By Brice Cherry

Tribune-Herald staff writer

Talk about your traveling violations.

The Baylor women’s basketball team was forced to cancel tonight’s game against 12th-ranked California due to snowy weather conditions in the Pacific Northwest.

As of Sunday night, the Lady Bears were holed up in a hotel in Portland, Ore., waiting for a break in the weather. But that break isn’t going to come soon enough for the team to get to Berkeley, Calif., home of Cal’s Golden Bears.

“The temperature is supposed to be bad again (Monday), and we just can’t get there,” Baylor coach Kim Mulkey said. “The safety of this basketball team is the most important thing. Right now, we’re at the mercy of the weather, the bus company and the airlines.”

Mulkey said the game with Cal wouldn’t be played this year, but she intends to reschedule it for a future season.

“We owe them one,” the coach said.

Following the seventh-ranked Lady Bears’ 81-71 victory over Oregon on Saturday night, the Baylor contingent bused from Eugene to Portland. But even that trip was more treacherous than usual.

“It’s usually a 2-and-a-half to 3-hour trip, but it took a lot longer than that,” Mulkey said.

The Lady Bears were originally scheduled to fly from San Francisco to Dallas on Tuesday, the day after the Cal game.

From there, the players were scheduled to hit connecting flights to their various hometowns for the Christmas holidays.

But as of Sunday night, the team’s travel plans are up in the air.

“We’re hoping to go south and get somewhere warmer, but the forecast right now doesn’t look good,” Mulkey said. “It’s a 10-hour bus trip to San Francisco under normal conditions.”

Mulkey said she couldn’t remember a game being canceled due to weather in all her years as a head coach, assistant or player.

“It’s a very unusual situation,” she said. “But there are some circumstances you can’t control.”