PULLMAN, Wash. The California women’s basketball team got a huge effort from its bench to come away with a 66-59 road win at Washington State Friday night in Pullman, Washington at Beasley Coliseum. The win gave the Bears (14-10, 4-8 Pac-12) their first season sweep against the Cougars (15-9, 4-7) since the 2018-19 season and their first Pac-12 road win since they beat Arizona State on Feb. 10, 2023.

“I thought it was a really great team effort,” Cal head coach Charmin Smith said. “I'm really proud of how we played. It's great to get our first Pac-12 road game. I feel really good about the team.”

Michelle Onyiah posted her first double-double of the season with 15 points (on 6-of-8 shooting) and 10 rebounds, but it was Ila Lane and McKayla Williams who provided significant contributions off the bench with their best offensive games of the conference season. Williams scored 14 points, which included 4-of-5 from beyond the arc, and Lane added 12 points on an efficient 5-of-7 from the field. Both point totals were conference-season highs and Williams’ four triples matched her career-high.

“Michelle has been doing a really good job and we have to give her breaks and Ila just stepped in and continued right where Michelle left off,” Smith said. It was a big difference maker in the game. And KK [Williams] was just super aggressive. This is what we want for her. This is what we know she's capable of. She took matters into her own hands and got to the basket and made shots and that's what we need.”

Cal jumped out to a 7-0 lead early in the first quarter powered by a Ioanna Krimili triple and a pair of layups from Onyiah. The Cougars responded with a 6-0 run to get within one point before Kemery Martín hit a layup at the 3:48 mark. Washington State went on another 6-0 run to end the quarter with a 14-10 lead heading into the second period.

The Bears opened the second quarter with a 7-0 run to take a 17-14 lead at the 8:33 mark. Williams nailed a 3-pointer to extend the run to 12-2 and give Cal a 22-16 lead. Onyiah hit a layup with 1:42 to go followed by a Williams triple to give the Bears their largest lead of the game up to that point at 33-20. Cal would go into the locker room with a 33-23 lead. Williams and Lane paced the Bears with eight points each in the half.

The Cougars used a 6-0 run to cut the deficit to six points at the 6:15 mark, but Onyiah hit a layup and Martín drilled a triple to fuel a Cal 8-0 run to build the Bears’ lead back up to 14 points at the 3:28 mark.  Williams stayed perfect from beyond the arc hitting her fourth triple of the game with 1:51 to go in the quarter and Cal took a 52-38 lead heading into the final frame.

Cal extended its lead to 18 points at the 7:23 mark on back-to-back triples from Leilani McIntosh and Krimili.  The Cougars went on a stretch of six straight field goals to get within eight points at the 2:24 mark before McIntosh was able to get a steal and find Onyiah for a fastbreak-layup to put the Bears back up 10 points with under two minutes to go. Down just eight points, the Cougars got fouled on a 3-point attempt with 34 seconds left but only converted 1-of-3 and were not able to get any closer.

Washington State was led by Eleonora Villa’s 17 points.

NEXT UP

Cal stays on the road to take on Washington on Sunday at noon PT.