STANFORD, Calif. (AP) - California staged a furious, late-game rally at Stanford as its leading scorer sat on the bench without a single point.
Down by 30 points with 13:35 remaining, Brittany Boyd told herself, “Don’t get blown out, do anything you can.”
Boyd scored 25 points as 21st-ranked Cal lost 70-64 to the No. 4 Cardinal on Thursday night in the first of two meetings between the rivals in a four-day span.
“It was in the huddles, we were still motivated,” Boyd said. “One thing about this team, we have heart - even if we’re down 50 we’re not going to give up. Everybody added something different.”
Chiney Ogwumike had 23 points and 12 rebounds to lead Stanford, which will have ample motivation come Sunday’s rematch at Haas Pavilion in Berkeley - while the Golden Bears will be looking to prove they can pull it out this time after nearly succeeding with a monumental comeback.
“This is a great opportunity for us. Competitors want to run it back as quick as you can,” Cal coach Lindsay Gottlieb said. “It’s a unique situation.”
Karlie Samuelson came off the bench to score 12 of her 14 points in the first half for Stanford (20-1, 9-0 Pac-12), including a baseline 3 to beat the halftime buzzer.
Afure Jemerigbe added 18 points for Cal (14-6, 6-3) just more than a year after the Bears won 67-55 on Stanford’s home floor on Jan. 13, 2013, to split the season series and help them grab a share of the Pac-12 crown with the Cardinal. That also snapped an 81-game home winning streak for Stanford at Maples Pavilion against conference opponents.
Jemerigbe’s 3-pointer with 17 seconds left pulled Cal to 69-64.
“We played really well for, I want to say, about 30 minutes out of 40 but the games are 40 minutes long,” Stanford coach Tara VanDerveer said. “The end of the game had to get everyone’s attention on our team and we need to get ready on Sunday against them again.”
Cal leading scorer Reshanda Gray, who came in averaging 17.3 points, didn’t score on three field-goal attempts while being limited to 14 minutes. She was whistled for her second foul at the 10:44 mark of the first half and took a seat.
In the second half, Gottlieb stuck with a lineup she thought was working best. After the game, she told Gray, “We’re rolling with you, next game.”
“She’ll be back Sunday, she’ll be ready,” Boyd said. “It proves that we can play with them. We knew coming in that we could play with them.”
The Cardinal ran their winning streak to 19 straight since a Nov. 11 loss at No. 1 Connecticut, and they had won their first eight conference games by an average of 25 points.
Once Ogwumike got warmed up, she dominated in the paint on both ends of the court. She shot 9 for 19 while facing physical defense. Mikaela Ruef added 12 rebounds and Taylor Greenfield 10 points.
“I keep talking about that to our team, ’We need to play 40 minutes,’” Ogwumike said. “It’s not strange by any means. We expect that with rivalry. They know us, we know them. It comes down to who wants it more, and I think they wanted it more toward the end.”
Cal, coming off a season in which it reached the program’s first Final Four, nearly overcame a cold-shooting first half and matched Stanford on the boards at 44. The Bears shot 6 for 16 from 3-point range to Stanford’s 5 of 19.
“It was disappointing,” VanDerveer said. “We don’t feel good about how we finished. We didn’t put them away.”
The Bears trailed 59-29 before a 14-0 run to pull to 59-43 on Mercedes Jefflo’s layin with 9:10 to go. But Cal didn’t shoot a free throw until Gennifer Brandon made the first of two attempts with 5:45 left.
Boyd and 6-foot-3 Stanford forward Erica McCall got tangled up beneath the Cal basket with 12:17 remaining and Boyd was called for a personal foul, then the play went to review and stood. Boyd looked visibly frustrated, but said, “it wasn’t a dirty foul.”
Cal hasn’t won back-to-back games at Maples since a four-game winning streak from the 1980-81 to 1985-86 seasons. In fact, the Bears don’t have consecutive wins against Stanford at any venue since a six-game unbeaten run spanning those same years.
Please read our comment policy before commenting.