Cal nearly gets first 100-point game of season in rout

The Cal women’s basketball team nearly got its first 100-point outing of the season Sunday afternoon in a 96-63 blowout over Lehigh that also happened to be senior Courtney Range’s 100th game with the Bears. The Bears (9-0), who exteded the program’s best-ever start, scored only four points in the final 2:43 to finish just short of the school’s 22nd 100-point game. Head coach Lindsay Gottlieb said she’d still like the players to continue to develop mental toughness and to perfect each of their mixing defenses before the Pac-12 schedule begins Dec. 29. Cal shot 60 percent from the floor, dished out 29 assists to 14 turnovers and outrebounded the Mountain Hawks by nine. Cal rushed to an 18-1 lead, holding Lehigh without a field goal for the game’s opening six minutes. After Lehigh scored on back-to-back possessions, the Bears ripped off a 15-0 run to extend their lead to 33-6 in the first minute of the second quarter. Bernadette Devaney made three three-pointers in the final 2:14 of the third quarter, but Range halted the spurt by converting a four-point play that sent Cal into the fourth quarter with a 77-51 lead.