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Women beat Latvian squad in exhibition 

The California women’s basketball team closed out its two-game exhibition slate with a 2-0 mark by defeating RTU Clondica, 80-62, Sunday at Haas Pavilion. RTU is now 0-7 on its collegiate tour. 

“Today was a good game for us because we saw a couple different things,” said Cal coach Caren Horstmeyer. “We saw a different type of athlete then what we had been seeing - tall, lanky...guards posting. We had to make some adjustments, and I thought our players handled that very well. I thought in particular Ami (Forney) and Courtney (Johnson) played very well today.  

“These two games have been good for our coaching staff because we need to see different combinations. We need to see who plays well together. Sometimes that’s hard to see in practice.”  

Senior guard Courtney Johnson led the Bears with a game-high 21 points on 7-of-14 shooting from the floor and 6-of-8 from the foul line. Junior center Ami Forney posted her second collegiate double-double with 15 points and a career-best 14 boards. Senior guard Kenya Corley also added 10 points.  

Inara Jakobsone led the Lativia team with 19 points, while Zane Teilane had 13 and Anete Brice contributed 10.  

Cal jumped out to a 21-11 lead with 6:03 remaining in the first half but couldn’t build its lead beyond 10 points. The Bears entered the locker room up six at 29-23 with Johnson leading her team with six points. RTU’s Teilane led all scorers with nine points.  

RTU got off to fast start in the second half, outscoring Cal 16-9 to grab its first lead at 39-38 (14:47) since holding a 5-4 edge (18:07). A three-pointer by Agnese Bransmane with 13:43 left in the game gave RTU its last lead of the contest at 44-41. That’s when Cal dug in defensively and went on a 17-0 run to lead 58-44 with 9:55 on the clock. During that critical run, Johnson posted seven points and sophomore forward Amber White added four.  

Cal held a 45-33 rebounding edge for the game and shot 46.7 percent from the floor, while holding the visitors to only 38.9 percent. The Bears shot 64.0 percent in the second half.  

Cal opens the regular season Friday, Nov. 17, at No. 7 Rutgers. Game time is at 7:30 p.m. ET. Sunday, Nov. 19, the Bears visit Fairfield at 2 p.m. ET. Cal’s home opener is Dec. 2 against Cal State Northridge in the Oakland Tribune Classic.  

No. 4 Cal water polo holds off No. 7 Pepperdine 

The No. 4 ranked California men’s water polo team (13-8, 5-3) defeated No. 7 ranked Pepperdine (11-10, 2-6), 7-6, Sunday at Spieker Aquatics Complex.  

The Bears were led by three goals from senior driver Eldad Hazor and two goals by senior driver James Lathrop. Junior Joe Kaiser and senior Jerry Smith also scored for Cal. Pepperdine was paced by Chris Tilden’s three goals and goalie Michael Soltis had 11 saves, including seven saves in the fourth period alone.  

Hazor scored the first two goals of the match, before the Waves were able to tie the contest, 2-2, on goals by Tilden and Sean Hylton towards the end of the first period.  

The Bears were able to gain a cushion when they outscored Pepperdine, 4-2, in the second and third periods.  

But after Cal’s Lathrop scored his second goal of the match with 2:19 left in the fourth period, the Waves came storming back on two quick goals by Tilden with 1:28 and 34 seconds left.  

Pepperdine actually had the ball with eight seconds to go in the match, but Bears goalie Tim Kates was able to knock the ball away on a lob shot as time expired.  

The Bears will next host Stanford in the Big Splash, Saturday, Nov. 18 at 10 a.m. at Spieker Aquatics Complex.  

Men’s soccer ends year with loss to UCLA 

The 18th-ranked UCLA men’s soccer team came from behind to defeat California, 3-1, in the regular season finale at Frank W. Marshall Field.  

Forward Cliff McKinley scored two goals to lead the Bruins, and forward McKinley Tennyson Jr had the other goal, plus one assist.  

Chris Roner put California on the board first at 31:26. After UCLA goalkeeper DJ Countess punched out a Leo Krupnik shot on goal, Roner fired in the rebound for his fourth goal of the year.  

The Bruins answered back quickly, as McKinley fired in a 15-yard shot just two minutes later.  

McKinley scored what proved to be the game-winning goal less than two minutes into the second period on assists from Tennyson and senior midfielder Shaun Tsakiris  

Tennyson fought hard for the game’s final goal at 76:32. After receiving a pass from Tony Lawson, he shook off a defender and fired the ball into the goal area. Cal goalkeeper Marco Palmieri tried to smother it, but the ball came loose just far enough for Tennyson to make the second effort and shoot it into the empty net from three yards out.  

UCLA outshot Cal, 22-13. Palmieri made nine saves for the Golden Bears, while Countess had four.