Stanford women use late push to beat Bears

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A Stanford media-relations staffer stumbled over the postgame news conference introduction of Alanna Smith, referring to the sophomore forward as a senior.

Head coach Tara Vanderveer jumped in and joked that Smith was actually a freshman.

The Cardinal would sure love to get three more years of production out of Smith, whose career night Thursday helped No. 10 Stanford sneak away from Haas Pavilion with a 72-66 victory over Cal in the first leg of the two-game “Battle of the Bay.”

“Today was really Alanna’s day. She was a difference-maker for our team,” Vanderveer said. “…They just didn’t have an answer for her.”

Smith came off the bench to score a career-high 27 points before fouling out and giving way to Stanford’s starters, who expertly closed out the spirited scrum.

Neither team led by more than six points during the fiercely competitive matchup, and the score was tied with 59 seconds to play. That’s when Erica McCall got fouled on a drive and made the free throws to put Stanford ahead 68-66.

Stanford’s Alanna Smith, who scored 27 points before fouling out, drives on Cal’s Kristine Anigwe in the fourth quarter. Stanford’s Alanna Smith, who scored 27 points before fouling out, drives on Cal’s Kristine Anigwe in the fourth quarter. Photo: Scott Strazzante, The Chronicle Buy photo Photo: Scott Strazzante, The Chronicle Image 1 of / 3 Caption Close Stanford women use late push to beat Bears 1 / 3 Back to Gallery

Cal’s Kristine Anigwe then split a double team, but McCall recovered to block her shot with 46 seconds remaining. Brittany McPhee gave Stanford a 70-66 lead on a double-clutch layup with 11.4 seconds on the clock.

After Anigwe missed a turnaround shot, Karlie Samuelson iced it with two free throws for the Cardinal, who beat Cal for the 17th time in the past 19 meetings. The teams are scheduled to play again at 5 p.m. Sunday at Maples Pavilion.

“If you lose the first one, I do think there’s some sort of advantage with the quick turnaround and our competitors in the locker room,” Cal head coach Lindsay Gottlieb said. “That’s the way I’m going to look at it these next couple of days, and that’s the way our players are going to look at it.…

“We’ll hopefully try to use it to our advantage.”

Stanford (23-4, 13-2 Pac-12) took a half-game lead over Washington and Oregon State for first place in the conference. Cal (17-10, 5-10) dropped a half-game back of seventh-place Washington State.

The Bears did a good defensive job against Stanford’s top two scorers, McCall and McPhee, limiting them to a combined 18 points on 7-of-30 shooting. But Smith made half of her 18 shots, and Samuelson added 17 points.

Cal had five players in double-figure scoring, led by Mikayla Cowling’s 14 points. Penina Davidson had 13 points and eight rebounds, Mi’Cole Cayton added 11 points, and Asha Thomas scored 10.

Anigwe had 10 points, but it took her 16 shots, and she was limited to five rebounds as the Cardinal out-boarded the Bears by 10.

Gottlieb made a pregame presentation to Vanderveer, who recently joined Pat Summitt and Mike Krzyzewski as the only head coaches in Division I history to win 1,000 games. With niceties aside, the competition was unleashed.

Smith came off the bench to score seven first-quarter points and spot Stanford a 20-16 lead. She continued her outburst, scoring the Cardinal’s first six points in the second quarter and extending their lead to 26-21.

The Australian scored seven straight points, including a three-pointer that put Stanford on top 64-61 with 2:40 remaining in the fourth quarter. She fouled out with 2:16 left, and Cowling tied the score with three free throws to set the stage for a thrilling final two minutes.

“I feel like this is a halftime talk, because we’ve got to turn around and play them again,” Vanderveer said after the game. “I hope our team realizes that we’ll get double the effort the next time we see them, and we’re going to have to double down and play better.”

Rusty Simmons is a San Francisco Chronicle staff writer. Email: rsimmons@sfchronicle.com Twitter: @Rusty_SFChron

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