By Alexandre Bucquet on December 30, 2017

Unranked for the first time in 16 years, Stanford women’s basketball (7-6, 1-0 Pac-12) still managed to outlast No. 11 UCLA (9-3, 0-1) 76-65 behind another high-scoring performance from senior Brittany McPhee who put up 13 points in the final frame of the game.

Entering conference play, the Cardinal didn’t exactly have the season start the way they expected: having played five top-ten teams in the AP poll in 12 games and losing its leading scorer McPhee to a foot injury for a month, Stanford had recorded its worst 12-game season beginning since the 1998-1999 season. Moreover, the Cardinal had dropped its last two home games, and was hoping to avoid its first three straight loses at home since 1985-1986, head coach Tara VanDerveer’s first season on the Farm.

Despite these challenges, the team steeped up and was able to answer every UCLA scoring run with one of its own, eventually edging its conference rival.

“[We wanted this game] so badly,” said McPhee. “We talked about it all week and were ready to go.”

McPhee scored a game-high 26 points for the Cardinal, only a few days after dropping 27 on Tennessee. Junior Alanna Smith chipped in 14 points and 13 rebounds for Stanford as she recorded her fifth double-double in eight games. Sophomore Nadia Fingall also had a big game as she scored 10 points while contributing six points to the Cardinal’s fourth quarter burst.

For the Bruins, Jordin Canada led the charge with 20 points, Kennedy Burke and Japreece Dean had 14 apiece and Monique Billings finished with 13 points and 10 rebounds.

Smith gave Stanford its first double digits lead in the middle of the second with a trey from deep, but the Bruins answered with an 11-2 scoring run to end the half and pulled back within three points, 32-29. During the stretch, Canada scored seven for UCLA, including a three pointer as time was expiring.

“[UCLA] can cut a lead in a matter of minutes,” said McPhee. “We just wanted to be fearless, and that’s what we did.”

Early in the second half, the Cardinal entered a 14-5 run over six minutes to bring back their lead to double digits, yet UCLA managed to pull within one possession as the Bruins outscored the Cardinal 10-2 to close the third period, and Canada once again capped the comeback with a buzzer-beater.

The final quarter was a different story, ad this time the Bruins weren’t able to climb back from the 10-point lead Stanford built behind McPhee and Fingall. The senior got things started with back-to-back treys before Fingall had consecutive baskets of her own from te elbow to put her team up 57-46.

UCLA cut it to three once again but McPhee responded with a three pointer. Defense eventually sealed the win as UCLA missed its last seven shots.

Stanford went 7-of-8 in the fourth quarter while scoring 13 points off 17 attempts from the free throw line.

The team now gets ready to host USC on Dec. 31 in Maples Pavilion.

Contact Alexandre Bucquet at bucqueta ‘at’ stanford.edu.