Bears Bomb Stanford With 3's, Win 83-63

BERKELEY - It was an early season, much-anticipated showdown between two long-time rivals nad a solid crowd Friday night was treated to a dazzling display of stellar basketball by the Bears as they took down perennial powerhouse Stanford, 83-63 at Haas Pavilion - their largest margin of victory over their rivals since 1982.

“I’m just really proud of our team,” Cal head coach Charmin Smith said after the game. “I think we beat a really good Stanford team. We came out and played Cal basketball, and played solid defensively forcing them into tough shots throughout the game and were able to execute offensively and be who you want us to be. So I'm just really proud, and we're just going to keep working.”

“We love celebrating with each other,” guard Lula Twidale said after the game. “We celebrate one another for what we do today, and we're just really proud of where we've come from the start of season to now. So yeah, it was good vibes.”

The Bears rained down a record 18 3’s in the victory, with three players hitting the 20-point mark, led by forward Marta Suarez with 21 along with 20 from guards Ioanna Krimili and Twidale and held Stanford to just 34% from the field. They were also able to overcome their season-long ball security issues with just 9 turnovers in the win.

Both teams struggled from the floor in the first half with the Bears hitting just 33% of their shots from the field but fortunately for Cal, Stanford was even colder at 27%, in no small thing partially thanks to some strong defense by the Bears.

The game got off to a strong start for the Bears as they scored the first 8 points of the game on Krimili and Suarez layups -the second an and-1 followed by a Suarez 3.

Stanford came back to narrow the lead at the quarter break to 14-12 on a Jzaniya Harriel bucket.

The Bears got back in a groove mid-quarter, hitting three straight treys with a pair from Twidale sandwiched around a Kayla Williams triple, heading into the locker room with a 33-24 lead at the break.

During the second quarter, the Bears received a scare with star guard Krimili going down hard with with looked like a rolled ankle but after disappearing into the locker room for treatment, the senior leader was back on the floor, hitting a layup to end the half.

The Bears came out on fire after the break, raining threes on the stunned Cardinal, with Twidale and Krimili both hitting a pair of treys along with a Suarez 3 as Cal sprinted to a 21-point lead just 3 minutes into the third quarter at 47-26.

A pair of Stanford threes momentarily slowed the Bears’ momentum but treys from Jayda Noble and Kayla Williams followed by a 30-foot, buzzer-beating swish from Suarez to end the quarter put the Bears back up 63-40 heading into the final quarter.

Any fans worried that the Bears would take their foot off the pedal against their rivals in the fourth or grow cold from the floor quickly had any potential fears dispelled as they continued to shoot and defend well all the way to the buzzer, at one point going up 27 on another Suarez 3 before coasting to an 83-61 victory in front of the large and enthusiastic Cal crowd.

The Bears moved to 10-1 with the win and Stanford fell to 7-3.