STANFORD, Calif. – Cal kept the pressure on Stanford in the opening half, but the 10th-ranked Cardinal pulled away in the second stanza, downing the Golden Bears, 72-54, Sunday evening at Maples Pavilion. With the win Stanford (24-4, 14-2 Pac-12) maintains its place at the top of the Pac-12 standings while the Bears (17-11, 5-11 Pac-12) have now lost five straight to the Cardinal. 

Cal was held to just 54 points, it's second fewest in any game this season, and was out-rebounded by the Cardinal, 39-32. Sophomore center Kristine Anigwe led the Bears with 12 points while junior guard Mikayla Cowling added 10 points for her sixth consecutive game scoring in double-figures, matching the longest streak of her career. 

Sophomore Alanna Smith, who had a career-high 27 vs the Bears on Thursday, led the Cardinal with 17 points while junior Brittany McPhee added 16 points for the hosts. 

The second round of the Battle of the Bay was tightly contested in the first half, as neither team was able to take more than a seven-point lead. The Bears, who had struggled from three-point range in the first half of their last three games, got production early from the outside, starting the game 3-7 from beyond the arc. Sophomore point guard Asha Thomas, who finished the night with eight points and two assists, knocked down a pair of threes in the first quarter as the Cardinal defense collapsed inside on Anigwe.

While Stanford took a 20-14 lead after the first quarter, Cal went on a 9-2 run to tie the game at 30-30 with 3:22 left to play in the half. Cal's freshman trio of CJ West, Mi'Cole Cayton, and Jaelyn Brown were instrumental in the run and combined for 14 of Cal's 18 points in the second quarter. However the Cardinal responded with a  7-2  run of their own to close the half, taking a 37-32 lead into the locker room.

Coming out of the break, the Bears were able to quickly get the score back within one, with back-to-back buckets by Anigwe and Cowling. However, the Cardinal outscored the Bears  13-4 over the final 5:45 of the third quarter and never relinquished the lead. 

Cal has now lost four straight overall, its longest losing streak of the season, and falls to 0-3 on the year against top-10 opponents. The Bears will close out the regular season with a trip to the Beaver state, facing Oregon on Friday at 6 p.m. before taking on Oregon State at 11 a.m. on Sunday, February 26.

"This is a postseason team," said head coach Lindsay Gottlieb, "it's just a matter of which postseason tournament we're in. We will go up to Oregon like these are tournament games -- like we have a lot to play for--  because we do."