On Friday, Cal women’s basketball fell to Stanford in the quarterfinals of the Pac-12 Tournament by a final score of 72-54. Kiana Williams led the way for the Cardinal with 23 points on 5-8 shooting from 3-point range while Receé Caldwell was the top performer for the Golden Bears with 17 points on 7-15 shooting from the field.
Cal got off to a strong start, leading 11-6 with 4:55 to go in the first quarter. Jaelyn Brown once again ignited the Cal offense early with 5 points on 2-4 shooting from the field. Cal would proceed to take a 16-13 lead at the end of the first quarter despite a quiet start from Kristine Anigwe (3 points). What enabled Cal to overcome her slow start was quality scoring balance and really good defense, holding Stanford’s star forward Alanna Smith to 2 points.
With 4:51 to go in the half, the game was tied 22-22 as Caldwell was up to 6 points for Cal on 2-3 shooting from 3-point range. It was an historic day for Caldwell as she reached 1,000 career points with her first 3-pointer. Thanks to her perimeter shooting, Cal was hanging tough. As for Stanford, it was Dijonai Carrington that was leading the way with 8 points. Stanford would break the tie to go up 32-29 at halftime. Williams got the hot hand for the Cardinal down the stretch, finishing the half with 9 points on 3-5 shooting from 3-point range. As for Caldwell, she was up to 11 points on 3-4 shooting from beyond the arc.
Stanford opened the second half strong, but Cal was right there with them. With 5:36 to go in the third quarter, Stanford led 36-33. Carrington was up to 10 points for the Cardinal while Caldwell was up to 13 points for the Golden Bears.
With 3:46 to go in the quarter, Stanford started to gain a little more separation leading 40-33. Williams was up to 11 points for Stanford as Cal had made just 1 of their last 7 field goals. One of the things that really hurt Cal was the poor shooting of Asha Thomas and Kianna Smith, who were shooting a combined 3-21 from the field. Anigwe was still quiet for Cal with just 5 points.
To Cal’s credit, they fought back to close the gap as a 3-pointer from McKenzie Forbes gave them some life. On top of that Kiana Williams had a costly turnover right at the end of the quarter that resulted in a steal from Kianna Smith and an assist to Asha Thomas, who had a huge layup right before time expired. Anigwe also was finally coming a live a bit as she was up to 9 points and 12 rebounds. As a result, Stanford led by just three points (47-44) going into the fourth quarter.
During the first five minutes of the fourth quarter, Cal continued to play tough. Alanna Smith hit a huge 3-pointer for Stanford to give them a 51-45 lead with 8:27 to go, but Cal responded with a 5-0 run thanks to three points from Anigwe and two points from Caldwell. As a result, Cal trailed 51-50 with 7:03 to go. Williams scored four points to give Stanford a 55-50 lead, but Brown would respond with a pair of free throws, making it a 55-52 game with 5:43 to go. With under 5 minutes to go it was still a 55-52 game and it looked like the game was going to go down to the wire as it had in Berkeley earlier in the season.
With 4:11 to go, Shannon Coffee hit a huge 3-pointer for the Cardinal to give them a 58-52 lead. Caldwell tried to respond for Cal with a 3-pointer of her own, but she missed. After that, Williams hit another 3-pointer for Stanford, giving them a 61-52 lead with 3:24 to go. Rather than calling timeout, Cal played on and that proved to be costly as Thomas missed a 3-pointer that led to another bucket by Williams. Up 63-52 with 2:48 to go, it was clear that Stanford was now in firm control.
Anigwe would knock down a pair of free throws, but Cal didn’t score any more points beyond that. As for Stanford, they would score nine more points to finish the game on a 17-2 run, winning 72-54. It was an all-around team win for Stanford as they had three players score in double figures: Smith (15 points), Carrington (16 points), and Williams (23 points).
As for Cal, Caldwell (17 points) simply didn’t get enough help. Anigwe was the only other player to score in double figures with 14 points and 14 rebounds, which by her standards is an off night. With no one else picking up the slack, Cal simply wasn’t able to overcome Stanford’s balanced attack.
Stanford advances to the semifinals of the Pac-12 Tournament where they will face either Oregon State or Washington on Saturday. As for Cal, they now await their NCAA Tournament fate. Conventional wisdom is Cal will probably make the tournament, but with just one win in Las Vegas, they’re looking at a seed in the 7-10 range, setting themselves up with another difficult draw.
