By Morris Phillips

BERKELEY, CA–Ioanna Krimili and Lulu Twidale combined for 12 made 3-pointers, and Cal blew past Temple 89-63 in the championship game of the Raising The B.A.R. Invitational on Sunday night.

The Bears finished non-conference play 13-1, their best showing since 2017, ahead of their first ever ACC road trip that starts at Clemson on January 2.

“I thought this Temple team was really good and shot the ball well in the first half,” coach Charmin Smith said. “We just had to keep pushing and pushing, and we were finally able to bust through. This is a good game for us being a little shorthanded and having people step up to do a really good job to get a great win.”

The Bears play without starter 6’3″ Marta Suarez for a second, consecutive game, but there was little slippage offensively or defensively, as Cal broke open a close game with a hot-shooting third quarter that ended with Cal up 69-48.

The Bears combined 16 made threes with a 50-25 advantage in rebounds that created a blowout from what was a close game at halftime. Temple of the American Athletic Conference was picked to finish eighth in the 13-team league’s preseason poll. The Owls fell to 6-5 with the loss after they beat Xavier 66-51 in Saturday’s opening round.

“Towards the second half, we just weren’t crashing the boards enough. They definitely outrebounded us. It was a big margin,” Owls coach Diane Richardson said.

Tristen Taylor led Temple with 17 points on 7 of 10 from the floor. Three other players, Jaleesa Molina, Tiarra East and Anissa Rivera, contributed eight points each.

Cal got 20 each from Krimili and Twidale. Kayla Williams added 17. The Bears also beat Fordham 69-53 on Saturday in the tournament’s opening round.