Brittany McPhee pours in 26 as Stanford beats Colorado

[...] it happened, the Cardinal appeared in danger of losing their second straight game at home.

Colorado came into Friday with a 3-9 Pac-12 record, tied for ninth place, but the Buffaloes gave the No. 8 Cardinal all they could handle until a fourth-quarter spurt put Stanford in control.

With Oregon State’s upset loss to USC, Stanford moved back into a tie for first place with the Beavers and Washington.

McPhee banked in a shot, followed with a tough off-balance layup and hit two foul shots to tie it 37-37.

Alanna Smith’s layup gave Stanford its first lead since the opening minutes, 39-37.

Colorado pushed ahead 44-43 on five straight points by Kennedy Leonard, but McCall sank a 23-foot three-pointer at the third-quarter buzzer for a 46-44 lead.

The defenses were so dominant in the first half that Stanford was called for a shot-clock violation and immediately defended Colorado into the same violation.

Robinson’s field goal for Colorado finished the first-half scoring.