Kelsey Plum led Washington to a big lead against No. 3 Stanford. When she fouled out with 1:39 to go, the freshman guard could only watch as the Cardinal rallied.
The Huskies held on for an 87-82 upset but not before giving Plum a scare. Stanford cut a 12-point deficit with 39 seconds left down to three with 8 seconds on the clock.
“That’s the most nervous I’ve ever been in my life,” Plum said. “I was sitting there grabbing people’s knees and elbows, and biting towels and stuff. But we had a silent confidence that we earned that game and we’re not going to give it away in the last minute.”
Aminah Williams sealed the win for the Huskies, making a pair of free throws with 4 seconds remaining, and as the final buzzer rang the Washington players danced in celebration at half court.
Plum scored 23 points, one of five players in double figures for the Huskies, which led almost the entire game. It was the highest-ranked opponent the Huskies have beaten since winning against No. 2 Stanford in 1990.
The loss snapped a 62-game road conference winning streak for Stanford (22-2, 11-1 Pac-12), as well as a 14-game run against Washington (13-10, 6-6). The Cardinal’s last loss in road or neutral conference games was Jan. 18, 2009, against California in Berkeley. Stanford’s only other loss this year came at No. 1 Connecticut.
“That was crazy,” said Washington’s Talia Walton. “It was a lot of fun to be out there. We knew it was going to be hard, but we wanted it. We really wanted it.”
Chiney Ogwumike had 23 points but was held in check for most of the game, and her teammates were unable to pick up the slack. The Cardinal especially had trouble from long-range, shooting 9 for 41 on 3-pointers.
“I thought we slowed them down just enough, and we made them work just enough,” Washington coach Mike Neighbors said. “They could have easily gone 15 of 41 and we would not be sitting here, but they didn’t.”
Mikaela Ruef set career highs with 16 points and 22 rebounds, and Bonnie Samuelson scored 14 for Stanford, which last lost to Washington Dec. 22, 2005, in Seattle.
Washington led 85-73 with less than a minute to go when Stanford started a desperate attempt at a rally. Four straight missed free throws for Washington opened the door as Bonnie Samuelson hit a 3-pointer with 39 seconds to go to start the flurry and then another 3-pointer by Samuelson with 9 seconds left cut the lead to 85-81. The Huskies were called for a 5-second violation on the inbound, and with 7.8 seconds Ogwumike made one of two free throws to make it 85-82. Stanford nearly pulled off another steal on the inbounds pass, but it turned into a tie-up and Washington had the possession arrow. This time, William pulled in a long pass and was fouled for the final free throws.
No. 23 CALIFORNIA 87, at WASHINGTON STATE — Reshanda Gray scored 24 points and Brittany Boyd added 23 as No. 23 California pulled away.
California (16-7, 8-4 Pac-12) trailed by as many as eight in the second half and was down 55-51 with 111/2 minutes to play. The Golden Bears then went on a 24-2 run to mount a 75-57 lead and put the game out of reach as Washington State (12-12, 6-6) went nearly nine minutes down the stretch without scoring from the field.
