Stanford’s women’s basketball team was unable to complete a comeback against California, falling 78-71 in overtime on Sunday evening in Berkeley.
Freshman Lara Somfai forced the game into overtime with a three-pointer late in regulation. She finished with 16 points and nine rebounds. Another freshman, Alexandra Eschmeyer, also scored 16 points—a career high—while adding seven rebounds and four blocks.
Stanford led by ten after the first quarter but was tied with Cal at halftime. The Golden Bears built an eight-point lead midway through the third quarter and were ahead 59-52 with just over six minutes left in regulation. Stanford responded with an 8-0 run, capped by Eschmeyer’s offensive rebound and putback that gave the Cardinal its first lead of the second half at 60-59.
Eschmeyer added another basket with 34 seconds remaining to make it 62-61 for Stanford. After a timeout, Cal’s Lulu Twidale hit a three-pointer to reclaim the lead for the Golden Bears. Twidale later split two free throws, setting up Somfai’s game-tying shot with 7.5 seconds left.
After Twidale’s free throw, “Somfai inbounded to Chloe Clardy, who pushed the ball up the floor to the top of the arc, turned her back to the basket to seal her defender and dropped it back to the trailing Somfai who confidently let it fly.”
In overtime, both teams struggled offensively; Stanford missed six consecutive shots and went 3-for-12 from the field during extra time. Cal made four baskets in overtime, including two three-pointers from Twidale.
Somfai and Eschmeyer contributed most of their points after halftime and in overtime. Somfai scored 14 of her total points in that span despite foul trouble keeping her out of much of the first half. Eschmeyer tallied 13 points and all four blocks after halftime as well.
With Talana Lepolo unavailable for this game, Chloe Clardy started for Stanford for the first time this season and played all 45 minutes while scoring 15 points. Hailee Swain added ten points.
Eschmeyer’s performance marked her as only the fourth Stanford freshman since at least 2002–03 to record at least 16 points, seven rebounds, and four blocks in a single game—a feat last achieved by Cameron Brink against Oregon State on March 5, 2021.
Stanford will return home Thursday night to host No. 8 Louisville at Maples Pavilion.
