Bears Fall to 11th-Ranked UCLA
LOS ANGELES – California women's basketball dropped their first road matchup of the season on Saturday, falling to No. 11 UCLA at Pauley Pavilion.
After missing the last two games, sophomore guard Leilani McIntosh made her presence felt, scoring each of the Bears' first six points. The Phoenix, Ariz., native went on to score eight points while contributing five rebounds, five assists, and two steals. Another bright spot for Cal was freshman center Sela Heide who scored six points (3-for-6), pulled down five rebounds and blocked a career-best five shots. Her five blocks are the most by a Cal player in a game since Jan. 11, 2019 when Kristine Anigwe collected seven against Arizona. Heide now leads the team with 10 blocks on the season. Meanwhile, freshman forward Dalayah Daniels recorded her second career double-double with a team-leading 14 points and ten boards while playing all 40 minutes.
"Dalayah is staying positive and is putting out a ton of energy and effort which helps her because she's extremely skilled and talented," head coach Charmin Smith said. "When we get her to slow down a bit mentally and settle in, I think we'll see her shooting percentage go up."
As a team, the Bears continued to perform well on the boards against UCLA, outrebounding the Bruins 22-18 on the defensive end while matching their 41 overall rebounds. Cal also committed just 12 personal fouls after entering the game ranked first in the Pac-12 and 22nd in the country with an average of 13.8.
"We're seeing some bright spots," Smith said. "Sela was a bright spot today and Michelle continued to show her aggressiveness, but I need more, and everyone on the same page at the same time if we're going to have success on Monday."
Cal will remain in SoCal this weekend as they prepare for their next matchup on Monday, Dec. 21 against USC at 2pm PT. The game will be broadcast on Pac-12 Networks.