Dawgs Barked last Year, Not This One

The Pac-10 opener for the Cal women's basketball team arrived Friday with a spectacular 66-40 defeat of the Washington Huskies. This was a match between two schools going in opposite directions, with Cal picked 2nd in the Pac 10, Washington 8th.

Cal came into this game remembering last year when Washington erased a 19-point Cal lead with 11 minutes to go in the game - and beat the Bears 79-76 in overtime at Haas Pavilion, the Bears most crushing defeat of last year.

Both Cal's Devanei Hampton and Washington's Andrea Plouffe were expected to play Friday even though both had played in only two of their teams games so far. While Hampton did not start, Plouffe did. Washington took a 3-0 lead before Alexis Gray-Lawson hit a three and then a two. Cal led 14-5 with 11:29 on the clock.

Before this game, Cal led the Pac-10 in field-goal percentage, while Washington ranked 8th - and showed it by starting off 1 for 11 from the field. Cal used a zone defense for the second game in a row (instead of their usual man-to-man) with great success. Washington shot poorly while Cal rebounded and ran the fast break as well as they have this year.

Many Cal fans focused on Devanei Hampton when she entered the game. Hampton was rusty at first, missing her first 6 shots (0-2 from the field and 0-4 from the line), until she made two free throws and gained some composure. She finished with 12 points in her 19 minutes on the floor.

Devanei, who played in four minute spurts, was asked after the game if she was tired; she responded that she thought she could have played more but that it was up to Coach Boyle. The decision to space out her playing time worked well; she was very effective in those four minute intervals.

With 8:42 to go in the first half, Washington was 2-19 and Cal 9-16 from the field. Even so, by 7:25 Washington had narrowed the lead to 10 points (23-13) as Sara Mosiman scored 8 points off the bench to get Washington back into the game. Unfortunately for Washington, that is as far as they got, and Cal went on an 8-2 run and maintained control of the game till the end, leading at the half 39-19 and winning the game 66-40.

At the half, Mosiman was the only Washington player in double figures with 10 points. Washington's leading scorer, Katelan Redmon had been held scoreless - and Cal had a 27-13 rebound edge.

In the second half, Redmon scored the first five points. She continued to score and cut Cal's lead to 50-35 with her 12th point with 10:32 left. With last year's come-from-behind defeat by Washington looming in their memories, Cal surged back with baskets by Grey-Lawson and Rama N'diaye - and Washington scored just five more points the rest of the game. Washington shot 28.6% for the game to Cal's 49.1%. Washington scored only twice from 3-point land on 19 attempts.

After the game, Joanne Boyle said she was happy with the win, but not happy with the second half that included scoreless droughts by both teams. Boyle said that for Cal to break into the 10 the team would have to play a full 40 minutes of good basketball.

Hampton said that after she made her two free throws, she felt good. Both Hampton and Boyle feel they are about to have a great post rotation after Hampton shakes off the rust; the big key for Hampton will be how she feels on Saturday. Grey-Lawson commented that, with Hampton's arrival, people won't want to drive against the Bears.

Boyle was asked if going to the zone early would be used in future games. She said that the tactic was primarily a result of the match ups between these two teams. Neither team shot well from three point range, thus making them more vulnerable to a zone defense.

Notes:

• Holding Washington to 40 points accomplished a season low for a Cal opponent.
• The final score was 1 point off of the largest victory margin by Cal in a Pac-10 opener since beating Oregon 94-67 on January 3rd, 1991.
• Cal's next game is against Washington State on Sunday, December 30th at 2:00 pm PST at Haas Pavilion.

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