Miami women’s basketball pulled away in the second quarter and held off the California Golden Bears in a 69-60 matchup on Sunday at the Watsco Center, extending their late season surge with three wins in a row.
Cal struck first, with an early 3-pointer from guard Gisella Maul. But the Hurricanes responded back right with a series of layups, but ended the quarter trailing the Golden Bears by one.
Miami then flipped the game in the second quarter. The Canes opened with a strong burst, getting a layup from Ra Shaya Kyle, then back-to-back buckets from Vittoria Blasigh and a jumper from Gal Raviv to build a 23-15 lead.
They kept stretching their lead with second chance points, with Ahnay Adams hitting a late 3-pointer to get the Canes to a 35-27 halftime lead.
After the break, Cal made a big push. They cut Miami’s lead to 35-33 on a three from Aliyahna Morris. Miami answered with a steady run inside, getting baskets from Adams, Kyle, and Natalie Wetzel to push the lead out.
Miami protected their 54-46 lead early in the fourth quarter, and went up by 11 after Kyle converted 3-point-play on a layup inside. Cal trimmed the deficit to 60-55 midway through, but Miami delivered the knockout stretch.
Raviv drilled a three, followed by another from Blasigh to push the lead back to 11. Cal got within seven again but the Canes closed it out at the line for the 69-60 win.
Kyle and Adams controlled much of the game for Miami. Adams finished with 10 points and six assists, while Blasigh added 12 and Raviv 14. Miami shot 50% from the field and hit seven out of ten from the 3-point line.
Miami head coach Tricia Cullop noted in the press conference after the game that the team has improved over the course of a year, but it’s still not enough.
“I don’t want us to be happy with that. I’m not happy that we don’t have more than that to this point. “ Cullop said, “But I want us to continue, want to get better, and head into the conference tournament on a really high note, feeling really good about what we were playing, and fixing things still that we’re not doing as well.”
The Canes play their final home game against Pitt on Thursday Feb. 26. Tip off is at 7 p.m.