As its season hung in the balance down 10 points with under three minutes remaining in the second round of the Women’s Basketball Invitation Tournament, Cal women’s basketball came alive to score four of its last five field goals to make it a one possession game.
But the very last field goal would decide the season’s fate for the No. 2 seed Bears. A tipped three-pointer from junior forward Marta Suárez fell short as time expired in the 61-63 loss to the No. 3 seed St. Joseph’s Hawks on Sunday.
Following a missed free throw from St. Joseph’s guard Chloe Welch with 12 seconds left, Cal graduate student guard Ioanna Krimili quickly brought the ball up. She swung it to Kemery Martín in the corner who then got it to Suárez — the clock forced her to heave a tough shot off a step-back.
“There was a (play-call), obviously I didn’t communicate it well enough … we gotta make sure that everybody hears a call,” Cal head coach Charmin Smith said. “It was unfortunate because we had a lot of time there and definitely wanted the ball to get to Leilani (McIntosh). She’s typically the one who has the ball in those situations, but I just needed to be more clear.”
The urgency and defensive pressure of McIntosh, a fifth-year guard, helped spur the Bears’ near comeback.
McIntosh recorded two of her four steals with under two minutes left. One of the steals led to an easy layup in the fast break from her. The other gave Cal a possession where Suárez got fouled, and she connected on both of her free throws.
Senior center Michelle Onyiah was also a key contributor down the stretch. St. Joseph’s forwards Laura Ziegler and Talya Brugler held Onyiah scoreless without a shot throughout most of the game. However, Cal found Onyiah in the paint with well-executed feeds off of two timeouts in the final minutes.
With a quiet night from Onyiah, whom the Bears often look to feed in the paint with her athleticism, Cal relied particularly on shots from deep — and the attempts struggled to fall.
The Bears shot 22% from beyond the arc, with three-point specialist Krimili connecting on just 2-9.
“They’ve got a great interior presence with (Onyiah), and (Claudia Langarita) that comes in and (Ila Lane),” St. Joseph’s head coach Cindy Griffin said. “But on the other end, we knew we could counter that because we have two post-players who can also shoot the three (in Ziegler and Brugler) … that was going to be a point of emphasis of trying to stretch them out because they’re a little bigger than us.”
Ziegler and Welch finished with 19 points each. Junior guard Mackenzie Smith and Brugler also finished with 10 points and 11 points, respectively. The victory for St. Joseph’s continues its winningest season in program history with a 28-5 overall record. Their next matchup will be against No. 1 seed Villanova on March 28.
The Bears were led by Suárez’s 20 points, with McIntosh and Krimili pouring in 10 points as well. Freshman Lulu Twidale added eight points off the bench.
For the blue and gold, Sunday’s loss brings their final record to 19-15 — the winningest season in Smith’s tenure. It also means the pivotal loss of McIntosh, who ends her Cal career as No. 3 in all-time assists.
The Bears will next prepare for a new era in Cal athletics as they join the ACC alongside Stanford next season.
“This is a huge step and I think we'll be better next year,” Smith said. “I really am excited about the ACC. I will miss the ‘Conference of Champions,’ the Pac-12 is an amazing conference and that was special … but I'm not going to miss playing against some of those schools all the time — I'm okay with some new challenges.”
