Bears Fall at No. 8 Stanford, 75-50
Palo Alto--The No. 8 Stanford Cardinal dominated from beginning to end, thrashing the California Golden Bears, 75-50, in the process avenging the last-second loss two nights ago in Berkeley.
Cal fell behind 22-5 after the first period and never recovered.
Cal head coach Lindsay Gottlieb knew that Stanford would be ready, as the Cardinal were coming off two consecutive losses.
“Playing off a loss, we’re going to get the best of them,” said Gottlieb. “We got the best of them, and I don’t think we were responded well enough to be competitive in the game. That first quarter really hurt us. I will say that I really like how our players stayed together and fought and competed later. I could not be more proud of Kristine, who had an entire game planned around her and did an incredible job handling it.”
Kristine Anigwe had 20 points and 20 rebounds to lead Cal, tying the Cal career scoring record in the process. Anigwe and Colleen Galloway now both have 2320 points.
Receé Caldwell had 12, with 10 in the fourth quarter. But by then the game was well out of reach, as Stanford thoroughly shut down Cal’s offense: Cal shot 27% (16 of 60) from the field, including three of 17 from distance (18%). The Bears had two assists for the game.
“We learned from Thursday night,” said Stanford head coach Tara VanDerveer. “We learned from the mistakes that we made. We were playing with a chip on our shoulders; we didn’t like the last two games. There were a lot things that we needed to do better.”
“Seeing how excited [the Bears] were after the win kind of got to us,” said DiJonai Carrington. “We didn’t want that again. So we knew we had to come out from the start and never let up.”
Carrington and Kiana Williams each had 19 points, carving up the Bear defense with drives and threes. Alanna Smith added 16 points, and Maya Dodson contributed nine. Dodson was also instrumental in battling Anigwe inside, holding the Cal star to four of 13 shooting.
“It is great to have Maya back,” said VanDerveer. “She’s not going to play against anybody better all year, and she did really well.”
Stanford is now 18-3 (8-2 in Pac-12), while Cal drops 14-7 (5-5 in conference).
Both teams were cold to start the game, with neither team managing to score the first two minutes of the contest. Lacie Hull broke the seal with a layup. The frosh then added a three.
“Lacie came right out of the gates,” said VanDerveer. “We were taking better shots.”
On the other end, Stanford’s ramped up their defense. locking down Cal inside and out. Stanford was determined not to let Cal repeat their three-point shooting performance from two days ago, when Cal made 12 threes. DiJonai Carrington blocked a three attempt from Cal’s Kianna Smith. Carrington then knocked down a three of her own, and Stanford had the 10-0 lead.
“We started with some missed shots, and we got out of ourselves a little bit,” said Gottlieb. “They got us on some cuts early. They played well. They were ready, and we didn’t respond quickly enough. We did not do a great job defending their actions, especially early.”
Stanford continued to pour it on, pushing the lead to 22-4 on another Carrington score and finished the first period up 22-5.
Cal was held to two of 18 (11.1%) from the field, while Stanford hit 10 of 19 (52%).
Cal had a better start to the second period, holding Stanford to three points in the first four minutes. But the Bears themselves could not get much going on offense, managing only five points in the same stretch.
And even when Stanford missed, the Bears were slow to get to rebounds, giving up multiple additional opportunities.
Kiana Williams then went on a personal 7-0 run to stretch the lead to 32-11. Williams will cap her quarter and the Stanford scoring with another three, earning the Cardinal their largest lead of the game, 37-15.
“I just wanted to play within the offense,” said Williams. “My teammates did a great job running offense, and we had breakdowns and I took advantage of it.”
Two Anigwe free-throws closed the half, and Cal was down 37-17.
While Stanford’s shooting cooled down considerably in the second period (33%), their defense still stymied Cal, as the Bears only managed two more baskets.
Cal’s guards had early success in the third getting into the paint, as Recee Caldwell and Kianna Smith hit short jumpers.
But the Bears could not make a dent on the scoreboard, as Stanford hit open baskets of their own. Alanna Smith scored six consecutive points for Stanford, and the Cardinal went up 52-27, with three and a half minutes left in the third.
Stanford methodically ran its offense, isolating the mismatch they wanted and exposing Cal’s lack of footspeed on the perimeter.
“We continue to evolve defensively,” said Gottlieb. “This is not our best weekend.”
While the Bears were at their best in beating Stanford at Haas, their worst habits--sloppy baskets, poor transition defense,
The third period ended with Stanford up 56-31.
An eight-point flurry by Recee Caldwell early in the fourth gave the Bear fans something to cheer about.
And with 4:24 left, Kristine Anigwe converted on a three point play, notching her 20th point and tying the Cal career scoring record. However, Anigwe would quickly pick up her fourth and fifth fouls and exited the game with 2:24 to play.
Lexie Hull hit a three, and Shannon Coffee scored inside to put the finishing touches on the Stanford victory.
“Our team will be better for having seen how hard Stanford played today, the good adjustments that they made, they’re so well coached, they have really good players...” said Gottlieb. “It will make us better for the second half of conference and the next eight games we had.”
The Bears now turn their attention to the next weekend, when they will face two more top 10 teams--Oregon and Oregon State.
“We just need to make our mark where we stand in the Pac,” said Anigwe. “And bring our A game, because we brought our A game on Thursday and we succeeded. Playing against the Oregons, they’re incredibly talented. Each player can go off. But bringing our A game, we can compete, and competing leads us to really good things.”