STANFORD, Calif. – Brittany McPhee scored 13 of her 26 points in the fourth quarter and an uncharacteristically unranked Stanford beat No. 11 UCLA 76-65 in both teams' Pac-12 opener on Friday night.
The Cardinal (7-6, 1-0) had fallen out of the AP poll for the first time since the 2001 season on Monday, ending a streak of 312 consecutive weeks in the rankings. Stanford had also lost three of four, including defeats to top-10 Baylor and Tennessee, a stunner to Western Illinois and entered conference play with its worst 12-game start since the 1998-99 season.
None of that mattered against the Bruins (9-3, 0-1) as the Cardinal led wire-to-wire and looked like Stanford in doing it, answering every UCLA charge.
Stanford grabbed its first double-digit lead late in the second quarter on an Alanna Smith 3-pointer and extended it to 12 on a McPhee jumper with 3:08 to go until the break, 30-18. UCLA ended the half on an 11-2 run to pull with within three, 32-29, which included seven points from Jordin Canada and was highlighted by her deflating 3-pointer to end the period.
The Cardinal regrouped in the locker room and after Kennedy Burke started the third with a basket to bring the Bruins within one, Stanford went on a 14-5 spurt to regain a double-digit lead over the next six minutes. McPhee started with two free throws and then Kaylee Johnson cleaned up a miss from her fellow senior on the offensive glass and laid it in.
Smith made a layup and then back-to-back triples from Anna Wilson and Smith preceded a Nadia Fingall midrange jumper to cap the run and put the Cardinal up 46-36 with 3:47 on the clock. Stanford's defense held UCLA to a 4:15 scoreless drought and seven consecutive misses to end the stretch, but the Bruins caught fire to close the quarter.
UCLA scored 10 of the final 12 points in the third and Canada again nailed one from distance as the buzzer sounded to cut Stanford's lead to just two, 48-46, heading into the fourth.
McPhee and Fingall led in the final frame and the Cardinal outscored the Bruins 28-19. McPhee heaved up a prayer with the shot clock winding down for the first score of the period and Stanford was off. She hit a 3-pointer a minute later and then Fingall found her spot from the elbow and calmly drained back-to-back 15-footers to push the Stanford lead to 11 with 6:21 to go, 57-46.
UCLA cut it to three on a Lajahna Drummer layup with 3:15 left until McPhee responded with three the old-fashioned way and Marta Sniezek made two at the line to push it to eight, 66-58. Kennedy Burke made one from behind the arc on the Bruins' ensuing possession after Sniezek's free throws and that was the final field goal the Bruins would get.
UCLA missed its last seven shots while Stanford made all but one of its eight fourth-quarter attempts while also going 13-of-17 from the stripe in the final 10 minutes.
Alanna Smith added 14 points and 13 rebounds for Stanford, her fifth double-double in the past eight games, while Nadia Fingall chipped in 10 points, including six in the fourth quarter.
Jordin Canada led UCLA with 20 points. Kennedy Burke and Japreece Dean had 14 points apiece and Monique Billings finished with 13 points and 10 rebounds.
With the win Stanford avoided its first three-game home losing streak since 1985-86, Tara VanDerveer's first year on The Farm.
