BearTalk

The Cal women were knocked out of the NCAA tournament by top-seeded Notre Dame, falling 73-62 after playing the host team to a halftime standoff.

Layshia Clarendon, the all-Pac-12 junior guard, had 17 points but the Bears (25-10) sabotated themselves with 19 turnovers.

Rashanda Gray had 15 points off the bench for Cal.

“I think Notre Dame feeds of the crowds and gets better. I didn’t feel like our mistakes came from panic. I think it came when the other team was able to do things that rattle you,” said Cal coach Lindsay Gottlieb, whose team had 12 second-half turnovers after fighting the Irish to a 31-all standoff at the break.

“There is no question we got a little bit rattled and made some mistakes that changed the tempo of the game at the beginning of the second half.”

Notre Dame scored 24 points off Cal turnovers.

Natalie Novosel made 18 of 20 free throws and led the Irish (32-3) with 28 points. All-America point guard Skylar Diggins scored 21 points.

TIPOFF: No. 8 seed Cal (25-9, 13-5 Pac-12) vs. No. 1 Notre Dame (31-3, 15-1 Big East) in NCAA tournament second-round game at South Bend, Ind., Tuesday, 4 p.m. TV: ESPN2.

GAME THEME: The Bears hope to advance to the Sweet 16 round of the NCAA tournament for the first time since 2009. Cal will have to hurdle top-seeded Notre Dame on its home floor, where the Irish are 16-1 this season. The Bears and Irish have met just once, with Notre Dame posting a 62-59 victory in a 2007 NCAA first-round game at Pittsburgh. 

NOTES: The Irish feature 5-foot-9 junior guard Skylar Diggins (16.7 ppg, 3.1 rpg, 5.7 apg, 2.6 steals), one of the nation’s top all-around players. Diggins has totaled more than 400 points, 100 assists and 75 steals three seasons in a row . . . Notre Dame’s only losses were to Baylor, West Virginia and UConn . . . Notre Dame beat Liberty 74-43 on its first-round game . . . Cal advanced to the second round with an 84-74 win over Iowa in which junior guard Layshia Clarendon had 16 points and freshman guard Brittany Boyd had 15 points, eight assists, six rebounds and six steals. Her eight assists were the most-ever by a Cal player in an NCAA game.

The Cal women got 16 points from junior guard Layshia Clarendon and 15 points, eight assists and six steals from freshman Brittany Boyd in an 84-74 victory over Iowa in an opening-round NCAA tournament game at South Bend., Ind.

The eighth-seeded Bears (25-9) will take on top seed Notre Dame (31-3) on its home floor in a second-round game Tuesday.

Cal outrebounded Iowa 41-29 and had 19 offensive boards.

TIPOFF: No. 8 seed Cal (24-9, 13-5 Pac-12) vs. No. 9 Iowa (19-11, 11-5 Big Ten) in NCAA tournament at South Bend, Ind., Sunday, 9:10 a.m. TV: ESPN2.

Click here for the game advance on our website and in Sunday’s editions.

GAME THEME: The Bears make their eighth all-time venture into the NCAA tournament under first-year coach Lindsay Gottlieb. Cal last played in the NCAAs in 2009, when it made it to the regional semifinals . . . The winner of the Cal-Iowa game advances to a Tuesday second-round game vs. either No. 1 seeded Notre Dame (30-3) or Liberty (24-8).

NOTES: None of the players on Cal’s roster have played in an NCAA tournament game, but four were on the 2010 team that won the NIT crown . . . The Bears and Hawkeyes have met twice, with Cal winning both times, in 1982 and 2009 . . . Cal is 1-1 this season against teams from the Big Ten, beating Illinois 80-56 and losing to Ohio State 77-75 . . . Iowa has not played since March 2. The Bears have had four games since then, winning two and losing two (both to Stanford).

Ultimately, the Cal women had no answer for Stanford star Nneka Ogumike, who scored 29 points in the Cardinal’s 77-62 win in the finals of the Pac-12 women’s tournament.

But the Bears will earn a spot in the NCAA tournament, and they can’t wait.

“It’s not the end for us,” Cal freshman Reshanda Gray said. “We’re still going to go dancing.”

First-year coach Lindsay Gottlieb said she believes the Bears (24-9) should be seeded as a No. 6 or 7 when the pairings are announced Monday.

“I think we’ve earned that,” she said. “I couldn’t be more proud of our effort today. I have pasasionate players and they’re disappointed because they want to win. They didn’t come here for second place.”

Layshia Clarendon scored 20 points for Cal and freshman Brittany Boyd added 13, including three 3-pointers in the first half that helped the Bears overcome an early 17-4 hole.

Ogwumike, named tournament MVP for the third time, tied a record with 71 points in the tournament and made her first three 3-point baskets of the season. Her sophomore sister Chiney set a record with 37 rebounds in three games.

“I think they might be the best frontcourt ever,” Gottlieb said, “and that was before Nneka starting hitting 3s from 30 feet.”

The public is invited to join the Cal women’s players and coaches for a viewing of the NCAA tournament selection show Monday at Pappy’s Grill at 2367 Telegraph Ave.

 The ESPN show will air from 4 to 5 p.m. but the pre-show party will begin at 3 p.m.

Cal sophomore Gennifer Brandon, who had 13 points and 15 rebounds in the Bears’ 64-49 win over Washington State in the Pac-12 tournament semifinals, broke the school’s single-season rebounding record in the process.

Brandon has 319 rebounds, two more than Ashley Walker totaled in 2007-08.

“She’s just an absolute monser on the glass,” Cal coach Lindsay Gottlieb said of Brandon. “When she wants to do that, I don’t know if there’s anyone who can keep her off the boards.”

Asked afterward why she rolls up the hem of her basketball shorts during games, Brandon explained,  ”I do it just to be comfortable in my uniform. I roll my shorts because I don’t like them to touch my knees.

“I don’t like to feel clothes, if that doesn’t sound weird . . . so I feel like I’m running with the wind.”

Brandon and the second-seeded Bears (23-8) take on top-seeded and No. 2 ranked Stanford (30-1) in Saturday’s tournament finale at the Staples Center.

TIPOFF: Cal (23-8, 13-5 Pac-12) vs. Washington State (13-19, 5-13) in Pac-12 tournament semifinals at Staples Center in Los Angeles, Friday, 2:30 p.m. TV: CSNBA.

GAME THEME: The No. 2 seed Bears got a break Thursday when No. 11 Washington State upset No. 3 USC 69-65 on the Trojans’ home floor at the Galen Center. USC had beaten Cal twice this season. The Bears toppled WSU 60-55 at Berkeley in their only meeting. Cal is playing in its sixth conference tournament semifinal, but won just once (2008) in the previous five tries.

NOTES: Cal survived some offensive woes to beat Colorado 68-59 in its quarterfinal game. All-Pac-12 guard Layshia Clarendon led the Bears with 12 points, but shot 4 for 13 . . . The Cougars feature senior guard Jazmine Perkins, a Berkeley HS grad, who had 12 points in the win over USC . . . WSU went winless in February and won just once between Jan. 5 and March 1, but now has beaten sixth-seeded Oregon State and the Trojans.

TIPOFF: Cal (22-8, 13-5 Pac-12) vs. Colorado (18-12, 6-12) at Galen Center in Los Angeles, Thursday, 5 p.m.

GAME THEME: The second-seeded Bears open Pac-12 tournament play with a quarterfinal matchup vs. the No. 10 Buffaloes, who knocked off No. 7 Utah 55-41 in a first-round game Wednesday . . . Cal beat CU twice this season, rallying from a 12-point second-half deficit to win 68-55 in Boulder, Colo., on Jan. 12, then routing the Buffs 68-43 in Berkeley on Feb. 25 . . . The winner advances to Friday’s semifinal against either No. 3 USC or Washington State.

NOTES: Cal junior guard Layshia Clarendon, a first-team all-Pac-12 pick, averaged 16.5 points in two wins over CU . . . Chucky Jeffery, a 5-10 junior guard, leads the Buffaloes with a 15.4 scoring average. A first-team all-conference selection, she scored at a 19.5 ppg clip in two games vs. the Bears . . . Colorado opened the season with a 12-0 record, including 11 nonconference wins, then lost four of five.

Cal junior guard Layshia Clarendon was named to the all-Pac-12 women’s first team today.

Brittany Boyd and Reshanda Gray of Cal were chosen to the five-player all-freshman squad, selected by the league’s 12 coaches.

Clarendon is the leading scorer (12.5 ppg) on a Cal team that finished second in the Pac-12. She already has topped 1,000 career points.

Stanford senior Nneka Ogwumike was named to the first team for the third straight season and repeated as Pac-12 Player of the Year.

Here’s the full release from the Pac-12.