Before playing No. 5 Ohio State in its season opener on Nov. 10, No. 9 Stanford women’s basketball starts at home with an exhibition game against UC San Diego on Saturday. As an occasion for head coach Tara Vanderveer to adjust her lineup, the game will also serve as the first on-court appearance for the Stanford freshman class.

Last season, the Cardinal had also welcomed the Tritons in Maples, walking away with an easy 85-41 victory. The game had seen three players — junior Shannon Coffee, senior Brittany McPhee and former Cardinal Erica McCall — score double digits, while Stanford used a 20-0 second quarter run to seal the game from the get-go.

Stanford returns a very deep lineup in all positions, and should once again come out on top against UC San Diego. This game, however, as the first contest of the season, should give clues on the dynamic of the team for the rest of the year. During practices, coaches and players stressed that everyone was working to be better and that the team leadership was collective.

“We do have leaders on our team, but I think our coaches strive to have everybody kind of pitching in, having this collectiveness about our team, and I think it really helps,” sophomore Nadia Fingall said. “Everybody’s different. We have people that will talk, we have people that will lead by example, so just having everybody kind of pitching into the team chemistry is a big part of how we operate.”

Contact Alexandre Bucquet at bucqueta ‘at’ stanford.edu.