LOS ANGELES – A memorable season for Cal ended Saturday in a hail of missed shots and turnovers at Galen Center.
Participating in the NCAA Women’s Basketball Tournament for the first time since 2019, the eighth-seeded Bears are one and done after losing 59-46 to No. 9 Mississippi State.
Cal ends its season at 25-9, with Mississippi State improving to 22-11 and earning the right to play host USC Monday for a chance to reach the Sweet 16.
In the first game, the host and top-seeded Trojans (29-3) moved into the second round with a 71-25 win over UNC Greensboro (25-7).
After living by the 3-point shot all season, Cal was 3-for-22 against Mississippi State due to a stifling extended defense as well as an ability to make shots when open. The Bears turned the ball over 24 times and shot 25 percent (13-for-52) from the field overall.
Forward Michelle Onyiah had 17 points and 15 rebounds for Cal, with Lulu Twidale scoring 13.
Madina Okot, a 6-foot-6 post, had 14 points for the Bulldogs with Eniya Russell adding 13 and Jerkalia Jordan 10.
Mississippi State had its first double-digit lead early in the third quarter and entered the final quarter leading 41-29.
At that point, Cal was 2-for-14 from 3-point land and 10-for-37 overall. Compounding the missed shots were turnovers, as the Bears had 18 through three quarters.
Cal trailed 26-19 at halftime, which wasn’t bad considering the Bears were 6-for-26 (23.1 percent) from the floor and 2-for-10 on 3-point attempts.
Twidale kept Cal afloat with 11 points, going 4-for-6 from the floor with one 3-pointer, Krimili, Cal’s leading 3-point shooter, didn’t convert from long distance until 1:08 remained in the first half.
It wasn’t like the Bulldogs were lighting it up against the Cal defense, going 9-for-35 (25.7 percent) from the field. The teams were even in rebounding (23 each) in the opening half, but the Bears turned it over 12 times to seven for Mississippi State. The Bulldogs generated 10 points off Cal turnovers. Russell led Mississippi State with seven points in the half.
Onyiah paced Cal with 10 first-half rebounds.
At the first time out, Cal trailed 9-1 with 4:17 left in the first quarter, turning the ball over three times and going 0-for-7 from the field. When the quarter was over, Cal trailed 12-5 and at one point had six turnovers in a four-minute span.
The only two Cal field goals in the first quarter were on drives by Twidale, with the Bears missing all four of their 3-point attempts with the Bulldogs going 2-for-5.
In USC’s win, JuJu Watkins scored 22 points and Stanford transfer Kiki Iriafen added 12 as the Trojans started slowly (leading 12-8 after the first quarter) before pulling away against overmatched UNC Greensboro.
UNC Greensboro hit just 13 percent (7-for-54) of its shots and had no player with more than six points. The Spartans were 4-for-18 on 3-point attempts and 3-for-36 on shots inside the arc.