Kristine Anigwe had 22 rebounds and 18 points Saturday and the Cal Bears overcame a slow start to rout North Carolina 92-72 in their NCAA Tournament opener at Waco, Texas.
The Bears (20-12) will play Monday for a spot in the Sweet 16, against the host school and No. 1 seed Baylor (32-1), which beat Abilene Christian 95-38 after Cal’s win.
“They are a really good team,” North Carolina coach Sylvia Hatchell said of Cal. “They haveall the ingredients that it takes, and you know, because they have shooters and they have got size and they are athletic and can rebound like crazy. You know, shouldbe a good game Monday if Baylor wins.”
Hatchell threw a swarming defense at Anigwe, the 6-foot-4 senior star, and it worked for awhile. Cal trailed North Carolina 22-11 at the end of the first quarter, but had closed to within 40-37 by halftime. The Bears held UNC to 16 points in each of the last two quarters of the game, scoring 26 and 29 themselves.
“I thought they did a nice job on Kristine making her life difficult,” Cal coach Lindsay Gottlieb said. “She still ended up with 18 points and 22 rebounds, which just speaks to the year she’s had. But I think we needed everybody to step in and that’s what happened.”
Asha Thomas led the way with 19 points. Jaelyn Brown had 16 and CJ West came off the bench for 13 points and eight rebounds. Recee’ Caldwell had 12 assists.
“North Carolina came up with a really, really good game plan,” Anigwe said. “I was really grateful that my teammates came and like had my back. You know, it’s not like a one-player team. We needed effort from every single player on this team.”
The 92 points were a season high for the Bears. They did it with torrid shooting, particlularly in the second half when they shot 62 percent. For the game, the Bears were 33 of 63 (54 percent) from the floor, including 11 of 26 (42 percent) from the arc and 15 for 16 from the free throw line.
North Carolina finished 18-15.