Pac-12 Tournament: Cal Women Go After Third Win Over Washington State in Opener

A victory would provide the Bears another shot at top-seeded rival Stanford.

The Cal women’s basketball team hopes to secure a third victory this season over Washington when the final Pac-12 tournament begins Wednesday at the MGM Grand Garden Arena in Las Vegas.

The eighth-seeded Bears (17-13) and No. 9 Cougars (18-13) tip off at 2:30 p.m. on Wednesday and the winner gets a shot at regular-season champion and second-ranked Stanford (26-4) in a quarterfinal game on Thursday at 2:30 p.m.

The Bears and Cardinal, of course, have decades of history in the sport and Stanford, led by Pac-12 Player of the Year and Defensive Player of the Year Cameron Brink, won both meetings this season.

The Bears have dropped the past 11 games in the series, but perhaps none of those was as jarring as their 61-60 defeat in the 2015 Pac-12 tournament championship game.

Brittany Boyd was accustomed to a physical style of play / Photo by Kelley L. Cox, KLC fotos

The Bears trailed by as many eight points in the second half and were playing at less than full strength. Pac-12 Player of the Year Reshanda Gray, who had 17 points and 10 rebounds vs. Colorado in the semifinals, was double-teamed most of the game by Stanford and held to six points.

Star guard Brittany Boyd, who had 18 points, 10 rebounds and seven assists the day before, took an elbow to the right side of her face in the first half and missed 13 minutes of action.

“We took a punch literally and figuratively — our leader and point guard goes out with blood gushing — and everybody else rallies and that was something I'm proud of,” then-Cal coach Lindsay Gottlieb said.

Courtney Range came off the bench to provide 17 points and nine rebounds while Mikayla Cowling and Mercedes Jefflo scored 14 points each.

Boyd managed seven points and four steals after returning.

“She's the toughest person I know,” Gottlieb said, “so I don't think there are a lot of other people you'd expect to play through that, and I just expected her to because that's who she is.”

Stanford had its own challenges that season, by their standards, anyway. Having finally run dry of the spectacular Ogwumike sisters — Nneka graduated in 2012 and Chiney played her final season in 2014 — the Cardinal lost 10 games in 2014-15.

Coach Tara VanDerveer was thrilled her team was able to overcome the Bears after the teams split two regular-season meetings. “This is as rewarding a championship as I've ever sat up here and felt because we definitely had to really scrap for it and battle,” she said.

Gottlieb, who had directed the Bears to the Final Four two years earlier, talked after the game about the healthy state of the Cal-Stanford rivalry.

“I think we've raised their level, and they've raised our level,” she said. “We wanted to win today. We wanted to be the ones cutting down the nets.

“But if you can get outside yourself for a second, I'm happy for their success, and we'll be rooting for them in the NCAA Tournament. Just disappointed that we didn't beat them today.”

Fast-forward nine years, and in order to get another opportunity to face Stanford this season the Bears will have to beat WSU for a third straight time. Cal won 73-72 in overtime at Berkeley on Jan. 7, then 66-59 in Pullman on Feb. 9.

The latter came after the Cougars lost four-time All-Pac-12 guard Charlisse Leger-Walker (13.2 points per game) to a season-ending injury on Jan. 28. WSU is just 3-7 since she went out, but is coming off a 72-63 road win over No. 13 Colorado.

Cal had no one selected to the 15-player All-Pac-12 first team, although guard Ioanna Krimili (13.7 points) did earn an honorable mention.

Cover photo of Cal guard Ioanna Krimili by Kelley L. Cox, KLC fotos

Follow Jeff Faraudo of Cal Sports Report on Twitter: @jefffaraudo