STANFORD – Three appearances. Fifteen years. One recent Pacific-10 swoon. And exactly how many knee injuries have the Golden Bears sustained between NCAA Tournament victories? This is Cal.
This is how it happens.
One step forward, one bent knee backward.
Joanne Boyle's club still can't catch a break. They break bones, tear tendons, shred ligaments. They lose elite prospects to more established programs. Saturday, they earned their second NCAA Tournament win and their first since 1993 – defeating San Diego 77-60 in the opening round at Maples Pavilion – only to have the thrill of victory tempered by the agony of another fallen teammate.
"We have been in this situation before on a couple of occasions," noted Boyle, anticipating the absence of key reserve Rama N'diaye, who injured her knee while diving for a loose ball. "People have stepped up. We rotated people into different positions."
She made it sound so simple, so reasonable, so possible. But she went to Duke. She knows better. The loss of the long-limbed, athletic N'diaye makes Cal's already thin roster downright skinny. It also further burdens Ashley Walker and Devanei Hampton, the muscular frontcourt stars who tormented the Toreros for 21 and 22, points, respectively.
If it wasn't the 6-foot-1 Walker, bouncing off defenders for feathery jumpers, eight-foot bank shots or scoring off putbacks – Boyle refers to her as "guard-like with post moves" – it was the 6-3 Hampton, burrowing into the lane and extending her arms, and with pleading eyes as much as aggressive demeanor, demanding the ball for layups, half-hooks, three-point plays.
"We don't play finesse the way most of the Pac-10 teams are described," said Hampton, an Oakland native who has overcome her own major knee surgery and still wears a clunky protective brace. "I like to get in there and bang. I played with guys growing up, and for a long time, I thought I was the only girl who played. I feel like I can play against anybody, and when Ashley and I get going like this, we're tough to stop."
The Toreros zoned, pressed, double-teamed. They scrapped, they hustled, they went small, they went big. But they had no answer for Walker and no counter to Hampton.
Then again, who does? If the bad news Bears could make a jump shot against George Washington, they would reach the Sweet 16 and finally announce their long-awaited national presence. Indeed, given their late-season slump, coupled with all the other adversity they continue to experience, a victory over the Colonials would be nothing short of revolutionary.
This is the same Cal team, remember, that led the Pac-10 for most of the season and established school records for victories and rankings, only to relinquish the conference title and postseason tournament finale to archrival Stanford.
Compounding the Bears' recent woes, Boyle, who is completing her third season in Berkeley after rejecting overtures from her alma mater, recently was stung by her failure to sign any of the elite prospects she had targeted. This, a year after losing Vicki Baugh of Sacramento High School in the final hours to Tennessee.
Boyle's hope was that a strong finish and solid NCAA appearance by Cal, which only weeks ago appeared on the cusp of joining the too-few West Coast powers, would provide much-needed recognition and credibility, particularly with the region's prep prospects.
Now this. Another knee injury. Another obstacle. Another year of staring up at Stanford. And only one more season with local standouts Hampton, Walker (Modesto) and Alexis Gray-Lawson, the former Oakland Tech star who missed last year's tournament with – of course – a knee injury.
"We have our goals," Hampton insisted stubbornly. "We're not finished."
The Bears, they can only hope.
Call The Bee's Ailene Voisin, (916) 321-1208.
