BERKELEY – Another chapter in the oldest rivalry in women's college basketball will be written this weekend when Cal and Stanford square off twice in the span of three days. The Golden Bears (8-5, 0-2 Pac-12) and fifth-ranked Cardinal (13-1, 2-0 Pac-12) will tip off their home-and-home series at 7 p.m. PT Friday night at Maples Pavilion. The series then heads to Berkeley, with a 5 p.m. PT tip off Sunday at Haas Pavilion in the second leg of the series.

The series between the schools dates back to April 4, 1896, when Cal and Stanford squared off at San Francisco's Page Street Armory for the first intercollegiate women's basketball game. The Bears and Cardinal have split the regular season meetings each of the last two seasons, with each school winning on its home court. Cal opened the series last season in Berkeley with a thrilling 81-80 victory over the 8^th-ranked Cardinal. Kristine Anigwe led the Bears with 25 points and 24 rebounds while Jaelyn Brown added 18 points, going 4-for-6 from beyond the arc. Then-senior Asha Thomas provided the heroics in the final seconds, finishing an acrobatic layup as time expired to secure the upset.

Stanford responded two days later with a 75-50 victory over the Bears on the Farm, and followed it up with a 72-54 win over its Bay Area rival in the quarterfinals of the 2019 Pac-12 Tournament. The Cardinal have won the last meetings between the teams at Maples Pavilion and are 9-0 overall at home this season.

Cal head coach Charmin Smith is no stranger to Maples Pavilion, playing four seasons for the Cardinal and head coach Tara Vanderveer. Now in her first season as head coach of the Golden Bears, Smith helped to Cardinal to three Final Four appearances during her playing days at Stanford and also spent three seasons as an assistant coach for the Cardinal before joining Cal's staff in 2007.

Smith and the Golden Bears have proven their ability to compete with some of the top teams in the nation this season, beating No. 20 Arkansas, 84-80, on November 24, and narrowly falling to No. 5 UConn and No. 14 Kentucky. Cal will lean on that experience as it begins a stretch of four consecutive games against teams ranked in the Top-5 in the nation, according to the Associated Press. The Bears play twice against fifth-ranked Stanford before hitting the road to take on third-ranked Oregon State and second-ranked Oregon.

Senior guard Jaelyn Brown has paced the Bears this season, averaging 15.6 points per game on the year. Brown is coming off a 20-point performance in Sunday's loss to Washington State, and was one of four Golden Bears to score in double-figures in the loss.

FOLLOW THE ACTION
Friday's game against the Cardinal will be broadcast on Pac-12 Networks with Kate Scott and Mary Murphy on the call. The matchup will be live streamed on the Pac-12 app with live stats also available. Fans can receive additional in-game updates and behind-the-scenes information by following the Bears social media accounts (Twitter: @CalWBBall, Instagram: @CalWBBall).

SCOUTING THE CARDINAL
The Cardinal head into the home-and-home with the Bears on a three-game winning streak and off to a 2-0 start in Pac-12 play. Stanford opened Pac-12 play with a 77-58 win over Washington State last Friday, before outscoring Washington, 45-24, in the second half on Sunday to come away with the 77-56 victory. Junior guard Kiana Williams led the Cardinal with 20 points and nine assists, while freshman Hannah Jump added 17 points in the win over the Huskies, going 5-for-8 from beyond the arc.

Williams, an All-Pac-12 selection last season as a sophomore, is one of three players averaging double-figures for the Cardinal this season. Sophomore Lexie Hull leads Stanford in scoring at 13.2 points per game this season and also leads the team with 6.2 rebounds per game. Williams, who averaged 16.7 points per game in three meetings with the Bears last season, is second on the team in scoring (12.4 points per game) and has dished out a team-high 53 assists on the year. Freshman Haley Jones, the No. 1 recruit in the nation coming out of high school, rounds out the scoring at 10.8 points per game on the year. Jones had a career-high 21 points in Stanford's non-conference finale against UC Davis. Senior DiJonai Carrington, a Wade Trophy candidate, averaged 19.3 points per game against Cal last season, but has not seen game action since Stanford's November 24 win over Buffalo.

Rank No. 5 in the latest AP Poll, Stanford rattled off 10 consecutive wins to start the season and earned their first No. 1 ranking in the AP Poll since 2012. The Cardinal's win streak came to a close on December 22, falling to Texas, 69-64, on the road.

Stanford ranks among the conference leaders in nearly every offensive category and is averaging 78.9 points per game on the season, the second-most by any team in the Pac-12. Defensively, the Cardinal rank second in the Pac-12 in blocks per game (5.8) and rank third in field goal percentage defense, holding opponents to 33.0 percent shooting from the floor.

Head coach Tara Vanderveer is now in her 34^th season with the Cardinal and has 1,080 victories in her college coaching career, the most of any active women's coach in the nation. Vanderveer enters the weekend with a 499-78 career record in conference play and has the chance to become the first women's basketball coach in NCAA history with 500 conference wins in a single league. Vanderveer and the Cardinal return four starters and 11 letterwinners from last season's squad, which won the Pac-12 Tournament and reached the Elite 8. Stanford was picked second in the Preseason Pac-12 Coaches Poll.

UP NEXT
The Battle of the Bay heads up to Berkeley on Sunday, for a 5 p.m. PT showdown between the Bears and Cardinal at Haas Pavilion. Cal has won each of the last two meetings between the teams in Berkeley, highlight by an 81-80 thriller last season where senior Asha Thomas got her layup to go as time expired.

Sunday's matchup also serves as the official kickoff event for the 150 Years of Women at Berkeley celebration. October 3, 2020 marks the 150th anniversary of the UC Regents' unanimous approval of a resolution by Regent Samuel F. Butterworth: "That young ladies be admitted into the University on equal terms in all respects with young men." The first women were admitted to the university in 1872, and the first woman, Rosa Scrivner, graduated with a Bachelor's degree in Agriculture in 1874. Throughout the 2020 calendar year, the University of California, Berkeley and Cal Athletics will be honoring the hundreds of thousands of women who have made contributions to the campus and beyond through their efforts as students, faculty, staff, coaches, and supporters. Chancellor Carol Christ and other campus and state officials will be on hand for Sunday's celebrations.

2019-20 TICKETS ARE ON SALE NOW
Season, group and single-game tickets for the 2019-20 women's basketball season are now on sale. Season tickets start as low as $40 ($2.67 per game, 15 home games) for youth and seniors and $80 ($5.33 per game, 15 home games) for adult general admission tickets. Single-game tickets are available starting at $4 for youth and seniors and $5 for adult, while group rates begin at $3 per seat for groups of 10 or more. Flex and partial plans are also available for purchase. For more information, call the Gold Standard Sales and Service line at (800) GO BEARS (462-3277) or visit the CalBears.com ticket page.

STAY POSTED
Keep up-to-date on the latest Cal women's basketball news by following the Bears on social media. View behind-the-scenes photos and videos and learn more about Cal and its student-athletes on Twitter (@CalWBball), Instagram (@CalWBball) and Facebook (Facebook.com/CalWBball).