University of Washington
California
Huskies Run Out Of Steam In Second Half At Cal
January 19, 2012 | Women's Basketball
Jan. 19, 2012
BERKELEY, Calif. - Few teams in the Pac-12 Conference boast California's combination of size and athleticism. And it was all on display Thursday night.
The Golden Bears shot 52 percent from the floor, doing most of their damage inside in a 71-47 win over the Huskies at Haas Pavilion. Cal scored 52 points in the paint, a season-high by UW opponents, led by 18 from center Talia Caldwell.
"Cal's a terrific team, and we didn't bring the right effort tonight in the second half," McGuff said. "That's a bad combination. Credit Cal, they're well-coached, but the bottom line is that we didn't do the right things to win."
Playing on the road on back-to-back weekends, the Huskies (10-6, 2-4) had an opportunity to build on the momentum from their gut-check win at Washington State. And with Regina Rogers healthy following her hamstring injury, the Dawgs had their leading scorer back in the fold following a one game absence.
But Cal had the personnel to counter Rogers' presence on the low block. The redshirt senior was harassed by a stream of double- and triple-teams, and scored just 13 points on 5-of-15 shots. Jazmine Davis scored 12 points in her return to the Bay Area, but also committed six turnovers. Davis had two dozen friends and family members in attendance, many of whom made the short trip over from San Jose.
In the first half, the Huskies were stymied by an inability to hit layups as Cal built a first half lead of 13 points. Washington's motion offense produced excellent looks, but saw its shots rattle in-and-out of the rim. Fortunately, Cal could not build on the margin and the Huskies cut the deficit to eight just before halftime.
The second half, though, was a completely different story. California shut off Rogers' looks inside and seemingly scored at will on the other end. The Golden Bears made 60 percent of their shots in the second half, 13 of which were layups.
"Our transition defense wasn't wear it needed to be," McGuff said. "They had good looks and converted them."
Life on the road doesn't get any easier for the Huskies, who will now travel across the Bay to face No. 4 Stanford. The Cardinal is coming off a 75-41 win over Washington State, and will welcome the Huskies to Maples Pavilion on Saturday at 2 p.m.
