The California women’s basketball team had a five-point lead in the opening minute of the fourth quarter but went cold from the field the rest of the way to fall short at Stanford 78-69 in the 105th edition of the Battle of the Bay at Maples Pavilion on Sunday afternoon. The Golden Bears (8-4, 0-1 ACC) had to play most of the game against the Cardinal (9-2, 1-0) without Lulu Twidale, who got into foul trouble early and eventually fouled out after playing just 17 minutes.
Taylor Barnes scored seven points in the first quarter on her way to a team-high 16 points and Sakima Walker and Puff Morris rounded out the Bears in double figures with 13 and 12 points respectively. Gisella Maul continued her career season in rebounding with a team-high 10 rebounds off the bench marking her second game this season with double-digit boards.
Cal went up 10-5 early in the first quarter behind Barnes’ seven points and Naya Ojukwu came off the bench and added five points and the Bears took a 15-13 lead into the second quarter.
After both teams got off to a slow start offensively in the second quarter Stanford hit consecutive triples to go on an 8-0 run and went up 21-17 at the 5:45 mark. Morris was able to hit a floater on Cal’s first possession out of the timeout to end the run. Barnes converted a 3-point play and got Cal to within one point with under three minutes to go, but the Cardinal hit a floater as time expired and went into the break ahead 34-31.
Consecutive triples from Twidale and Barnes tied the game at 44-44 midway through the third quarter. A pair of free throws from Puff Morris gave Cal the lead back at 48-46. The Bears would take a three-point lead into the final frame after Morris hit a step-back triple at the buzzer.
The Cardinal took advantage of a three-minute Bears’ scoring drought and used a 6-0 run to regain the lead at 58-57 with 6:39 to go. After the media timeout, Stanford extended the run with consecutive triples before Walker ended it with a layup and Cal found itself down 64-59 with 3:36 to go. Walker followed that up with a 3-point play to get the Bears to within four points with 3:08 remaining but that was as close as they would come as the Cardinal answered with a 6-0 run to put the game out of reach. Cal shot just 25.0% from the field in the quarter while Stanford shot 61.5%.
Stanford was led by Courtney Ogden’s 25 points.
NEXT UP
Cal plays in the Invisalign Bay Area Women’s Classic against USC at Chase Center in San Francisco on Sunday at 5:30 p.m. PT.
