STANFORD, Calif. – Freshman Kiana Williams scored a career-high 26 and No. 14 Stanford won its seventh in a row, beating rival Cal 74-69 in Maples Pavilion on Thursday night.
A strong candidate for Pac-12 Freshman of the Year, Williams also had a personal best four steals and matched her previous high mark with five made 3-pointers. Her 26-point outing tied the highest total by a Pac-12 freshman in a game this season and her 10.9 scoring average in conference play also tops the league's rookies.
Up one late in the third quarter, the Cardinal (19-8, 13-2) used a 13-0 run to open up a 14-point gap early in the fourth and Nadia Fingall was the catalyst. After Brittany McPhee made two free throws, Fingall nailed a corner 3-pointer and then hit a pull-up jumper off the bounce as the buzzer sounded to end the period.
Williams started the final frame with a steal and streaked down the court where she absorbed contact from Asha Thomas and flipped in a floater from inside the key. She made the free throw, stripped Mikayla Cowling on the next possession and then sank her fifth and final 3-pointer to make it 63-49.
Jaelyn Brown stopped the run with a jumper before Kaylee Johnson made a layup with 8:04 to go, which would be Stanford's last bucket of the night. The Cardinal missed its final nine shots and had three turnovers down the stretch, but it took the Golden Bears some time to take advantage. Cal made just one of its first seven shots in the fourth quarter with five turnovers.
The Bears made four shots in a row, including three 3-pointers, but got no closer than four. Stanford made 8-of-10 at the line in the last two minutes.
Cal is a perfect 15-0 this season when leading at the half and it appeared they would take a one-point lead into the locker room. But head coach Tara VanDerveer subbed in Shannon Coffee and associate head coach Kate Paye called a play to free up Stanford's 6-foot-5 center for a 3-point attempt. Coffee nailed it from the wing as the horn went off and the Cardinal was up two at the break, 37-35.
McPhee added 17 points for the Cardinal and Fingall 10, which has won six straight over Cal. Stanford clinched a first-round bye in the bye in the upcoming Pac-12 Tournament with the victory.
Asha Thomas had four 3-pointers and 20 points for the Golden Bears (17-9, 8-7).
Williams' 26-point effort matched Colorado freshman Annika Jank, who had the same amount in a nonconference win over Dartmouth. The previous high this season for a freshman in a league game was 22, shared by Arizona's Sam Thomas and Colorado's Mya Hollingshed.