Cal’s 20th-ranked women’s basketball team handily defeated SMU 81-66 Sunay night at Moody Coliseum in Dallas, bounceing back from a loss on Thursday against Clemson.

Senior forward Marta Suárez led the Golden Bears (14-2) with 19 points and six rebounds while graduate guard Kayla Williams totaled 17 points, 7 assists, 5 rebounds and 2 steals. Sophomore guard Lulu Twidale and graduate guard Ioanna Krimili contributed 13 and 10 points, respectively.

SMU fell to 9-6.

The Golden Bears entered halftime with a four-point lead as Suárez led all scorers with 10 points at the break.

Cal expanded that lead to 13 points going into the fourth quarter by outscoring SMU, 24-15, making five of their six 3-pointers on the evening in the third.

Cal’s next game will be against No. 22 N.C. State (11-3), which blew out Boston College (10-7) by 39 points on Sunday.

— Justice delos Santos

Stanford falls to Clemson in OT >> After taking a four-point lead in overtime, Stanford (8-6) surrendered eight unanswered points and loss to Clemson (10-5) on the road, 65-61. For the Cardinal, it was their third consecutive loss and fifth in their last six games.

Stanford began the overtime period on a 5-1 run over the first three minutes, four of those five points coming from sophomore forward Nunu Agara. From there, Clemson rattled off eight straight points to defend home court, six of those points being poured in from graduate guard Loyal McQueen.

Agara led the Cardinal with 18 points and 11 rebounds, her fifth double-double of the season. The sophomore, currently averaging 17.5 points per game, has hit double figures in all but one of her 13 games this season.

Bueckers leaves early with injury >> Geno Auriemma has seen more than his fair share of “freaky” injuries over the last few years.

When UConn star guard Paige Bueckers went down with a knee injury late in the third quarter going for a loose ball, he hoped this wouldn’t be another one of those.

The early reports of the severity of it were encouraging, the Hall of Fame coach said.

“The news from what you can tell was not lousy,” Auriemma said after the 83-52 victory over Villanova on Sunday. “Let’s put it that way.”

Bueckers had 15 points and nine assists before getting hurt. The injury occurred in the same knee that she tore her ACL in 2022. UConn has had so many injuries over the last few years, barely being able to field a healthy roster at times. The Huskies are still missing a couple players this season — Caroline Ducharme (head), Ayanna Patterson (shoulder) and Aubrey Griffin (torn ACL).

Men’s basketball

Gaels dominate second half in decisive win >> Saint Mary’s poured in 53 points in the second half against Portland en route to an 81-58 win on the road, the third straight win to open West Coast Conference play for the Gaels (13-3).

The win marked the Gaels’ 11th straight over the Pilots (5-12) at the Chiles Center.

Senior guard Augustas Marciulionis stuffed the stat sheet to the tune of 20 points, 6 assists and a season-high 6 rebounds. Sophomore guard Jordan Ross contributed 14 points, 4 assists and 4 rebounds.

— Justice delos Santos

Stojakovic shines in loss to Clemson >> Andrej Stojakovic scored 30 points and made 11 of 15 shots from the field, but Cal fell to Clemson on the road, 80-68. For the Bears (7-7), it was their third straight loss and sixth loss in their last seven games.

It was the second time this season that Stojakovic had scored at least 30 points, the other instance being on Dec. 14 when he scored a career-high 31 points against Northwestern State. The sophomore’s average of 19.9 points per game is the second highest in the ACC behind only Stanford’s Maxime Raynaud (20.9).

— Justice delos Santos

No. 7 Kansas enjoys second-largest margin of victory over UCF >> Hunter Dickinson scored 21 of his 27 points in the first half and No. 7 Kansas posted the second-largest margin of victory in program history Sunday, beating UCF 99-48 in a Big 12 matchup.

Dickinson, a 7-foot-2 senior center, shot 12 for 17 from the field and had nine rebounds while limiting UCF’s Moustapha Thiam, a 7-2 freshman who was slowed by foul trouble, to four points.

Flory Bidunga had 12 points and five rebounds, Rylan Griffen scored 14 points and Dajuan Harris Jr. and AJ Storr each had 11 for the Jayhawks (10-3, 1-1).