Johnson Has Career Night But Huskies Fall 69-60 at No. 24 Cal

Friday, January 12

Berkeley, CA

8:00 PM

University of Washington

6-10, 0-5Pac-12

California

12-4, 3-2Pac-12

Washington

California

Photo by: Red Box Pictures

Johnson Has Career Night But Huskies Fall 69-60 at No. 24 Cal

January 12, 2018 | Women's Basketball

Box Score

BERKELEY, Calif. --- Hannah Johnson had a career night, recording her first collegiate double-double with 13 points and a team-high 11 rebounds but it wasn't enough for Washington to pull off the upset as the Huskies fell 69-60 at No. 24 Cal on Friday night at Haas Pavilion.

Washington (6-10, 0-5 Pac-12) battled hard in its third-straight road game against a top 25 team. After a rough start saw the Huskies fall behind by double-digits in the first quarter, UW rallied and was able to tie the game just before the half.

Cal again pulled away with a long run in the third quarter, but Washington answered back with an 8-0 run to tie things up again late in the third. But the Golden Bears (12-4, 3-2 Pac-12) opened the fourth with back-to-back buckets and used a late 8-3 run to pull away over the final minutes to avoid the upset.

Johnson was impressive in the low post, going against one of the top post players in the country in Kristine Anigwe. Johnson went 5-of-9 from the field including hitting three from three-point range for 13 points. She added 11 rebounds including five on the offensive glass, better than the 10 rebounds Anigwe had in tw more minutes played.

But the Huskies could not compete with Cal's size inside as Anigwe (6-4) had 26 points with Panina Davidson (6-3) adding 18 points and nine boards. The Golden Bears held a 40-14 edge in the paint.

Amber Melgoza had a team-high 15 points for the Huskies with six assists and five rebounds while Mai-Loni Henson added 13 points off the bench.

Cal got the drop on the Huskies early in the game as Anigwe scored the first six Bear points followed by a fastbreak three by Asha Thomas to take a 9-2 lead just two minutes in. Cal kept up its strong shooting, hitting 10-of-12 over the first seven minutes of the game including a stretch of eight-straight made buckets. After that, Washington was able to clamp down as Cal made just one of its final six from the field, but the Huskies could not capitalize, hitting just two of its final 10 shots of the period.

Things changed for Washington in the second quarter as the Huskies defense clamped down and held Cal to just seven points. After the Bears hit two of their first three shots in the period, Washington's defense sparked an 11-1 run over the next 6:33 to tie the game at 29-29. Over that stretch, Cal went without a field and saw Anigwe pick up her third foul at the 4:05 mark. The Bears would close the half with a bucket to take a slight two-point edge at the break.

Washington opened the second half on fire, using an 8-2 run over the first 2:30 to take a 37-33 lead. But Cal came alive and used an extended 15-3 run to go up 48-40 with 3:42 left in the period. The Huskies answered back with back-to-back three pointers by Johnson and Henson then a pair of free throws by Melgoza to tie the game back up at 48-48. Cal would close the quarter with a bucket and a last second shot by the Huskies fell short to make it 50-48 at the end of 30 minutes.

The Golden Bears extended the lead back to six with a pair of buckets to open the fourth quarter. But the teams exchanged buckets over the next four minutes with Kayla Rooks pulled the Huskies to within four with a three-pointer to make it 59-55 with 3:49 to play. Cal would answer with a 10-4 run over the next three minutes to pull away for the win.
Despite hitting 40 percent from the field in the second half, the Huskies were able to make just 4-of-12 shots over the final quarter. Cal closed the game hitting 7-of-12 in the final quarter, capping a 50 percent second half.

Washington closes out its trip to the Bay area on Sunday, facing Stanford at 3:00 p.m.