Ex-Cal Player Dalayah Daniels Leads Washington Past Cal Women

Huskies' surprising success from long range dooms the Golden Bears

Dalayah Daniels played her past two seasons for Cal, but she was the Bears' nemesis on Friday in Seattle, leading Washington to a 70-54 victory over Cal.

Daniels was a prized recruit for Cal coach Charmin Smith a few years ago, and she was the Bears' leading scorer as a freshman in 2020-21. But after the 2021-22 season the Seattle native opted to transfer closer to home, joining the Washington program.

Daniels collected 20 points on 8-for-13 shooting to lead the Huskies (12-9, 4-7 Pac-12) to victory over her former team.

Cal (11-11, 2-9) was unable to build off Sunday's 64-62 victory over Oregon State and has now lost all four conference road games, all by at least 16 points.

“I thought we weren't sharp at all," Smith said. "They were more physical than us and got us out of our rhythm and what we wanted to do offensively and it's disappointing that we didn't play as well as we could have.”

Cal's Jayda Curry was limited to six points, matching a season low, but she did make a three-pointer, extending her streak to 44 consecutive games in which she made at least one three-point shot.  That leaves her one game shy of the Pac-12 record (since 1999-200) of 45 straight established by USC's Shay Murphy from 2005 to 2007.

Much of Cal's offense was provided by Evelien Lutje Schipholt, who poured in a season-high 19 points and collected seven rebounds. 

The Bears' pressing defense bothered the Huskies, who committed 19 turnovers.

“The press looked good when we did it," Smith said. "It's unfortunate that we had too many possessions where we were supposed to be doing it and we chose not to.”.

But the turnovers could not make up for Washington's surprising accuracy from beyond the three-point line.

The Huskies entered the game last in the Pac-12 in three-point shooting percentage at 23.9%.  But they hit 6 of 9 three-pointers in the first half, and 18 of their first 22 points came by way of six three-point shots.  

That staked the Huskies to a big lead, and the Bears were never able to pose a serious threat after Washington took a 17-10 lead in the opening quarter.

Washington led by 21 points with 8:44 left in the fourth quarter, and Cal rallied to score 10 consecutive points to get within 11 with 5:06 remaining, but that was as close as Cal could get.

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