BERKELEY — There is a difference in the way the Cal women’s basketball team sees itself this season — and probably how the Bears’ opponents view them. Coach Charmin Smith said her players are embracing those elevated expectations.
“For us, our goal is to make the NCAA Tournament, and that means we have to beat some ranked opponents and protect the home court. We’re doing that,” Smith said after the 24th-ranked Bears beat Florida State 82-70 on Sunday afternoon in a game where they led by 34 points midway through the third quarter. “We understand there is a target on our back now and sometimes we can be the ones that people are hunting.
“We’re used to hunting and now we can be the hunted.”
At 16-2 overall and tied for third place in the Atlantic Coast Conference at 4-1, Cal is off to Its best start in 12 seasons. The Golden Bears went after a very good Florida State squad (13-4, 3-2) with the ferocity of a team still acting like it has something to prove.
They proved it, holding the nation’s second-highest scoring team 24 points below its season average. They also defanged junior guard Ta’Niya Latson, who arrived at Haas Pavilion as the nation’s top scorer at 27.7 points per game.
Latson had just three free throws at halftime by which time the Bears had forged a 50-25 lead. She didn’t make her first field goal until just 6:32 was left in the fourth quarter and her 13-point total had no impact on the game’s outcome. Only 10 days earlier, Latson scored 40 points against Virginia Tech, one of her 19 career games of at least 30 points.
Asked to evaluate a defensive performance spearheaded by Lulu Twidale and Jayda Noble, Smith acknowledged, “I’d say I was very impressed.”
Twidale, a sophomore guard from Australia who scored all 19 of her points in the first half, said the Bears are playing with a sturdy confidence these days.
“We just came into the game really comfortable,” she said. “We knew what we had to do defensively. We know if we take care of the defensive end, the offensive end will come.”
Senior guard Ioanna Krimili, who scored 18 points, was a first-year transfer from San Francisco a year ago when the Bears won 18 games but were 0-9 against AP Top 25 opponents.
“This year is a different standard,” Krimili said. “We knew we were going to be good. We’ve been working since the summer, so it’s not something that’s happened overnight.”
Finishing the job in the close games is the biggest difference Smith sees. The Bears didn’t always get that done a year ago, but this season, they own close ranked wins over Alabama (four points) and North Carolina State (seven points) earlier this week.
“This year we’re able to get the wins,” said Smith, whose squad improved to 11-0 at home. “We have some returners and such, but it’s just a completely different team, a completely different feel, a completely different vibe.”
The Bears, chasing their first NCAA Tournament bid since 2019, return to action Thursday at No. 14 Duke (13-4, 4-1).
“Our coaches will give us a good scout, so we know what we’ve got to do when we go there,” Twidale said. “Our confidence level will stay how it is.”