No. 18 Arizona Women’s Basketball defeats Cal Golden Bears

BERKELEY, CA – Despite leading by 13 at halftime, No. 18 Arizona Women’s Basketball (12-1, 3-0) came away with the 63-56 win over Cal (9-4, 0-2).   

Continuing Pac-12 play after whopping rival ASU on Thursday evening, No. 18 Arizona Women’s Basketball traveled to Berkeley for a showdown with the Cal Golden Bears.

Returning to action to face a bit of a tougher challenge, Arizona was dominant early on, but as Cal began to find their offensive rhythm in the second half, this one became a bit competitive.

Scoring 33 first-half points and building a 13-point lead, the Wildcats looked poised to route the Golden Bears; however, a strong second-half surge by Cal made this game a bit more competitive before Arizona came away with the 63-56 win.

Cate Reese led the way as the Wildcat senior finished with 14 points and grabbed seven rebounds while shooting 6-16 from the field.

Arizona’s Shaina Pellington and Kailyn Gilbert finished their days with 12 and 10 points respectively. Pellington had a team-high 4 assists.

No. 18 Arizona Women’s Basketball started out strong, but a strong second half by Cal made this one a bit competitive.

This one started in Arizona’s favor, especially as the Wildcats built a comfortable, 10-2 lead early on. However, an 8-2 run by the Golden Bears made this a bit competitive after the first.

Responding with a big second quarter, the Wildcats used sniffling defense and an efficient offense to expand their lead from two to as many as 13 at halftime.

Unfortunately, that lead would not last long as Cal found their rhythm in the second half, cutting Arizona’s lead to nine after three, and again outscoring Arizona in the fourth quarter.

But luckily it was too little too late as Arizona was able to close out the game with poise, earning the hard-fought, 63-56 win over the host Golden Bears!

With the win, the Wildcats improve to 12-1 (3-0) on the season and will resume basketball action on Monday when they travel to Palo Alto to take Pac-12 foe, Stanford. Arizona will follow that game with back-to-back games against the Oregon schools on Friday and Sunday. Tip-off against Stanford on Monday is set for 12:30 PM MST.

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