Cal women’s task too tall against top-seeded Baylor
When it went bad Monday night, it went really bad for the Cal women’s basketball team.
The Golden Bears and senior star Kristine Anigwe were no match for overall top-seeded Baylor in the second round of the NCAA Tournament in Waco, Texas.
The Bears routed Cal 102-63 to advance to the Sweet 16 on Saturday against fourth-seeded South Carolina in Greensboro, North Carolina. After the demolition Monday night, No. 1-ranked Baylor (33-1) looks like the favorite to win its third NCAA championship under coach Kim Mulkey. The titles came in 2005 and 2012.
“Their strengths aren’t matched by anybody else’s in the country exactly,” Cal coach Lindsay Gottlieb said.
The Golden Bears (20-13) fell behind by 39 points after three quarters and were eliminated by Baylor on its home court for the third time in six years.
Gottlieb sought advice from Stanford coach Tara VanDerveer before the game because the Cardinal is the only team to defeat Baylor this season. But that victory in December came when the Bears were not completely healthy.
Since then, Baylor has won 25 in a row and now has reached the Sweet 16 for the 11th consecutive time.
After a tight first quarter, the game was all but over when the Bears outscored Cal 24-6 for a 46-27 halftime lead.
Baylor’s defense flustered Anigwe who for the first time this season failed to achieve a double-double. She finished with 13 points and five rebounds to end a streak of 33 consecutive games of double-digit scoring and rebounding. Anigwe was averaging 22.9 points and 16.3 rebounds per game but made only 4 of 17 shots from the field.
“The kid has had a year that should be in the history books, will be in the history books of women’s college basketball,” Gottlieb said. “She had a tough night tonight. They can do what some other teams can’t do against us is why it was a terrible matchup for us.”
Anigwe also was hampered by two early fouls.
All-American Kalani Brown “is a really, really good player and Lauren Cox as well,” Anigwe said. “Playing against them when I was in foul trouble was hard.’
Sophomore Kianna Smith led Cal with 18 points while Baylor guards Juicy Landrum (20 points and 7 assists) and Chole Jackson (18 points and 6 assists) led four Bears in double figures. Brown scored only eight points but her 6-foot-7 frame disrupted Cal with eight rebounds, five blocks and three assists.
“If you’re forcing them to beat you from the outside and they’re beating you from the outside, my thought is, ‘Gosh they probably deserve to win,’ ” Gottlieb said.
Brown wasn’t worried about her statistics.
“I didn’t have the points or the fancy double-double, but I think I came out with
great defense,” the center said.
Baylor has won 39 consecutive home games, the country’s second-longest active streak. It last lost at the Ferrell Center on Feb. 6, 2017.
Eighth-seeded Cal led 16-14 late in the first quarter before the road got bumpy. Didi Richards made a free throw, then 6-4 Cox had a jumper to give Baylor the lead it would not relinquish. Jackson’s jumper with 3 seconds left signaled what was to come.
Baylor exploded in the second quarter as the Golden Bears crumpled under the home team’s aggressive defense. Baylor made only one 3-point shot in the first half but the Bears didn’t need their long-range shooting on this night.
The surge propelled Baylor to a 15-0 run. Jaylen Brown’s layup with 4:52 left in the quarter ended the streak momentarily as Baylor outscored Cal 25-2 to take control. Nothing worked for the 6-4 Anigwe, who made one of 11 shots in the half.
With the Golden Bears’ senior star out of sorts, the rest of them collapsed with mental errors and poor shooting (36 percent).
The game was reminiscent of Baylor’s 86-46 thrashing of Cal in the second round in 2017. The 39-point loss Monday night was Cal’s worst since the 2017 game.