California Sports Journal

Although the Bears (8-13, 2-10 PAC 10) came out strong in the first half and even led at one point by four, they couldn’t fend off the swarming Devils’ defense that turned up the heat in the second half. An 8-0 ASU run that straddled the closing minute of the first half and the opening minute of the second, showed a sign of what was to come. By the end of the game ASU (15-6, 7-4 PAC 10) had led Cal by as many as 29 points, more than the Bears scored in the entire first half.

Senior guard Kristen Iwanaga, one of the nation’s leading three-point shooters with 64 percent, said it best. "We were just kind of standing around."

It could be that the Devils were worried they would look weak in the lead up to their match against fourth ranked Stanford on Saturday. Or maybe they wanted to make it clear just how easy it was to sweep Cal for the second year in a row. Whatever the motivation was, it worked. Because when they hit the floor in the second half the Sun Devils either had a fire in the belly or a fear in their hearts.

The Devils’ coach Charlie Turner Thorn joked that she had let her players know she meant business.

"I told them I really don’t want to smack anybody. I am G-rated but I did joke with them. I told them about Woody Hayes at the end of his career and I told them I would be fired tomorrow if they didn’t do something."

Hayes was the infamous Ohio State football who lost his job after hitting a player.

Although the Devils don’t have to worry about being smacked, they did slap the Bears around throughout the second half. Things went from bad to worse for Cal after their top scorer Leigh Gregory caught her fourth foul with just under fifteen minutes left in the game. She sat out until the six-minute mark.

But by that time the Bears were already down by nine points. Horstmeyer defended herself when asked why she kept her top player out for almost ten minutes. She even stared this reporter down for suggesting it was a bad call. But she finally admitted she could have put her in earlier.

"Yeah, that was option," she said.

The Devils were hot throughout the second half shooting 83 percent from three-point range (5-6). Senior guard Kylan Loney dropped four of those, all in the second half.

"I was just happy that I was really in the flow and my teammates were finding me with my feet set," said Loney.

Cal should have dominated the ASU from the free throw line and three-point range. They are the PAC 10 leaders on both fronts (73.5, 42.1). Cal actually ranks third in the nation from three-point range. But the Devils’ shut out the Bears from the perimeter. Cal only took one three-pointer in the second half and shot 67 percent from the line with 11-15. The Devils hit a whopping 100 percent from the line, shooting 11-11.

The Devils spread the wealth, with three players chipping in more than fifteen points each. Leading them was Kristen Kovesdy, exploded in the second half, scoring 19 of her 21 points after the break. Loney and sophomore forward Emily Westberg both racked up 16 points for the night.

Cal was hoping that their leading scorer Leigh Cook would help them come back. But her high point of the game came before the tip off when Gregory received a commemorative ball for breaking the 1,000 point mark last month at Stanford.

But Gregory came in under season average of 12.5 ppg, scraping out 11 points in her 26 minutes on the court. Seven of those came in the first half.

Maybe the Cal women are chasing the Warriors. With their next matches against Arizona and Stanford the lady Bears might hit their stride with 10 losses.