Stanford women win Pac-12 title, look to NCAA tournament

Step 2 has been completed by the Stanford women’s basketball team.

The Cardinal breezed through the Pac-12 Conference regular season and completed a three-day run through the conference tournament with a 77-62 victory over California on Saturday at Staples Center.

Now comes the hard work. The second-ranked Cardinal, which has been to four consecutive Final Fours and won the national title in 2010, will see its path in the NCAA tournament on Monday.

“I think, at this point, it is obvious what we’d like to achieve,” senior forward Nnemkadi Ogwumike said. “We went undefeated [in conference play]. We won the tournament.… The postseason is here and we’re going to find out on Monday where we’re going to be.”

But, she said, “it doesn’t matter where we are. We’re going to go there and play and have fun.”

The Cardinal (31-1) had a ball Saturday.

California (24-9) couldn’t contend with Stanford’s sister act. Nnemkadi Ogwumike had 29 points and 12 rebounds, and Chiney Ogwumike had 17 points and 13 rebounds.

The best you could say about the Golden Bears (24-9) was that they stuck around into the second half.

Stanford jumped to a 17-4 lead, only to see California crawl back, getting to within six by halftime. But the 37-31 deficit was an illusion.

A jumper by Nnemkadi Ogwumike gave the Cardinal a 50-35 lead with 15 minutes 27 seconds left. Stanford pushed that lead to 21 with four minutes left.

California Coach Lindsay Gottlieb was impressed, saying Stanford had “the combination of ridiculous athleticism, skill and the will to get better.”

chris.foster@latimes.com

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