Asha Thomas is shooting 47.7 percent from three-point range, a number that would impress even Stephen Curry.

But Cal’s sophomore point guard isn’t listed on the nation’s leaderboard, because she has hoisted only 44.

“I love to get my teammates involved,” Thomas said. “I don’t need to have the success on my individual part, as long as I get it for them. When they have success, I know I’m a part of it.

“I also know that there’s a balance.”

Thomas will try to continue that balancing act in Pac-12 play, starting Thursday at Arizona, after expertly walking the tightrope during Cal’s best-ever nonconference season.

The Bears are ranked No. 21 after completing the nonconference schedule at 12-0, including three wins in three days last week. Now, they enter Pac-12 play, where it will be decided whether they’re as good as they’ve appeared during the first seven weeks of the season.

“The Pac-12 is a great conference, and it will give you a reality check if you’re not ready,” Thomas said.

UCLA was tabbed as the league’s favorite by the media, with Stanford and Washington also getting first-place votes. Reigning Pac-12 co-champs Arizona State and Oregon State finished fourth and fifth.

Cal, after a 4-14 conference run last season, was sixth.

“Last year was a shock to me,” Thomas said. “I told my mom, ‘I’m not used to this.’ I would cry sometimes. I would get frustrated. But, sometimes you need to be uncomfortable to get to higher levels.

“We don’t want to look back. We don’t want to go back.”

Thomas need look back only to her high school years to know greatness. She won three state crowns while at Bishop O’Dowd.

In many ways, it was exactly what was expected of her.

The 5-foot-4 playmaker was almost literally born in a basketball gym, with her mom going into labor during one of her brother’s tournaments. She did not play — or was even interested in — another sport.

Thomas used to shoot anything you could imagine at plastic hoops gummed to mirrors, and talks about her older brother Quentin, who played at North Carolina, almost as if he is a deity.

“He taught me how to play in packed-out gyms and more important life skills,” Thomas said. “If there was something more than a brother, he would be that.…

“He taught me patience and poise. I’ve always had it, I’m starting to show it.”

Just in time for the Pac-12 slate.

Rusty Simmons is a San Francisco Chronicle staff writer. Email: rsimmons@sfchronicle.com Twitter: @Rusty_SFChron

Thursday’s game

Who: No. 21 Cal (12-0) vs. Arizona (9-2)

When: 6 p.m.

Where: Tucson