Radovic leads Cal in scoring again

January 24, 1998

OAKLAND, CA--The California women's basketball team gave Washington State all it could handle, but the Cougars, who got a combined 41 points from the twin tower tandem of Alke Dietel and Yvonne Kunze, had just enough to escape with a 72-65 victory at the Kaiser Arena Saturday afternoon. The win improved Washington State to 9-7 overall, 3-4 Pac-10, while Cal dropped to 5-12 overall, 1-6 Pac-10.

For the sixth consecutive game and the ninth time this season, freshman guard Masa Radovic led Cal in scoring with 18 points. Three other Golden Bears, Paige Bowie (13), Amber Lacey (12) and Kenya Corley (10) also notched double figures in scoring for Cal which has now lost its last five games.

"Although we didn't win I saw what I needed to see in this game," Cal head coach Marianne Stanley said. "I'm not looking at the final result solely in this game. One of the things we've been struggling with is perimeter scoring and we scored well from the outside tonight. That's one of the most encouraging things I've seen in weeks."

Cal started off strongly behind the inside play of Lacey who tallied four points in the game's opening two minutes. But the Bears soon dug themselves a hole as Washington State used a 13-2 run to forged a double-digit lead for the first time in the game at 16-6 with 13:05 remaining in the first half.

Midway through the opening 20 minutes, the Bears responded with a 10-1 run of their own and with steady backcourt play from Radovic and Corley, narrowed the Cougar advantage to only two points at 32-30 at halftime.

Cal came out of the locker room in the on fire. Marie Flosom drained the Bears first three-pointer of the game on Cal's opening possession of the second half and Cal found itself with its first lead at 33-32 since the 17:58 mark of the first half. Two minutes later a Radovic jumper gave Cal its largest lead of the game at 39-36.

But Washington State was able to answer and with the scored tied at 42 and 13:20 remaining in the game, the Cougars outscored the Bears 23-9 over the next 9:21 to take an 11 point lead, all but sealing the victory.

Cal, which entering the contest had connected on only 13 three-pointers all season, hit three in the final 1:13 to slice into the Washington State advantage. But it was too little too late for the Bears and the Cougars escaped with the 72-65 win.

"Overall I saw a lot of encouraging signs out of our team," Stanley said. "Although there a things we still need to work on, there are light years of difference between the way we've been playing the last two weeks, how we played Thursday and how we played tonight."

Freshman Lauren Ashbaugh led the Bears on the glass with eight rebounds, while for the second game in a row, Bowie led Cal in assists, dishing out five of the Bears 15.

Cal will try to end its current five game slide when the Bears travel to Arizona for a Pac-10 road contest on Thursday, Jan. 29.

BOX SCORE

Washington State  (72)--

Dietel    9-17 0-0  21,
Evans     2-4  0-0   4,
Kunze     8-16 4-6  20,
Lamb      4-8  3-6  13,
Nyseth    0-0  0-0   0,
Kerns     0-2  2-2   2,
Volkman   0-1  0-1   0,
Rubio     0-4  0-0   0,
Smith     4-4  0-0  12,
Quinton   0-0  0-0   0,
Harrod    0-0  0-0   0.
Totals   27-56 9-14 72.

California (65)--
Bowie       5-12  1-2  13,
Folsom      2-10  2-2   7,
Lacey       6-10  0-0  12,
Johnson     0-10  3-4   3,
Radovic     7-11  3-3  18,
Leander     0-2   0-0   0,
Churchill   0-0   0-0   0,
Corley      5-9   0-0  10,
Ashbaugh    0-2   2-4   2,
Inoue       0-3   0-0   0.
Totals     25-69 11-15 65.

Halftime- Washington State 32, California 30.
Fouled Out - None.
3-Point Baskets -
WSU 9-16 (Dietel 3-5, Lamb 2-6, Volkman 0-1, Smith 4-4),
Cal 4-9 (Bowie 2-4, Folsom 1-2, Johnson 0-1, Radovic 1-1, Corley 0-1).
Rebounds - WSU 41 (Kunze 12), Cal 37 (Ashbaugh 8).
Assists - WSU 16 (Kerns 5), Cal 15 (Bowie 5).
Total Fouls - WSU 17, Cal 17.
Techinal Foul - Cal bench first half. Attendance 575.