Winter

Beginning with the Super 16, the Jan. 7 meet that opened the season for the Bears, the team put the recipe to use as they emerged victorious against Iowa, Arizona and BYU, taking home several accolades: first in their session, second overall and a program high season-opening 197.475.

A breakthrough in their sights, the Bears hit the road for a weekend in Southern California — only to revel in frustration by its conclusion.

After allowing Washington State to come back and defeat them in overtime, the Bears return to Berkeley for two games against conference rivals from Oregon.

In addition to winning its session and posting its highest season-opening score ever, Cal had the second-highest score in Las Vegas, behind only No. 1 Oklahoma.

Despite late-game heroics from senior point guard Leilani McIntosh and Stephen Curry cheering from the sideline, Cameron Brink’s outstanding double-double earned Stanford the nail-biting 60-56 victory.

The game remained relatively close until the midway point of the second half, when Cal’s perimeter savviness just proved to be too much for the visiting team to handle.

Although the blue and gold fell to Utah in an ugly performance, they were able to bounce back in a historic way over Colorado to ring in the new year right and pick up their second victory of the season.

The Bears were ruthless in their domination of the Spartans, winning by a final margin of 180 to 66.5.

Pac-12 play has officially begun and the Bears learned exactly why Stanford is the No. 2-ranked team in the nation. The blue and gold look to earn their first Pac-12 win before 2022 closes as they face the Wildcats.