Stanford prevails against Arizona again in NCAA women's basketball championship rematch

STANFORD, Calif. — Cameron Brink dominated in the paint on both ends of the court and finished with 25 points, 15 rebounds and three blocked shots, leading reigning national champion and No. 2 Stanford past eighth-ranked Arizona 75-69 on Sunday in a long-anticipated rematch of the NCAA title game.

Brink raised both arms in joy as the final buzzer sounded.

Sophomore Jana Van Gytenbeek came off the bench and contributed career bests of six 3-pointers and 18 points as Stanford (16-3, 7-0 Pac-12) remained unbeaten in Pac-12 play with its eighth straight win since falling 65-61 at No. 1 South Carolina on Dec. 21.

Cate Reese scored 17 points for Arizona, which lost the the NCAA championship game in April 54-53 to the Cardinal in an unprecedented all-Pac-12 final. Stanford captured just the third national title in program history and first since 1992.

Arizona coach Adia Barnes vowed from before this new season started to push her Wildcats to be better from the positive experience, even in losing.

This date had been circled on both teams' calendars since schedules were released with the game as the lone regular-season matchup between the Pac-12 rivals — one of the four teams only faced once during the 18-game conference schedule.

Brink made all three of her shots in the first quarter to go with five rebounds and finished 10 for 12 from the floor on a day Cardinal co-leading scorer Haley Jones struggled at 2 of 12 for four points against the Wildcats' Pac-12 leading scoring defense that allowed 54.6 points per game entering play Sunday.

The Cardinal jumped out to a quick 6-0 lead with Lexie Hull hitting the first two baskets of the game but finished the first missing four straight shots with a scoring drought of 2:23 to hold a