No. 22 Cal Women Hold Off Stanford 75-72 to Complete Season Sweep

No. 22 Cal completed a regular-season series sweep of Stanford for the first time in 39 years on Thursday night, but it wasn’t easy.
It looked like the Bears would breeze to victory when they led by 19 points midway through the third quarter at Maples Pavilion.
And the game seemed in hand when they were up 71-64 with 1:51 left, only to see Stanford claw within 73-71 with 49 seconds to play.
But the Bears couldn’t put the finishing touches on a 75-72 victory until Chloe Clardy missed a 3-point try with 7 seconds left.
“It’s a special group and I’m really proud of how we fought and held on through a lot of adversity,” Cal coach Charmin Smith said. “We have a lot of respect for this program. This is special for me. We knew it wasn’t going to be 18 threes like it was at Haas. To be able to hold on and fight through a number of mistakes to get the win, I’m just really proud of this team.”
Cal (18-3, 6-2 ACC) survived and packaged this triumph with an 83-63 win over the Cardinal (10-9, 2-6) last month at Haas Pavilion to secure their first season sweep of the rivalry game since 1986.
With this victory, the Bears improved to 8-2 vs. teams that played in the 2024 NCAA tournament. Cal is hoping to get to the NCAAs for the first time since 2019, and this was another significant step.
Point guard Kayla Williams scored nine of her 18 points in the third quarter when it looked like the Bears had taken charge for good. Ioanna Krimili, although she was just 1 for 8 on 3-point attempts and remains at 399 career threes, scored 17 points, including a basket with 19 seconds left that pushed Cal into a 75-71 lead.
Stanford’s Nunu Agara was fouled with 13 seconds left, made the first free throw before missing the second. But she grabbed the offensive rebound and Stanford called timeout with 11 seconds left.
Agara, who scored 19 points, missed a 3-pointer with 7 seconds left the Cardinal never got another shot.
Forward Marta Suarez had 13 points and seven rebounds for the Bears, who shot nearly 56 percent from the field but made just 4 of 19 from the 3-point arc. In their win over Stanford last month, the Bears set a program record by sinking 18 threes.
Stanford’s Clardy scored 22 points to lead all scorers.
Cal led by as many as 14 points on the way to a 41-31 halftime advantage.
The Bears shot 61 percent from the field in the half, compared to 40 percent for the Cardinal. But Cal was just 2 for 10 from deep over the opening 20 minutes.
The lead changed hands five times in the opening 3 minutes of the game before the Bears used a 14-2 run to take a 20-9 lead. Stanford turnovers fueled the Cal burst, with Michelle Onyiah contributing a pair of baskets.
Cal led 23-13 at the end of the opening period and Stanford, which had 10 first-half turnovers, never got closer than nine points in the second quarter. A 3-pointer by Lulu Twidale gave the Bears a 39-25 lead with 1:26 left in the half but Clardy made a jumper for Stanford then converted two free throws with no time on the clock, pulling the hosts within 10 points.