By Morris Phillips
STANFORD, CA–For 35 minutes, the Cal women were themselves, offensive savants taking advantage of whatever the Stanford defense provided, which at times was a lot.
The other five minutes, littered with rough fouls, a technical foul out of nowhere, and a significant injury, spoke to a hard fought contest that Stanford was reluctant to relinquish. It was those five minutes that almost sent Cal home with an unlikely loss.
But Cal’s experienced leadership, principally graduates Ioanna Krimili and Kayla Williams, made the plays down the stretch in Cal’s milestone 75-72 win.
The win gave Cal a historic sweep of Stanford, 39 years after the last occurrence in 1986, the first season of Tara VanDerveer’s 38 years on the Farm in the long disposed Pac West Conference.
Smith, who went 0 for 11 against VanDerveer, her college coach, who subsequently suggested that Smith take up coaching, acknowledged the moment and its significance for Cal.
“This is special for me,” Smith said. “We knew it wasn’t going to be 18 threes like it was at Haas. But to be able to hold on and fight through a number of mistakes and adversity to get the win, I’m just really proud of this team.”
Cal made 17 of their first 20 two-point shot attempts and built a 53-37 lead and quieted Maples Pavilion without relying on 3-point shooting. But the deficit didn’t break the hosts’ resolve. Instead, Coach Kate Paye continued to change her personnel in hopes of a defensive stand. That finally happened in a stretch spanning the third and fourth quarters that saw Stanford outscore Cal 16-2 and make it a game.
“We forced some turnovers, and that really got us going,” Paye said.
Down the stretch, the play grew more physical as Michelle Onyiah, Cal’s center, and reserve Jayda Noble were thrown to the floor. Noble got tangled with Stanford’s Shay Ijiwoye and had to be helped off the court as a leg injury prevented her from walking on her own. After a video review, Ijiwoye received an intentional foul resulting in free throws for Cal and possession of the ball.
“They called an intentional foul. I watched it. I didn’t agree with the call at all. That was a game changer,” Paye said of the critical exchange with 2:40 remaining and Stanford trailing 66-64.
Krimili, shooting in place of the injured Noble, converted both free throws. Williams was fouled on the ensuing possession and made one of two free throws to put Cal up by five.
Nunu Agara, who had 19 points for the hosts, hit 3-pointers on consecutive possessions to get Stanford within 73-71 with 49 seconds remaining. But Cal held on as Krimili and Williams came up with a trio of baskets on drives into the paint to preserve the win.
“We knew the game was going to bring adversity. In those moments, we were telling ourselves,“‘we’re good, we’re going to get through this,'” Williams said.
Cal improved to 18-3 with the win, and that has them in a group of 6-2 teams with North Carolina and Louisville, tied for fourth in the ACC standings behind Duke and North Carolina State with one loss and 8-0 Notre Dame.
The Bears have the weekend free ahead of home games against the Tar Heels and Pittsburgh next week.
