The California Golden Bears managed to fight their way back from a 17-point first half deficit to beat the Oregon State Beavers 58-56 in front of a home crowd ready to celebrate their seniors on Senior Day.

A few Swish Appeal regulars were at the game sitting with folks from SB Nation's California Golden Blogs, so for now we'll defer to norcalnick for a summary of the action and a brief assessment of how important senior guard Layshia Clarendon was

...the reason that Layshia Clarendon is the MVP of this team is because when nothing else is working, they can give her the ball and she will go to work.

I've never seen Cal just hand her the ball and let her break down the offense herself so frequently. But it was absolutely the right decision. She finished with 26 points, 18 of them coming in the second half when the offense was "give the ball to Layshia, set a screen, and maybe grab a rebound if Layshia actually misses." It worked to perfection.

After the game there was an absolutely outstanding Senior Day ceremony at Memorial Stadium's University Club, which included beautiful video tributes to Cal's four seniors (and free food, which was awfully tasty). We'll have more on the game and the post-game ceremony later.

For more on Cal, visit CGB's women's basketball section.