Cal Women's Basketball: No. 3 Stanford Crushes the Bears

Cardinal defeats Cal for the 11th consecutive time as the Bears are limited to their lowest scoring total of the season

A first-half scoring drought by Cal quickly destroyed any possibility of a Golden Bears upset as third-ranked Stanford beat Cal 84-49 Friday night at Stanford’s Maples Pavilion.

It was Stanford’s 11^th straight victory over Cal, which has not defeated the Cardinal at Maples Pavilion since 2015. Stanford is now alone in first place in the Pac-12, holding a 1 1/2-game lead on second-place Oregon State.

The 49 points are a season low for points in a game by Cal, and the 35-point margin of defeat barely avoided the Bears' worst loss of the season. Cal lost to Utah by 37 points.

"It wasn't our night," said Charmin Smith, who is winless against her alma mater as Cal's head coach.

Cal (15-11, 5-9 Pac-12) was hoping for an upset of its cross-bay archrival to improve the Bears’ chances of earning an NCAA tournament berth, and Cal was tied with Stanford 16-16 late in the first quarter. But Stanford (23-3, 12-2 Pac-12) scored the final six points of the first quarter and the first 10 points of the second quarter to complete a 16-0 run that put the Cardinal ahead 32-16 midway through the second.

The Bears went scoreless for nearly 10 minutes in that span, missing 13 consecutive shots from the floor during that Stanford run. Cal scored just five points in the second quarter.

"I didn't like the shots we were taking," said Smith. "I didn't think we were giving ourselves a great chance to put points on the board there. And then on the other end, they were just getting things way too easy.

"It allowed them to get some separation, and it's hard with his [Stanford] team, once they get some separation, they get confident, at home, everybody starts making everything. Yeah, we dug ourselves a hole for sure in that second quarter."

The Cardinal stretched its 19-point halftime lead to 40 points in the third quarter, and the fourth quarter was 10 minutes of garbage time.

Cal shot 32.1% from the field, while Stanford made 55.3% of its shots.

Kiki Iriafen scored 14 points for Stanford in the first half, which ended with the Cardinal holding a 40-21 lead. Iriafen finished with 23 points on 10-for-13 shooting to go along with 11 rebounds in 28 minutes of court time.

Cal's leading scorer, Ioanna Krimili, and Leilani McIntosh combined for just two points through the first three quarters.  Krimili finished with a season-low two points, which was just the second time this season she failed to reach double figures. 

"I thought they were all over her all game," Smith said of Stanford's defense on Krimili. "I mean Tara [VanDerveer] doesn't like people having days on her."

McIntosh had six points, and Marta Suarez had seven, giving Cal's three top scorers a combined 15 points for the game.

Cal's high scorer was Michelle Onyiah with 12 points even though her playing time was limited to 18 minutes because of early foul trouble.

Now Cal must regroup to face the Arizona schools in two pivotal games back in Berkeley next week.

"We got punched today," McIntosh said. "It's how we bounce back."

Cal has good chance to win its next three games -- next week at home against Arizona and Arizona State, and the following week against Oregon in Eugene.  Winning all three -- which is possible -- would put Cal back in the discussion for an NCAA tournament berth.

Cal then finishes the regular season with a road game against 11th-ranked Oregon State, and the Bears will be distinct underdogs in that one.

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