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Stanford Women Beat Cal 79-64

BERKELEY (CBS/AP) -- Just before her Stanford team took the court to face its rival for the second time in four days, Tara VanDerveer had to bring it up once more: Who would benefit most from California's near 30-point comeback?

"My question to our team before the game was the end of the last game who did it help more?" VanDerveer said. "Did it help get our attention? I think it did."

Chiney Ogwumike had 29 points, eight rebounds and four assists and No. 4 Stanford ran its winning streak to 20 games by beating 21st-ranked Cal 79-64 on Sunday.

Amber Orrange added 13 points for the Cardinal (21-1, 10-0 Pac-12), whose only loss came Nov. 11 at No. 1 Connecticut. Stanford is on pace for a 14th straight conference regular-season crown.

Brittany Boyd, coming off a 25-point performance in Thursday's first meeting, had 20 points, six rebounds and six assists for California (14-7, 6-4) and Mikayla Lyles added a career-high points while making her second career start after debuting in the starting five Thursday.

The sweep of Cal keeps Stanford well ahead in the Pac-12 standings. These teams shared the Pac-12 regular-season crown last season by each winning on the other's home floor, with the Golden Bears later advancing to their first Final Four berth in program history.

Ogwumike shot 10 for 16 and made 9 of 12 free throws.

"Chiney is just in there and they've got to deal with her and she finishes really well," VanDerveer said.

Stanford answered nearly every threat as Cal struggled to get timely defensive stops. Cal has played the Cardinal tougher than any other conference opponent after Stanford won its first eight Pac-12 games by an average of 25 points.

Lyles' 3-pointer with 17:16 to play cut Stanford's lead to 39-32, then Ogwumike answered on the other end. When Lyles hit another 3 at the 14:10 mark, Ogwumike quickly scored.

The game at Haas Pavilion drew 5,715 fans, but it was a far cry from the dramatic way Thursday's game changed. Stanford led by 30 with 13:45 remaining and held on for a 70-64 victory on its home floor at Maples Pavilion.

Freshman Karlie Samuelson scored 14 points off the bench Thursday as Cal struggled to defend the perimeter, opening up things for Ogwumike inside. Samuelson added 16 points Sunday, including a three-point play with 11:34 left that extended the Cardinal's lead to 52-38.

Cal coach Lindsay Gottlieb expects her team to make big strides over the final month ahead of the conference tournament March 6-9 in Seattle.

"I thought Stanford was just better," Gottlieb said. "It's such a problem with Chiney inside."

Bears leading scorer Reshanda Gray was held scoreless while playing only 14 minutes Thursday as Gottlieb stuck with a lineup she thought was clicking, but the coach told everybody afterward Gray would lead the way again Sunday. Gray's average dropped from 17.3 points to 16.5.

She was whistled for her first foul at 15:55 of the first half, then her second with 10:33 left when she tried to control the ball and hit Ogwumike in the face with her elbow.

Gray scored on her own putback, was fouled and converted the free throw for her first points 1:20 before halftime. The next time down, Boyd drove the lane for a three-point play with .9 seconds left as Cal cut its deficit to 35-25 at the break.

Gray fouled out with 5:09 left, finishing with seven points and five rebounds. Gennifer Brandon missed her initial six field-goal tries before scoring her first points with 4:26 to go and finished with four.

"Tara's the mastermind of limiting other teams' top scorers and making other players beat you," Gottlieb said.

Cal was called for two early charges, while Stanford didn't pick up its first foul until 8:38 remaining.

Stanford used a 24-7 run late in the first half to go ahead 33-19, while Cal struggled to get open looks on the offensive end while shooting 2 for 9 from 3-point range and 31 percent overall in the opening half to 56 percent by Stanford.

"Our No. 1 goal coming into the game was to be aggressive," Ogwumike said. "We wanted to get all the loose balls, the hustle plays. When we have fun as a team, it's really good basketball for us."

Cal guard Hind Ben Abdelkader went down with a lower back injury with 8:32 left when she fouled Orrange for a three-point play.

Connecticut Sun head coach Anne Donovan scouted the game after also attending Thursday's matchup -- certainly eager to get a good look at Ogwumike given her team has the No. 1 pick of the WNBA draft.

© Copyright 2014 The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

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