Plum, Huskies pick off Cardinal

Kelsey Plum led Washington to a big lead against No. 3 Stanford. When she fouled out with 1:39 to go, the freshman guard could only watch as the Cardinal rallied.

The Huskies held on for an 87-82 upset in Seattle, but not before giving Plum a scare. Stanford cut a 12-point deficit with 39 seconds left down to three with 8 seconds on the clock.

“That’s the most nervous I’ve ever been in my life,” Plum said. “I was sitting there grabbing people’s knees and elbows, and biting towels and stuff. But we had a silent confidence that we earned that game and we’re not going to give it away in the last minute.”

Aminah Williams sealed the win for the Huskies, making a pair of free throws with 4 seconds remaining, and as the final buzzer rang the Washington players danced in celebration at halfcourt.

Plum scored 23 points, one of five players in double figures for the Huskies, which led almost the entire game. It was the highest-ranked opponent the Huskies have beaten since winning against No. 2 Stanford in 1990.

The loss snapped a 62-game road conference winning streak for Stanford (22-2, 11-1 Pac-12), as well as a 14-game run against Washington (13-10, 6-6). The Cardinal’s last loss in road or neutral conference games was Jan. 18, 2009, against California in Berkeley. Stanford’s only other loss this year came at No. 1 Connecticut.

“That was crazy,” said Washington forward Talia Walton. “It was a lot of fun to be out there. We knew it was going to be hard, but we wanted it. We really wanted it.”

Stanford’s Chiney Ogwumike, the Pac-12’s leading scorer, had 23 points but was held in check for most of the game, and her teammates were unable to pick up the slack. Stanford especially had trouble from long range, shooting 9 for 41 on 3-pointers.

“I thought we slowed them down just enough, and we made them work just enough,” Washington coach Mike Neighbors said. “They could have easily gone 15 of 41 and we would not be sitting here, but they didn’t.”

Stanford last lost to Washington on Dec. 22, 2005, in Seattle.

Washington led 85-73 with less than a minute to go when Stanford started a desperate attempt at a rally.

Four straight missed free throws for UW opened the door as Bonnie Samuelson hit a 3-pointer with 39 seconds to go to start the flurry and then another 3-pointer by Samuelson with 9 seconds left cut the lead to 85-81.

The Huskies were called for a 5-second violation on the inbound, and with 7.8 seconds Ogwumike made 1 of 2 free throws to make it 85-82.

Stanford nearly pulled off another steal on the inbounds pass, but it turned into a tie-up and Washington had the possession arrow. This time, Williams pulled in a long pass and was fouled for the final free throws.

“It was a little too little, too late,” Ogwumike said. “We were really motivated to play toward the end, but the first 38 minutes we were a little lackadaisical on offense.”

A 16-2 run gave the Huskies a 64-48 lead with 91/2 left to play, and the Cardinal didn’t find an answer until it was too late.

(23) California 87, Washington State 70: Reshanda Gray scored 24 points and Brittany Boyd added 23 as the Golden Bears pulled away for a win over the Cougars in Pullman.

California (16-7, 8-4 Pac-12) trailed by as many as eight in the second half and was down 55-51 with 111/2 minutes to play. The Bears then went on a 24-2 run to mount a 75-57 lead and put the game out of reach as Washington State (12-12, 6-6) went nearly 9 minutes down the stretch without scoring from the field.

Afure Jemerigbe added 18 points and Gennifer Brandon scored 13 for Cal, which held a 55-27 rebounding advantage. Brandon led the Golden Bears with season-high 20 rebounds while Gray had 10.

Tia Presley led Washington State with 20 points. The Cougars have now dropped 6 of 7 games after beginning conference play 5-0.