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Cameron Brink and Stanford’s ‘Funky Four’ maintain momentum

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Stanford forward Cameron Brink is congratulated by guard Haley Jones during Monday's win against UCLA. (John Hefti/USA TODAY Sports)

Stanford’s “Funky Four” seniors are gearing up for one last postseason run. They kept their momentum going Monday with a 71-66 win against Pac-12 rival UCLA.

The senior quartet has won a national championship and made two Final Four appearances in their first three seasons with the Cardinal. Their only year without a deep tournament run came in 2020, when the COVID-19 pandemic wiped out the postseason.

They’ve won 116 games with the Cardinal, including Monday’s regular-season home finale against No. 17 UCLA. Their latest win earned them a standing ovation from the Stanford faithful in attendance at Maples Pavilion.

โ€œThey call themselves the Funky Four, I call them the Final Four or the Fabulous Four,โ€ Tara VanDerveer said after the win. โ€œLet’s keep it rolling.โ€m

Haley Jones led the senior class for No. 3 Stanford (26-3) with 18 points. Hannah Jump, Francesca Belibi and Ashten Prechtel round out the group.

โ€œWe’re trying to win a Pac-12 championship and this game was necessary to do that,” Jones said. “We had to be the aggressor.โ€

Junior forward Cameron Brink did her part, leading the team with 25 points. She went 15-for-15 from the free throw line, the most free throws without a miss by a Stanford player since at least 1999, according to ESPN.

Stanford has two games remaining in the regular season, against No. 21 Colorado on Thursday and against No. 8 Utah on Saturday, before moving into the postseason.