Cal stifles Stanford

Updated Feb 23: Added commentary from the Stanford Daily and the CARDBoard.

The Golden Bears brought their A++ game to Maples today and defeated the Cardinal 63-53.

The Cardinal held the aggressive Bears in check for the first half, holding the scoring margin to no more than nine points and taking a two-point lead into the break.

But the Bears' defense was even stronger and their offense more effective in the second half, and the Cardinal's tenuous grasp of the game slowly slipped away.

Brittany was the only Cardinal who found success against the Bears today. She played all but the first four minutes of the game with her characteristic energy and determination. She led all scorers today with 24 points and grabbed the team-high six rebounds. She shot 63% from the field (10-16), 50% from beyond the arc (2-4) and 68% at the line (2-3). She attacked the basket with several get-out-of-my-way layups against bigger and seemingly stronger defenders. Her place in the rotation is assured.

In other Pac-12 action this weekend, OSU won twice and so did ASU, who squeezed out a win over USC in double overtime. So it's OSU first, ASU second two games back, and Stanford and Cal tied for third.

Amy's postgame announcement of the website's closing was a tiny bit premature. The Cardinal hasn't finished its season and neither has the website. It will be here until the Cardinal has played its last game of the season, be that in Seattle, Tampa Bay or somewhere in between. So stick around for a few more weeks.

Here are game reports and commentary:

• Battle of the Bay Split, the Associated Press game recap (posted by Stanford Athletics)
• Cal Defeats No. 18 Stanford in Battle of the Bay Finale, 63-53, the Cal Athletics game recap
• Cal women deny Stanford shot at Pac-12 title by Tom FitzGerald (San Francisco Chronicle)
• Cal ends Stanford's reign as Pac-12 women's champs by Elliott Almond (Mercury News)
• Cal ends Stanford's run of consecutive Pac-12 hoops titles by Rick Eymer (Palo Alto Online)
• Senior Night ends in disappointment for women’s basketball by Alexa Philippou (The Stanford Daily)
• WBB: C.al 63 Stanford 53 from the CARDboard

The box score and play-by-play,

The press conference audio, with Tara, Brittany and Amber,

A gallery of photos by John Hefti (Icon Sportswire),

A gallery of photos from (Stanford Photo), including some of the Senior Day celebration: