Off to a promising start

During a huddle on the Cal bench Thursday night, head coach Lindsay Gottlieb accidentally missed the wipe board and wrote on her pants.

There were some obvious bloopers to reminded fans it was an exhibition game at Haas Pavilion, but No. 24 Cal eventually found its way and ran away from Westmont 79-62.

“I think we always need exhibition games to get going and get into a routine,” said Gottlieb, whose team opens the regular season on election day against Houston. “… For the team, I think it was really fun. They’ve been working really hard. It’s just a different feeling to put on that jersey and play at home.”

The Bears, who return 11 letter-winners from a team that went 21-11 and made the NCAA Tournament, are projected by the Pac-12 coaches to finish fourth in the loaded conference.

They shot 61.8 percent, including making 6 of 9 threepoint shots, dished out 19 assists and outrebounded decent measuring stick Westmont by 10. The small school from Santa Barbara went 26-7 last season and lost to Freed-Hardeman in the NAIA national title game, but Gottlieb wants to see even more from her team.

“I feel good about who this team is and what we can become,” she said. “I think we saw some of that on display tonight. My standards for them are really high, so there’s also a lot to get better at.”

Cal did not trail and led by as many as 20 points. The Bears scored 25 first-quarter points on 64.7 percent shooting, and they hadn’t even started playing well yet.

After an 11-0 run by Westmont toward the end of the second quarter tied it 40-40, Cal closed the half with a 7-0 run in a span of 72 seconds. The Bears opened the third quarter with a 9-2 spurt, and just like that, the game was out of reach for Westmont.

Senior forward/center Kristine Anigwe had 25 points (on 12-for-18 shooting) and six rebounds, sophomore guard Kianna Smith added 15 points, and grad-transfer guard Recee Caldwell had four points, five rebounds and six assists while showcasing a game filled with nuance.

“She can play the point. She really pushes the ball in transition. She can knock down shots. She can make the right pass. I think we’ll rely on her with a three-point-guard lineup to sort of say: ‘Pick your poison in terms of how you’re going to play us,’ ” Gottlieb said. “… Her impact on the game is going to come in a lot of different ways.”