After two convincing performances at home, the Hornets fell short of three in a row after the California Golden Bears reclaimed their territory in the fourth quarter.
After winning the tipoff with an intercepting grab from junior guard Natalie Picton, the offense rolled to a 7-2 start.
The early scoring separation came from a defensive performance matching that of the first two games. The defending Hornets swarmed the Bears, building an invisible curtain that the offense had no choice but to run into.
The Hornets fell back to earth after the Bears recouped after a timeout and came out raining threes to reignite the fans in Haas Pavilion.
Sac State’s offense began to plateau too. Cal forced numerous shot clock violations, keeping the Hornets close to the logo and swamping Picton and redshirt senior guard Benthe Versteeg in multiple possessions.
The Hornets attempted to counter with screens but Cal was ready, meeting any drive with collapsing double teams.
“Their guards really started hitting the glass hard,” head coach Aaron Kallhoff said.
Cal upheld the double team throughout the contest, pinching the Hornets defense in the paint. Cal’s frontcourt used their size and physicality to win the rebounding battle and clogged the driving lanes. As the lead flickered between both teams, junior forward Keanna Salave’a’s threes shone bright.
Salave’a contributed to 12 points against Cal, her all-time scoring record at the college level.
“Threes are most definitely in my bag,” Salave’a said. “They told me to shoot it when I’m open and that propelled me to take the shots.”
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Both Salave’a and Versteeg led the team with 12 points apiece.
Versteeg relied on muscling through congested lanes, finding the rim and floating the ball through the nylon.
The Hornets began to adapt to the lengthy possessions Cal forced them into.
Versteeg was able to get up and through the net before the buzzer went off to prevent the Hornets from a larger deficit.
“We want to fight,” Versteeg said. “We showed our fight for a long time.”
As the lead fluctuated with threes and foul calls from both teams, the Bears took off and didn’t look back in the fourth.
Cal stuck to their defensive guns, doubling Versteeg and Picton while drawing fouls in the paint on Sac State’s side of the court.
This intensity didn’t let up late as Cal scored 29 points in the final quarter, scoring 20 of their total fourth quarter points in the paint. The Bears’ paint dominance built a lead that was insurmountable for the Hornets to rally a comeback, solidifying the game at 69-52.
During the tail end of the game, Kallhoff grew animated by the sideline, audibly arguing with the referees on calls that he said should have been double-dribbling and traveling.
“I’m going to fight for my kids all the time,” Kallhoff said. “I’m gonna fight for them because they’re out there fighting.”
Within the corridors of the visiting locker room, Versteeg said there was a lot of positivity to come from the loss. Kallhoff and his squad continue the fight on the coastline against UC San Diego on Wednesday, Nov. 12 at 6 p.m.
“I think it’s too bad that we broke down, but that’s fixable. We know what we can fix and that’s what we’re gonna learn from,” Versteeg said.
