BERKELEY, Calif. The University of Nevada women’s basketball team fell to the ninth-ranked Cal Bears, 67-53, Sunday afternoon at Haas Pavilion in Berkeley, Calif. With the loss, the Pack falls to 1-1 this year while the Bears improved to 2-0.
Cal jumped out to a 6-0 lead, all on free throws, with 16:48 remaining in the first half. The Bears went up 8-0 with 16:17 left on Ashley Walker’s jumper before Johnna Ward hit the Pack’s first field goal of the game cutting the lead to 8-2 on the next possession.
Cal went up 16-6 on a fast break shot by Walker with 12:16 remaining in the half. The Pack cut the Bears’ lead to 16-9 on a fast-break lay up by Marissa Hammond off a pass from Dellena Criner. Hammond was fouled on the play and converted the three-point play.
Hammond’s lay up cut the Bears’ lead to 18-11 before Cal went on a 10-0 run and took a 28-11 lead with 3:58 remaining in the first half. Ward hit a pair of three pointers to cut Cal’s lead to 28-17 with just under two minutes remaining the first half.
The Bears, who took a 31-17 lead at the half, shot 32 percent from the floor in the first half while the Pack shot 30 percent. Cal went 10-for-13 from the free throw line while the Pack went 1-for-1. Ward led Nevada at the half with eight points while Walker led all scorers at the half with 11 points.
The Pack came out in the second half and cut Cal’s lead to 10, 33-23, with just over two minutes gone in the second half. The Pack and Bears traded baskets midway through the second half, with Nevada cutting Cal’s lead to nine on a few occasions, before Cal went up 42-32 in a lay up by Casey Morris with 11:44 left in the game.
Cal extended its lead to 54-38 on jumper by Alexis Gray-Lawson with 8:12 left in the game. Megan Cherry’s three pointer cut Cal’s lead to 60-50 with 4:07 left in the game but Cal took control down the stretch, posting a 67-53 win.
Ward led Nevada with 14 points while Hammond added eight. Franklin recorded six rebounds while Moore added five. Walker led Cal with 27 points and 17 rebounds while Gray-Lawson added 15.
The Pack ended the game shooting 40 percent from the floor (20-of-49) while the Bears shot 34 percent (23-of-67).
Nevada will continue its stretch of five games in 10 days, hosting BYU at Lawlor Events Center Tuesday night at 7 p.m.
