Eight straight wins. The last four by double-digits. Three over nationally ranked teams. Twenty wins overall.

Like most coaches, Lindsay Gottlieb wants more. The No. 6 Bears committed 18 turnovers during their 66-53 win over Arizona State on Friday night. They missed five free throws. Their energy level wasn't always at optimal level.

If Cal is hitting its stride, Gottlieb wants it to be a sprint.

But the second-year coach does admit that when her team dictates the style of a game, the Bears tend to get the results they want.

"Of course, we respect all of our opponents, but I think we understand if we do the things we do well, it's going to produce results," Gottlieb said. "I think our players are buying into that. From a coaching perspective, you always want to do things better. You want to keep improving and correct your weaknesses. But I think our players embrace what we do well, and that gives us a lot of positive momentum. And in women's basketball, confidence is huge."

And confidence should be high for the Bears (20-2, 10-1 Pac-12). They negotiated the toughest part of their schedule - an eight-game stretch to begin the conference season that included five ranked opponents - by going 7-1. And the only team they lost to - Stanford - they ended up beating four days later. They are comfortably handling the teams they should handle and remain tied for first place in the Pac-12 standings. They only face one ore ranked opponent the rest of the regular season.

"Even with our wins, we think we should be doing better," said senior guard Layshia Clarendon, who led the Bears on Friday with 18 points. "But it's definitely better than last year, when we learned our lessons in losses instead of wins. But we're still critical. Our energy dragged tonight. There are things the fans don't see. We know internally we are always trying to be better every single game."

Gennifer Brandon had a double-double for the Bears with 10 points and 15 rebounds, her 12^th double-double this season and 27^th of her career. Brittany Boyd had 11 points, seven rebounds and five assists.

And it was a special night for senior Talia Caldwell. When she drained two free throws with 1:46 left in the first half, she became the 23^rd Cal women's basketball player ever to score 1,000 career points. Caldwell finished with 14.

"That's cool," Caldwell said. "I appreciate being able to play since my freshman year. A lot of great players don't get the opportunity to play their freshman year. I'm thankful I was part of the rotation."

There was also a milestone for Clarendon, who moved into eighth place on Cal's all-time scoring list with 1,560 points. It's been a big week for Clarendon, who earlier was named one of 10 finalists for the Senior CLASS Award and a midseason candidate for the Wade Trophy along with Brandon.

"I have homework due tomorrow," Clarendon said when asked to recap her week. "I'm really happy because it says 'California' on the bottom. The team is starting to get national recognition. I'm really happy Cal is rolling along. I've seen the program grow. It's exciting."