By Morris Phillips

You bring your shooters, we bring our shooters. That’s a scenario the Cal women prefer.

That scene materialized on a blustery, cold Thursday night at Virginia, and Cal capitalized with a crucial 76-70 road win over the host Cavaliers.

Ioanna Krimili made the most of what the Virginia defense offered with season highs in 3-point attempts (13) and makes (6). The graduate senior led Cal with 18 points along with Michelle Onyiah. Lulu Twidale had 15, and Kayla Williams 14 as the Bears starters spread the wealth from a scoring perspective.

Cal came roaring out of the locker room at halftime after a sluggish first half that saw them trailing 35-30. The turnaround was immediate with Cal scoring the first 17 points after the break to take their first 10-point lead of the night. Virginia responded at that point with a 12-point burst to get even, but Cal’s balanced attack won out in the fourth quarter.

“The beginning of the third quarter, they went on like a 17-0 run or something like that and you know that killed me,” Virginia coach Amaka Agugua-Hamilton said. “I think I called two timeouts during that time because we just weren’t clicking.”

The Bears (22-6, 10-5) now have their most wins in a season since 2017. They also moved closer to securing a first-round bye in the upcoming ACC Tournament in Greensboro, NC which takes place the second week of March.

Kymora Johnson led Virginia with 24 points. Paris Clark had 12 for the hosts, and Edessa Noyan added 11.

The Bears conclude their road swing at Virginia Tech on Sunday. The Hokies were involved but not resolved in the ACC game of the night, losing at home to Stanford, 75-74 in overtime.