No. 11 Oregon State's Big Second Half Overpowers Cal Women, 79-58

Bears will be seeded No 8 into the Pac-12 tournament, opening Wednesday vs. Washington State.

Unable to keep up with No. 11 Oregon State’s torrid second-half shooting, Cal closed the Pac-12 regular season with a 79-58 loss at Corvallis, Ore. on Saturday afternoon.

The Bears (17-13, 7-11) hoped to complete their first road sweep of the Oregon schools since the 2012-13 season. That was also was the last time Cal knocked off OSU on the road.

The Beavers (23-6, 12-6) used a 13-2 run opening the second half to extend a 28-27 lead at the intermission. By the end of the third quarter, OSU was up 55-41, and the margin reached 20 points for the first time when Timea Gardiner made a 3-pointer with 4:32 left in the fourth.

OSU made its first six shots in the third quarter, finishing the third period at 67 percent and the second half at 64.5 percent. Cal shot 32 percent in each half.

“It was a good first half and really a lot of breakdowns in the second half defensively, allowing them to get open shots and we couldn't recover from them," coach Charmin Smith said. “They made shots and we weren't able to knock down our open shots that we got on the other end. They’re a good team. They executed well.”

The Bears finish the regular season in a tie for eighth place with Washington State (18-13, 7-11), which will be their opponent in Wednesday’s first round of the Pac-12 tournament. Cal will be the No. 8 seed with WSU at No. 9, the tiebreaker settled by the Bears’ two regular-season wins over the Cougars.

Tipoff on Wednesday is 2:30 p.m. at the MGM Grand Garden Arena in Las Vegas. The winner will face regular-season Pac-12 champion and top seed Stanford in Thursday’s quarterfinals, also at 2:30 p.m.

Cal’s victory total of 17 is its best since 2019, but the Bears could not get over the hump in games against stiffer competition. They are 0-8 against teams ranked in the AP Top-25.

Marta Suarez scored 14 points to lead the Bears, Leilani McIntosh scored 13 and Lulu Laditan-Twidale had 12.

OSU’s second-half domination included a 23-11 rebounding edge over the final 20 minutes.

Four players scored in double digits for the Beavers, led by 19 from Gardiner, who hade five 3-pointers. Donovyn Hunter had 13 points and nine assists.

Suarez scored 10 first-half points and the Bears stayed close, trailing just 28-27 at the break.

Cal shot just 43 percent from the field over the first 20 minutes, but made 5 of 10 attempt from 3-point distance, including two each by Suarez and Laditan-Twidale. The Bears converted just 2 of 11 from deep in the second half.

The Bears led for nearly 12 minutes of the first half, which featured nine lead changes and three ties. Cal never led in the second half.

Cover photo of Cal's Marta Suarez by Kelley L. Cox, KLC fotos

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