The women’s basketball team opened the 2011 season with a bang on Wednesday night, routing visiting UC-San Diego 106-56 at Maples Pavilion.

Although the game was technically an exhibition, No. 5 Stanford was sharp out of the gates, particularly on the offensive end.

Stanford shot 57.5 percent from the field and went 8-18 from behind the arc against an overmatched Triton team.

The frontcourt duo of sisters Nnemkadi and Chiney Ogwumike, both All Pac-10 selections last season, combined for 38 points and 19 rebounds in 32 minutes of play. Off the bench, both freshman forward Bonnie Samuelson and junior forward Joslyn Tinkle provided big sparks for the Cardinal.

Tinkle made her first seven shots from the floor and finished with 16 points and 11 rebounds on 8-9 shooting. In her collegiate debut, Samuelson hit four three-pointers in a five-minute span of the second half and finished with 15 points in an efficient 10 minutes.

Seven months after a heartbreaking loss to Texas A&M in the semifinals of the NCAA Tournament, Stanford appears more than ready to compete for its 11th straight conference title.

The Card’s young talent showed well on Wednesday, with freshman guard Amber Orrange scoring six points and dishing out seven assists. Orrange and Samuelson were McDonald’s High School All-Americans last year and lead one of the nation’s top recruiting classes to add to a starting lineup that returns three starters.

Stanford has another exhibition game at home on Saturday afternoon against Vanguard before kicking off the regular season on the road against No. 24 Texas on Thursday, Nov. 11th at 5 p.m. PST.

– Miles Bennett-Smith