BERKELEY >> Stephen Curry wasn’t in the building on Friday night in Berkeley. But he might as well have been.

On a night where the Cal women’s basketball team rained a program-record 18 3-pointers, the Bears beat Stanford 83-63 for the first time in five years of Big Game play. It was the largest margin of victory for Cal in the series since 1982.

So is there a changing of the guard underway in this storied rivalry? At least for one night, it was more like a hostile takeover.

“Stanford was the favorite in the spread,” Cal coach Charmin Smith said. “People don’t know. I’m not worried about it, because we’re going to keep showing them and get what we deserve.”

Playing their first-ever game in Atlantic Coast Conference competition, the Bears (10-1, 1-0 ACC) looked every bit the part of a contender in their new conference against a familiar opponent. They spread the floor with diverse threats from 3-point range — four players splashed at least three 3-pointers.

And Stanford, which loves to utilize the long ball as well, only got off 17 total, making nine. The Cardinal (7-3, 0-1 ACC), who set their own program record with 18 made 3s in a season-opening win over Le Moyne, looked discombobulated by Cal’s constant ball pressure.

“They played a great game,” Stanford coach Kate Paye said. “They shot the ball extremely well. More than that, I think they flat-out wanted it more. We were out-coached, I thought we were outplayed. You saw a Cal team that was highly motivated, and they played extremely hard. They rebounded the ball well. They were very aggressive on defense. They took us out of a lot of stuff, and the basket obviously got really big for them. Credit to them.”

Despite several turnovers by Stanford in the early going, the Cardinal managed to remain within a few points until midway through the second quarter. But eventually, Cal’s excellence took its toll.

A trio of 3-pointers by Lulu Twidale, Kayla Williams and Ioanna Krimili quickly extended the Bears’ 19-16 lead to 28-16. That set the tone for the remainder of the game, which was played on Cal’s terms.

“We know who we are,” said Twidale, who finished with 20 points and six made 3s. “We know what we can do. We don’t care what any outside noise says we can’t. We show up and we do what we do.”

Forward Marta Suarez led Cal with 21 points and went 4-of-6 from deep. Krimili added 20 with four made 3s, and Williams dropped in 13 with three 3-pointers.