Bay Area hoops: Stanford women, streaking Saint Mary’s men steady in polls, but injury bites Gaels

The Stanford women remained No. 3 in the Associated Press rankings released Monday morning after beating Cal 84-49 on Friday night.

The Cardinal was identified last week as a No. 1 seed in the NCAA’s early look at its projected tournament field, then went on to dominate the Bay Area showdown as Kiki Iriafen led the way with 23 points and 11 rebounds.

Stanford, which is tops in the high-octane Pac-12, faces Arizona and Arizona State this weekend before a road game next week at No. 9 Oregon State, which is second in the league.

Saint Mary’s starting forward Joshua Jefferson will be out indefinitely due to a knee injury, the San Francisco Chronicle reported Monday.

Jefferson has been a solid contributor to the No. 18 Gaels, averaging 10.2 points and 6.5 rebounds for a squad that enters this week on a 13-game winning streak.

The Gaels cruised to a 103-59 home win over Pepperdine without Jefferson on Thursday in their lone game last week, keeping their undefeated West Coast Conference record intact. They face the conference’s second-place team, San Francisco, in a home game Tuesday night (8 p.m., CBS Sports), then host San Diego on Saturday.