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Let’s see: Stanford beats Cal 79-52 on Wednesday. Cal heads into Saturday’s rematch with its archrival without its best player. The makings of a Cinderella story? Sorry, afraid not. 

The Cardinal used a delicate balance of sharp outside shooting and old-fashioned muscle to beat the Bears into submission on Saturday at Haas Pavilion, winning 79-51 in a game that wasn’t as close as the final score indicated. With Cal senior forward Ami Forney bedridden with the flu and 6-foot-5 post Olga Volkova on crutches after spraining her ankle during a shootaround, the Bears were in no shape to put up much of a fight and were out-rebounded 49-35. 

From the post-game comments, it sounded as if Stanford just barely escaped with a win, rather than cruising to a 27-point win. 

“We missed a lot of shots that usually go down for us,” Stanford head coach Tara Vanderveer said. 

“We just kind of held them off for most of the game. It wasn’t the best game we’ve ever played,” Stanford guard Nicole Powell said. 

The talent gap between the two teams was no more evident than late in the first half. Stanford, already comfortably ahead, put four freshmen on the court, while Cal was still going with their top lineup. Yet Stanford still looked remarkably superior, with freshman guard Sebnem Kimyaciouglu lighting the Bears up for four 3-pointers in the half, including one just before the buzzer that put the Cardinal up 42-27 at halftime. 

“I guess (the Stanford coaches) want me to shoot a little more, and it helps my confidence knowing they won’t take me out if I miss,” Kimyaciouglu said. 

It helped that she didn’t miss very much. The former Pinewood High star finished 5-of-7 from the field, scoring 14 points, one of four Stanford players who reached double figures. The Bears, on the other hand, missed a lot, shooting just 29 percent from the field and going 3-for-18 from behind the arc. The poor shooting effort not only doomed the Bears to defeat, it made them passive on defense against one of the most explosive teams in the country. 

“We wanted to press more, because we know they don’t like pressure,” Cal head coach Caren Horstmeyer said. “But we have to score to press, and we didn’t do that.” 

The lone bright spot for Cal was the play of redshirt freshman Kiki Williams. Always aggressive offensively, Williams turned it up a notch on Saturday while starting in Forney’s place. She put up 14 shots in her 24 minutes of play, scoring 18 points and showing good inside-out ability with two 3-pointers and some nice post moves. 

“The last game I only took three shots,” Williams said. “Even if I don’t make the first couple, I know I have to keep shooting.”