LAS VEGAS - Cal's five-game winning streak and Pac-12 Tournament run came to a close on Friday night as the Golden Bears fell to Bay Area rival, 72-54, in quarterfinals of the Pac-12 Tournament. A tightly-contested game for  35 minutes, Stanford (26-4) closed the game on a 17-2 run to hand the Bears (19-12) their first loss since February 17.

Recee Caldwell led the Bears with 17 points on 7-for-15 shooting and reached 1,000 career points with her first three-pointer of the night. Kristine Anigwe extended her double-double streak to 32 in a row with 14 points and 14 rebounds, but was held to 4-of-15 shooting from the floor against against a physical Cardinal defense focused on slowing the three-time All-American down. The 2019 Pac-12 Defensive Player of the Year, Anigwe added three steals and three blocked shots. 

But with Stanford's defense focused on slowing Anigwe, Cal was unable to capitalize on the exterior, shooting 7-of-30 from beyond the arc. The Bears went just 1-of-13 from deep in the second half and 0-for-5 from three in the fourth quarter.

Kiana Williams led No. 7 Stanford with 23 points on  5-of-8 shooting from beyond the arc while Dijonai Carrington finished with 16 points and Alanna Smith had 15 points and 11 rebounds for the Cardinal.

Cal led 16-13 after the first quarter before a strong second quarter gave Stanford a 32-29 lead at halftime. The third quarter remained a back-and-forth affair and Cal cut the deficit to three entering the fourth quarter after a steal by Kianna Smith led to an Asha Thomas layup right before the end of quarter buzzer.

Caldwell hit a jumper with 7:03 left in the fourth quarter to make the score 51-50, but Cal could get no closer. Stanford outscored Cal 17-2 over the final five minutes of the game as the Bears struggled to connect from the floor.

The Bears will now await their postseason fate when the field for the 2019 NCAA Tournament is announced on Monday, March 18 at 4 p.m. PT.