By Joe Lami

The Stanford Cardinal (20-1, 9-0) hosted rival California (14-6,6-2), on Thursday at Maples for the first of two contests this week.  Stanford defeated their rival by the final score of 70-65. The Cardinal were coming into the game riding a 18 game winning streak, one of the longest in the country.  Stanford was also looking for revenge, as the last loss at Maples Pavilion came from the hands of the Cal Bears.  Since then, the Cardinal have won 19 in a row at home.

Stanford dominated the first half, seeing great production from Karlie Samuelson, Chiney Ogwumike and Erica McCall. The Cardinal went into halftime break with a 18-point lead at 43-25, which included a 12-0 Stanford run to end the half.

The Bears had a lot of trouble in the first half, as the first 18-points were scored by only two players, Afure Jemerigbe and Brittany Boyd.  Each shared the load scoring nine.  The next seven points would come off of the bench, as Hind Ben Abdelkader hit a three, as Gennifer Brandon and Courtney Range each had two.  The difference maker in the first half was that star forward, Reshanda Gray got into early foul trouble, as she picked up two early fouls, and sat for the final 13 minutes of the half, forcing her to have zero first half points.

Stanford continued to dominate to start the second half, as they went on a 15-4 run in the first six and a half minutes.   However, the struggle wouldn’t last much longer, as Cal started to light it up from the field and would go on a 14-0 run to eventually cut the Stanford lead to 17 with nine minutes to go.  Cal would continue storm back, as the lead would be cut to 11 with just over three minutes remaining.  Cal made it even closer, as they cut it to five with 14 seconds remaining.  However, Stanford would be able to hold on, as Cal was just unable to complete what would have been one of the greatest comebacks of all time.

Stanford was led by Ogwumike, who finished with 23 points and 11 rebounds, on her way to her 16^th double-double of the season and the 74^th of her career. Samuelson continues to impress, as she contributed 14 off of the bench.  Taylor Greenfield, was the only other Cardinal to get into double figures with ten points.

Boyd led all scorers and the Bears with 25 points.  Jemerigbe would also have a strong game, as she added 18.  Brandon had eight 2^nd half points and finished the game with a total of ten.  The key factor for the Bears was the fact that Grey was kept scoreless, going 0 for 3 from the field. She got in foul trouble early in the game and didn’t see much playing time in the 2^nd half.

Stanford should be worried with their performance in this win.  Even though the Cardinal got the win, they let a 30 point lead go out the window, and were just able to hang on in this on by the skin of their teeth.  This should be especially worrisome because the Cardinal let gave this lead up at home.  It makes one wonder, what is going to happen on Sunday when the Cardinal have to travel across the bay to take on the Bears at Haas Pavilion.