BERKELEY, Calif. – Stanford cut a double-digit deficit to two midway through the fourth quarter, but Cal used a trio of late 3-pointers to snap the No. 14 Cardinal's seven-game winning streak on Saturday afternoon, 78-66.
Down 11, Stanford (19-9, 13-3) went on a 7-0 run and when Brittany McPhee stole the ball and finished on the break the Cardinal was within four with 7:22 to go, 59-55. Cal (18-9, 9-7) made three free throws to push it to seven before Kiana Williams came off an Alanna Smith screen and nailed a jumper from the free throw line. A minute later, Marta Sniezek kicked it out to Smith in the corner and the Australian drilled one of her three 3-pointers to make it 62-60.
With the shot clock winding down on the next possession, Cal's Asha Thomas hit a 3-pointer a good three steps behind the arc to stop Stanford's momentum. Mikayla Cowling made another from the wing in front of the Golden Bears' bench with 2:32 to go and Jaelyn Brown was left wide open in the corner after two Cardinal defenders stumbled to the floor and buried her triple with less than 90 seconds to go to push Cal's lead to eight, 71-63.
Cal had missed its first six shots of the fourth quarter before the late 3-point barrage. The Bears made 7-of-8 at the line in the final minute to seal it.
Brittany McPhee led Stanford with 24 points and Alanna Smith had 20, Stanford's first game with two 20-point performers since Nov. 25 against Ohio State in Las Vegas. Kiana Williams added 14 for the Cardinal, which lost for the first time in nearly a month.
Asha Thomas had 25 and Kianna Smith 14 for Cal, which made 10-of-12 free throws in the fourth quarter and outrebounded Stanford 46-28.
Stanford was playing from behind most of the night. The Cardinal went on a 7-0 run early in the second quarter to tie things at 23 and took a 32-31 lead on a McPhee 3-pointer late in the period, but Cal led 36-34 at the half and upped its record to 16-0 when leading at the break this season.
An 8-0 run to start the second half gave the Bears their first double-digit lead, 44-34. Cal shot 42 percent from the floor and 35 percent from deep.
The Cardinal, which has a first-round bye in the Pac-12 Tournament, could have won at least a share of its first regular-season conference title since 2014 if it won out. Now Stanford will have to watch and wait. Oregon controls its own fate for the league championship and tournament seeding. No. 7 UCLA plays at the No. 9 Ducks on Monday night at 7 p.m. on ESPN.
