Cal's Anigwe puts up huge game in regular season finale
NEW YORK (AP) — Cal's Kristine Anigwe put on a show in her final regular-season game.
The senior forward had 32 points and 30 rebounds for her 30th straight double-double on Sunday in an 80-58 win over Washington State.
She's the first player in Division I women's basketball to have over 30 points and rebounds in a game since Jennifer Butler did it for UMass in 2002.
"The incredible thing is that in the course of the game it didn't feel like an historic performance," Cal head coach Lindsay Gottlieb said. "It just felt like Kristine being Kristine and what she's done all year. Her ability to pursue every rebound has become the norm, so it was pretty cool to see her put up numbers that hadn't been put up in a long time. Her performance today was pretty unbelievable to close out the regular season, but it really speaks to the incredible season that she's had. It's become customary for her to do extraordinary things."
Anigwe, who leads the nation in rebounding, tied the Pac-12 Conference single-game record and had eight more rebounds than the entire Cougars team. She finished the regular season topping 20 points and 20 rebounds in a game five times. She also broke the school single-game rebounding record by four, previously held by Gennifer Brandon.
Deborah Temple of Delta State holds the NCAA Division I single-game record of 40 rebounds in a game, set against UAB on Feb. 14, 1983. Only six players in women's D-I history have topped Anigwe's 30-rebound performance. Anigwe joined five others to reach 30 rebounds.
Anigwe wasn't the only player to have huge day Sunday. Notre Dame junior Jackie Young stole the spotlight from the seniors by recording her second triple-double of the season in a win over Virginia. She had 22 points, 10 rebounds and 11 assists off the bench as Irish coach Muffet McGraw elected to start walk-on Maureen Butler on Senior Day. Young, who had a triple-double earlier this season at Tennessee and missed another by two rebounds last Monday at Syracuse, replaced Butler at the 2:04 mark.
"Jackie wanted to steal the thunder today," McGraw said after the Fighting Irish (27-3, 14-2 Atlantic Coast Conference) won a share of the regular-season title with No. 3 Louisville for the second straight year, but will be the No. 1 seed in the ACC Tournament this week. "Just a great day off the bench. Jackie so willingly gave up her start and then came in and had the best game of her season."
Young's triple-double was the first by a Notre Dame reserve since Marina Mabrey did it in 2015, her freshman year, against Valparaiso.
Here are other tidbits from the week:
STAT SHEET STUFFING: Yale junior guard Roxy Barahman is in a class by herself. She's the only player in the Ivy League to be in the top 12 in points, rebounds, assists and steals. She has helped the Bulldogs put themselves in a position to qualify for the conference's postseason tournament, which Yale is hosting this year.
SUSPENDED: Georgia Tech women's basketball coach MaChelle Joseph was placed on leave Wednesday.
School officials said she was placed on leave due to a "pending personnel matter." According to Joseph's lawyer on Thursday, Joseph has not been told why she was suspended and is left to assume the action is retaliation for her concerns about gender equity matters.
Assistant coach Mark Simons has served as acting head coach in the two games since.
Tech lost both its game since the coaching change — to Miami and Florida State. The team was also missing starting guards Kierra Fletcher and Francesca Pan for what has been termed personal reasons.
HALL OF FAME HONORS: UConn retired Rebecca Lobo's No. 50 in a ceremony at halftime of the Huskies win over Houston on Saturday. Lobo helped UConn to its first national championship in 1995 and was enshrined in the Naismith Basketball Hall of Fame last year.
MAMBA WATCHING: Kobe Bryant brought his 12-year-old daughter Gianna, a UConn fan, to the game. The former Lakers star also was in the stands when UConn played at UCLA last season and attended the team's loss to Notre Dame in the Final Four. He also broke down some UConn tape for senior forward Katie Lou Samuelson, when she was back home in California last summer, giving her pointers on where she could improve her game.
"He's gotten to know these guys through a lot of different things," UConn coach Geno Auriemma said. "He was looking forward to coming up here and making it a daddy-daughter kind of trip, just the two of them. That's why we didn't make such a big deal about it. But, obviously, that was a big deal in a lot of ways."
