After suffering a blowout loss to the No. 7 Washington Huskies on Sunday, the WSU women’s basketball team will take on another tough conference opponent, No. 10 Stanford Cardinal (17-3, 7-1), this weekend at Beasley Coliseum.

Cougar fans are waiting with bated breath to see if WSU can find its stride in the offensive game and rise above the (tied for) number one team in the Pac-12 Conference.

Statistically, the Cougars have not beat the Cardinal in their past 60 games against the team, and this matchup looks to be another tough one for the Cougs. The Cardinal have only lost one conference game this season, falling to No. 16 Oregon State.

The Cougs are still missing their leading scorers junior forward Louise Brown and sophomore forward Borislava Hristova due to injuries. This lack of key players has slowed the Cougs’ offensive production. Freshman guards Cameron Fernandez and Chanelle Molina remain out due to injury, which drastically hurts the Cougs’ depth at the guard position.

Stanford’s most efficient offensive weapon is coming to Pullman in the form of senior forward Erica McCall, who is currently averaging 16.3 points per game and 8.7 rebounds per contest. McCall is also on the watch lists for the Naismith Trophy, Wade Trophy and Wooden Award. The senior forward also became Stanford’s 37th 1,000-point scorer earlier this season.

The Cardinal is currently ranked second in the highly competitive and revered Pac-12 Conference for offense, averaging 75.8 points per game in comparison to the 56.3 points they allow their opponents to score per game. Head Coach Tara VanDerveer is just three wins short of joining Pat Summitt as the only NCAA women’s basketball coaches with 1,000 wins.

The Cougars rise to Stanford’s challenge at 8 p.m. on Friday at home in Pullman. WSU will also tip off against California at 12 p.m. on Sunday. Friday’s game will be televised on the Pac-12 Network.

Reporting by Jesse Woodhead