For the first time in 12 years, the Stanford women’s basketball team has earned a No. 1 seed in the NCAA Tournament.

The Cardinal (31-1, 18-0 Pac-10) has been ranked No. 2 in the nation all year long, and this ranking has led the NCAA Women’s Basketball Selection Committee to award Stanford with the top seed in the Sacramento regional.

Stanford will begin its NCAA Tournament play with a game against 16th-seeded UC-Riverside (17-15, 11-5 Big West). The Highlanders won 14 of their final 17 games after a 3-12 start to secure the Big West’s automatic bid. The two teams have never met.

If Stanford wins, it will face the winner of the 8-9 game between eighth-seeded Iowa and ninth-seeded Rutgers.

Both first-round games and the second-round game will take place on the Cardinal’s home floor at Maples Pavilion. The Hawkeyes and Scarlet Knights tip off at 5 p.m. on Saturday, followed by Stanford and UC-Riverside at 7:30 p.m. The winners will face off Monday night at 6:30 p.m.