LAS VEGAS — The oldest rivalry in women’s college basketball turned into a Friday night headliner on the Las Vegas Strip.

Neither team disappointed.

Stanford remained unbeaten when facing Cal in the Pac-12 tournament, topping the Bears 72-54 in a quarterfinal at the MGM Grand Garden.

The Cardinal had three players score in double figures, led by Kiana Williams, who had 23 points, seven rebounds and six assists. DiJonai Carrington had 16 points and Alanna Smith chipped in 15.

Clinging to a three-point lead heading into the fourth quarter, Stanford closed the game on a 17-2 run and outscored the Bears 25-10 in the final stanza behind 72.7 percent (8-for-11) shooting from the floor. The Cardinal was 4-for-5 from beyond the 3-point line in the period, with Williams making three of those shots.

But it was Shannon Coffee’s lone field goal of the game that was the dagger. She drained a 3-pointer with 4:11 left to push Stanford’s lead to 58-52. Williams followed with another 3-pointer to extend the lead to nine, and seventh-ranked Stanford never looked back.

“I know I have confidence in my teammates to create some other plays, so I’m kind of out there facilitating, trying to run the offense and get the best shot there as possible,” Coffee said. “So when the time came, I took my shot.”

The Cardinal hit their last six field-goal attempts of the game. Cal missed its last eight tries.

“We knew it was going to be a great battle, but at halftime (coach) Tara (VanDerveer) made some adjustments and we just stuck with our game plan and luckily we made some shots,” Williams said. “That shot Shannon shot, that was huge. That was a huge momentum in that it took us (through) the rest of the fourth quarter.”

The Cardinal face 11th-seeded Washington, a 68-67 winner over No. 11 Oregon State, in the semifinals.

Stanford, which is now 43-5 all-time at the event, has won 12 of the 17 tournament titles. The Cardinal improved to 20-1 in the tournament when scoring at least 70, 43-0 when holding an opponent to 70 or less.

“I really think we just kept running, Kianna was fantastic, big shots. ... I think our depth really helped us, being able to keep people fresh,” VanDerveer said. “Everyone really contributed; they were very locked in.”

It was the eighth time the rivals have met in the tournament.

Cal’s Recee Caldwell, who finished with a team-high 17 points, scored her 1,000th career point in the first quarter when she drained a 3-pointer as part of an 11-1 run that gave the Bears a 14-7 lead. After Caldwell collected her second foul and started the second quarter on the bench, Stanford took advantage with three consecutive field goals to pull ahead 19-16.

Stanford shot 48 percent (12 of 25) in the first half, including three 3-pointers from Williams, who scored nine in the first 20 minutes.

The Bears hit 11 of 37 (29.7 percent) from the floor in the first half and finished the game at 28.8 percent (19-for-66). Cal struggled with its long-range game, hitting 7 of 30 (23.3 percent) from beyond the arc, 1 of 13 (7.7 percent) in the second half.

Cal’s two worst shooting games of the season have come at the hands of Stanford: 26.7 percent (16 of 60 on Feb. 2) and Friday.

“Thought we had a great opportunity there,” Cal coach Lindsay Gottlieb said. “I’m extremely proud of the way our kids fought, and I told them in the locker room, what I’m proud of is that 4-for-15, 2-for-15, 2-for-10 from three of our starters will never happen again.”

Kristine Anigwe struggled against the Cardinal, hitting 4 of 15 from the floor. She finished with 14 points and 14 rebounds. Anigwe, who registered her 32nd consecutive double-double, finished her Pac-12 tournament career ranked third in points scored (192), third in field goals made (74), and second in rebounds (112).

“Our bigs did a great job on her, as well as the guards doubling,” Williams said of her team’s effort in defending the all-conference post player.

W.G. Ramirez is a freelance writer.