After sweeping its opposition at home in two preseason exhibition games, the Stanford women’s basketball team travels to Austin tonight to tip-off the regular season. The No. 5 Cardinal will face the No. 24 Longhorns in a rematch of last year’s game at Maples, in which Stanford held out against a resurgence by the opposition to win 93-78.

Outside of the NCAA Tournament, the Card has not lost a game since last December, but it is hard to ignore the defeat to Texas A&M in the semifinals last year that doomed it to return yet again empty-handed from the Final Four. Luckily, though, it faces a different brand of Texan school tonight, and against the Longhorns the recent record looks to be in Stanford’s favor. The Cardinal leads the current series 4-2, and the four wins come from the last four meetings. A season-opening road game against ranked opposition, however, is no simple matter, and Texas can take comfort from an undefeated home opener record (4-0) under head coach Gail Goestenkors.

The two biggest names in the Cardinal ranks — the Ogwumike sisters, forwards senior Nnemkadi and sophomore Chiney, both named to the Wooden Award preseason list — may still be there, but after graduating five seniors last year and welcoming six freshmen to the team, it is perhaps more of an unknown quantity than in recent seasons. This could work in its favor, but an equally tough away game at such an early point might highlight the lack of experience within the squad.

But while the Longhorns have fewer freshmen, the team is also a relatively young one with a large number of sophomores and fewer upperclassmen than the Card. The few seniors, though, look like they should provide good continuity for the program. Of those returning, senior guards Yvonne Anderson and Ashleigh Fontenette were the highest scorers last season with 11.8 and 11.7 points per game respectively, while senior post Ashley Gayle posted an impressive 241 rebounds and 117 blocks, a statistic marred slightly by her 105 personal fouls and the four games she fouled out of.

For their part, Nnemkadi posted the highest scoring average of any Cardinal player last year with 17.5 points, and Chiney made 11.7, though she also fouled out of four games. A basketball team, however, is more than just two forwards, and players like senior guard Lindy La Rocque will need to step up into the vacuum left by the departing WNBA first-round picks forward Kayla Pedersen and guard Jeanette Pohlen. On the basis of two exhibition contests the signs are good — with five players not named Ogwumike (including La Rocque) already having put up double-digits in a game — but tonight will be a sterner test.

Head coach Tara VanDerveer’s Cardinal hasn’t not lost at home since Nov. 2007 — against the USA national team — but road games have been a tougher proposition. Perhaps the good news may be that four players — freshmen guards Alex Green and Amber Orrange together with the Ogwumike sisters — are from Texas, making this a home game in its own right.