Bears scrapped back within 49-45 before CU finished the period with an 8-0 burst, including 3-pointers by Formann and Maddie Nolan, for a 57-45 advantage.

Cover photo of Cal guard Kemery Martin courtesy of Cal women's basketball.

Follow Jeff Faraudo of Cal Sports Report on Twitter: @jefffaraudo