Cardinal ends Bears’ 36-game regular season win streak

STANFORD 68, BAYLOR 63

Stanford’s Shannon Coffee didn’t give Kalani Brown much room to maneuver in the paint, a defensive effort that helped the Cardinal build a big lead on thirdranked Baylor.

Coffee’s rare display of threepoint shooting was just as critical, providing the spark Tara VanDerveer’s team needed to close out its most significant win of the season.

Alanna Smith had 21 points and eight rebounds, Coffee made a key three-pointer late in the fourth quarter, and the 11thranked Cardinal held on to beat the previously undefeated Bears, 68-63, on Saturday in Stanford, Calif.

Kiana Williams had 13 points and five assists, DiJonai Carrington scored 10 points, and the Cardinal (7-1) ended the Bears’ 36-game winning streak in the regular season.

The 6-foot-5 Coffee set season highs with nine points and 19 minutes.

Coffee entered the day averaging fewer than five minutes per game.

NORTH CAROLINA STATE 84, MAINE 46: The 10th-ranked Wolfpack hasn’t started a season this well in nearly two decades. Coach Wes Moore couldn’t remember a better start to a game.

North Carolina State routed Maine in Raleigh, N.C., behind a career-high 14 points from Kayla Jones.

Aislinn Konig and Elissa Cunane added 11 points apiece, and Kiara Leslie and Grace Hunter each scored 10 for the Wolfpack (11-0), which had an easy time extending the second-best start in program history.

LOUISVILLE 92, NORTHERN KENTUCKY 59: Dana Evans understands her role for the fourth-ranked Cardinals is to provide a spark off the bench. The sophomore guard did that and more.

Evans scored a career-high 21 points and tied her career best with four steals to lead host Louisville to a rout of the Norse. It’s the seventh time in Louisville’s past eight games that the former McDonald’s all-American reached double figures.

Coach Jeff Walz said Evans could easily start for the Cardinals (11-0), who lost just one player from last year’s Final Four squad.