|
|
|
|
|
Cal women fall to Stanford again, Gray-Lawson injured
By Morris Phillips March 13, 2010 |
|||
|
|
|||
|
The newfangled “ribbon” board at the Galen Center posts statistics throughout the game. With the empty seats in the upper deck providing no distraction, Cal’s miserable shooting percentage was there for all to see. Like a bitterly cold winter day back East, Cal’s shooting never got above freezing. And then things got worse. Alexis Gray-Lawson, with time quickly running out on her collegiate career, fell hard to the court after her shot was blocked, suffering injuries to her neck and head. After 10 minutes of careful medical attention, she left the court with her neck immobilized on a stretcher. Gray-Lawson was then taken to a local hospital for precautionary tests. “When she went down, she hit her head pretty hard, but while we were out there, she was talking and moving,” Coach Joanne Boyle said. Five minutes later, Cal’s afternoon ended as did their faint NCAA tournament hopes. For the third time this year the Bears (18-13) were outclassed by the top-seeded Cardinal, 64-44, in the Pac-10 semifinals. And in each matchup—with Boyle using every wrinkle in her playbook to straighten out her club’s jump shots—the Bears’ shooting got progressively worse. In the conference opener, the Bears had their best shooting performance of three games at 36 percent, but committed 11 first half turnovers and couldn’t take advantage of Stanford’s early poor shooting in which they missed 14 shots in a row at one point. The young Bears lost that one by 21. Last week in the conference finale, the Bears battled early, but the basket got small again, with Cal shooting 28 percent and hitting just 1 of 9 from three. A big Haas Pavilion crowd, hoping for a season-changing upset, went home disappointed as the Bears fell by 15. And on Saturday, the wheels fell off as the Bears shot 25 percent, made one meaningless three in the second half, and never challenged Stanford after they fell behind by double digits less than 10 minutes in. This time the Cardinal came right at Gray-Lawson with Pac-10 defensive player of the year Rosalyn Gold-Onwude and another, often bigger defender nearby when Cal’s leader tried to get into the paint. With every empty possession, the younger Bears wilted, struggling to run their sets with any fluidity. Boyle complained that her team struggled with “just cutting hard and moving hard and setting screens, instead of just constantly catching the ball and watching.” Eventually, the missed shots took their toll on Cal as they couldn’t shake their funk even with Gray-Lawson sternly imploring them to keep their heads in the game. “It’s hard to get to the basket against them. They just do their homework and scout teams really well,” Cal’s Natasha Vital said. Only Gennifer Brandon, Cal’s energetic rebounder off the bench, made any headway. She led the Bears with 10 points and nine rebounds, but her teammates combined to shoot 15 for 55. Now Stanford (30-1) looks to make history, and it’s astounding that they have any history left to make. But the Cardinal have never gone through the entire conference regular season and tournament undefeated. Sunday, they’ll try to make it 21 in a row against conference competition and then head off to the NCAA’s with one goal, gaining an opportunity to take measure of undefeated Connecticut once again. For Cal, the WNIT is a likely destination, and for a program trying to grow, it provides a great opportunity, especially since the Bears would be highly seeded and be deserving of a couple of home games. The Bears need to grow quick with their young squad, especially since the Cardinal are unlikely to shrink to their level—or the level of the rest of the Pac-10--anytime soon. The Stanford-Cal rivalry continues to be one-sided in women’s basketball with Stanford winning 36 of the last 39 meetings. |
|||
|
|
|||
|
|
|||