Bears win game, but lose Thomas
The Cal women’s basketball team had its postgame meeting in the trainer’s room Sunday afternoon.
The players wouldn’t even go to the locker room before checking on their captain, senior point guard Asha Thomas, who suffered an apparent knee injury early in the second half.
“We’ll hope and pray that everything is fine with her, but what I do know is that this is a really special team,” head coach Lindsay Gottlieb said after the No. 15 Bears’ 67-42 victory over Cal State Northridge. “They show it every day on the court, but what you guys don’t get to see is them huddled around A.T. She’s their leader, their little warrior. A.T. is going to be fine, no matter what, and our team is going to be fine, no matter what.
“But sometimes, it takes those moments to see what your team is really about.”
Playing in their first game at Haas Pavilion in nearly a month, Cal turned a three-point halftime lead in a romp with a 17-0 run to start the third quarter. The Bears (7-0) had one “home” game among their previous five, but they hosted Pacific at Stanford’s Maples Pavilion in that game because of the poor air quality in Berkeley in the aftermath of the Camp Fire in Butte County.
Back in her familiar locker room for the first time since opening the season against Houston, Gottlieb laid into her team at halftime.
“We have a team that should be playing elite-level basketball,” she said. “We’re talking more about us, the way our offense flows, being a high-level defense. When it’s not there, I am more — in a good way — pissed than I have been in years, because we’re so capable.”
Senior forward/center Kristine Anigwe led the way with 26 points and 10 rebounds, her seventh straight double-double to open the season. Combo guard Kianna Smith added 14 points and five rebounds, gradtransfer guard Recee Caldwell played a fantastic floor game and had nine assists, and the Bears limited Channon Fluker to seven points on 3-of-12 shooting and five rebounds.
Fluker, the reigning Big West Player of the Year, came into the game averaging 16.9 points and 13.3 rebounds.
She was no match for Anigwe, who scored Cal’s first 12 points to become the third player in program history to reach the 2,000-point milestone. Now at 2,019 points, the nation’s top back-to-the-basket player is chasing only Ashley Walker (2,142 points from 200609) and Colleen Galloway (2,320 points from 1978-1981) in the school’s record book.
“I’m really in a daze right now, just because I never imagined that I’d come here and have 2,000 points. That’s crazy,” said Anigwe. “I’m just really grateful for everyone around me. It hasn’t been easy, and this year, I’ve just seen so many people rally around me.”
That’s exactly what Cal did for Thomas after the game. The players huddled around her and tried to listen to the doctor, who couldn’t provide a medical update.
Smith led the team in a prayer, and then, Gottlieb finally got around to her postgame message.