Women take one step out of long shadow
Kai Felton knew 10 years was a long time. The 2013 Cal Final Four appearance didn't feel like it had happened yesterday, or even last year.
The exact passage of time hadn't struck her until she saw nearly a dozen children at the reunion at the Cornerstone beer hall in Berkeley on Saturday, the eve of an on-campus celebration.
“There were so many babies,” the longtime Cal assistant coach said. “And I have a 5-year-old, and they have these infants. They're all grown up now.”
A decade after the Cal women made their first and only Final Four, Felton remains an assistant, now to Charmin Smith, who has risen to head coach. Lindsay Gottlieb, the coach of that 2013 team, is now at USC — which played the Bears at Haas Pavilion on Sunday, allowing her to be on hand for the ceremonies.
Cal pulled off just its fourth win against a ranked team in the Smith era, an 81-78 overtime defeat of the then-No. 25 Trojans (19-8, 9-7 Pac-12), giving the current coach a victory against her mentor. The win was a bright spot in a rough few years since the start of the pandemic. Cal won just three Pac-12 Conference games combined in the preceding two seasons. The Bears have taken a step forward this year (13-14, 4-12) but still sit 10th in the conference.
“They're similar to my sophomore year team,” said Talia Caldwell, one of the 2013 starters in attendance. “They've been kind of struggling to hit that next level; you don't know what those things are until they happen.”
In 2019-20, Smith's first season, the Bears finished 12-19 and had pulled off an upset of Arizona State in the Pac-12 tournament. Then the pandemic struck and changed the trajectory of
the program. A 1-16 campaign the next season left the Bears depleted and wondering how to get back to the legacy 2013 brought them.
Jayda Curry came aboard for the 2021-22 season and became one of the top scorers in the conference. She has cited that 2013 run as memorable and part of the reason she wanted to play for Cal.
Layshia Clarendon, a leading force on that 2013 team, practiced off and on with the Bears this season before departing for the Athletes Unlimited season in Dallas. They flew in from the league's week one draft in time to be at Sunday's game. Few outsiders have the same perspective of this year's Bears.
“Definitely trying to instill in them what it takes to be good on
any given night,” Clarendon said. “The Final Four, the tournament, it's a lofty goal for anyone, but it takes a toughness every day to give yourself the opportunity.”
Clarendon, along with Caldwell, who was at practice on Saturday, tried to emphasize the value of having teams like 2013's and the ones before them that helped build the program.
Both Clarendon and Caldwell went on to play in the WNBA, along with fellow starter Brittany Boyd, who watched Sunday's upset at courtside with her infant, Philant.
“It's good to see everyone here,” Boyd said, her son clutched in her arm. “We're all getting older; it's good to see all the families here now.”
Clarendon (2013) and Boyd
(2015) were each chosen ninth overall in their respective WNBA drafts, Reshanda Gray went seven picks after Boyd, and Gennifer Brandon was a second-round pick in 2014. Since then, only two Cal players have been drafted: Mikayla Cowling (2018, third round) and Kristine Anigwe (2019, first round).
Cal hasn't been in the NCAA Tournament since 2019, after which Gottlieb went to the NBA's Cleveland Cavaliers.
Smith has pressed for her version of the Bears to be a team that goes into every game looking to outfight opposing squads. Given how tough Cal has played ranked teams this season — it has lost five games against ranked teams in which it led or trailed by three or fewer points in the fourth quarter — the win over USC was a rewarding way to end this year's home slate.
And many members of the program's most successful team were there to see it happen.
“We want them to learn accountability, like love each other enough where you can call each other out,” Caldwell said. “They have an amazing staff and resources here, but it's gonna be hard.”