Lulu Twidale’s big overtime leads Cal to Big Game victory over Stanford

BERKELEY — After Lulu Twidale scored 10 points in overtime to lift Cal to a 78-71 victory over Stanford in front of 4,519 fans at Haas Pavilion on Sunday afternoon, Bears coach Charmin Smith wanted to be sure her team embraced the moment.

“You have to have special moments in order to be a special team. What I want the team to know is don’t take it for granted,” Smith said. “I want them to celebrate. I want them to feel this. I want them to be happy, not be too cool for school.

“We beat Stanford and we’re going to act like we beat Stanford because of the respect we have for them. These moments are really, really meaningful.”

Certainly it was special for the Bears (12-9, 3-5 ACC), who improved to 10-1 at home and earned a season split with the Cardinal (15-6, 4-4). Cal began the day at No. 58 in the NET computer rankings, but without a victory in eight tries against their higher-level Quad 1 or 2 opponents.

Cal remains several steps from climbing onto the NCAA Tournament bubble, but has opportunities to improve its resume this week with home games Thursday against Notre Dame (13-7, 5-4) and Saturday vs. No. 8 Louisville (19-3, 9-0).

“We have a lot of work to do,” Smith said. “We need to start getting some wins against high-quality opponents and this was a great game to get us on the right track and set up Notre Dame and Louisville.”

Stanford coach Kate Paye is hoping to return the Cardinal to the NCAAs after missing last season in her debut following 36 consecutive bids under legendary coach Tara VanDerveer. For the Cardinal, which was No. 36 in the NET on Sunday morning, this outcome won’t be a deal-breaker but it didn’t help.

“We’re obviously very disappointed in the outcome. It would have been easy to kind of throw in the towel,” she said, alluding to a seven-point deficit Stanford faced with with seven minutes left.” We had a great fourth quarter. But there are no moral victories.”

Twidale, who scored a career-high 36 points a week ago in a win at Boston College, was fairly quiet much of the afternoon.

But the junior guard from Australia scored 14 of Cal’s final 17 points and her 3-pointer opening the overtime period gave the Bears a lead they never surrendered.

“She’s a great shooter,” Paye said. “We’re very aware of her. I thought we did a good job early. We gave her too many good looks late in the game. The 3’s were really kind of killers down the stretch.”

Twidale hit a 3-pointer with 27 seconds left in the fourth quarter to give Cal a 64-62 lead. She then hit one of two free throws with 13.8 seconds left, bumping the margin to three points.

But Stanford freshman Lara Somfai drilled a 3-pointer as the trailer off a feed and screen by Chloe Clardy, knotting the score with 7.5 seconds left. Alexandra Eschmeyer, another Cardinal freshman, blocked a last-second shot by Cal’s Mjracle Sheppard to force overtime.

Twidale dominated the extra period. “To have Lu be able to finish down the stretch the way she did, it’s what we expect of her and it’s what we needed,” Smith said.

Twidale finished with 24 points, Taylor Barnes had 15 and Sakima Walker scored 13 to go with three blocked shots for the Bears.

Stanford’s two freshmen delivered excellent performances. Eschmeyer, playing the fourth quarter and overtime with four fouls, had 16 points, seven rebounds and four blocked shots. Somfai contributed 16 points and nine rebounds. Clardy added 15 points.

Junior forward Nunu Agara, after absorbing her third charge, hit the ground hard with 8:58 left in regulation and did not return. Paye had no immediate report on her status.

“I hope she’s OK,” the coach said.