Anigwe’s 3-pointers help sink Trojans
Eleven Cal players jogged to the pregame floor Friday night wearing navy warm-up jackets.
Kristine Anigwe had already stripped down to her jersey.
Even without the extra layer of clothing, the junior center managed to have something up her sleeve for the Pac-12 opener and went 3-for-3 from threepoint range in the 20th-ranked Bears’ 76-64 victory over USC at Haas Pavilion.
“She’s a well-rounded player. Obviously, she hasn’t taken a lot of threes for us, but that’s a good shot for her,” head coach Lind-
say Gottlieb said, after joking that she mandated Anigwe go home and take 5,000 threepointers during the holiday break. “If the right basketball play is dunking on someone or scoring 25 points in the paint, we’re going to try to get that. If people are sagging off, she can keep the defense honest.”
Anigwe had 16 points and 13 rebounds to lead the Bears (10-2) to their seventh straight victory — games won by an average of 19.6 points. Forced away from the basket, the 6foot-4 post player showcased a perimeter game like never before.
After going 1-of-5 from threepoint range in the first 75 games of her career, Anigwe connected on all three of her shots from distance against USC, including one that ended the Trojans’ determined comeback attempt with 4½ minutes remaining.
“I’m definitely going to focus on posting up, but if the shot is there, I’m going to take it,” Anigwe said.
USC (10-2), which had only a one-point loss to then-No. 19 Texas A&M as a nonconference blemish, trailed for 35-plus minutes and by as many as 17 points, but the Trojans looked much better than their eighthplace projection.
They got 20 points and 11 rebounds from Kristen Simon and double-digit scoring from Minyon Moore (14), Aliyah Mazyck (13) and Sadie Edwards (10), despite Cal limiting them to 38.1 percent shooting and forcing more turnovers (10) than assists yielded (nine).
Anigwe came in averaging team highs in scoring (17 points per game) and rebounding (8.6 per game), but she hadn’t made much of an impact in 2½ weeks. She didn’t play against BYU because of a “coach’s decision” and was limited to two points in 19 minutes at Kentucky.
That all changed Friday when she ferociously chased rebounds, looked comfortable shooting from distance and made the right passes out of double teams. Seniors Penina Davidson (15 points and seven rebounds) and Mikayla Cowling (13 points and five assists) were also key for Cal, and the Bears’ bench outscored USC’s reserves 18-0.
“That’s what will make us elite,” Gottlieb said. “Kristine has put up video-game numbers for two years, and she would be the first to say, ‘We haven’t won enough games.’ I think the efficiency level and nuance of her game has really improved.”
With Anigwe being forced away from the basket early, Cowling scored eight of Cal’s first 13 points in a back-andforth first quarter that included four ties and four lead changes. Anigwe single-handedly got Cal into the bonus 3½ minutes into the third quarter, and her free throws at the 6:24 mark secured her third double-double of the season and the 33rd of her career.
With Anigwe on a bench with foul trouble and a warning about arguing with the officials, USC trimmed a 17-point deficit to 56-52 with less than eight minutes to play in the fourth quarter. Davidson buoyed Cal, scoring nine straight to extend the Bears lead to 65-54 until Anigwe could get back into the game and end the Trojans’ attempted rally with a threepointer at the 4:34 mark.
“We never expected them to lay down or walk away,” Gottlieb said. “We felt like we would have to break them, which I think we did at that the critical times. … We had to use everything in our arsenal to hold them off.”