The BYU women's basketball team has a chance to advance to the WBIT Final Four.
And the one thing standing in their way? The No. 2 seed Stanford Cardinal. The Cougars and Cardinal meet at 7 p.m. Thursday at the Marriott Center.
The teams last met back in 2019 in the NCAA Tournament Round of 32, where Stanford came away with a 78-69 win.
After playing some of the best basketball of the season on Monday against the Missouri Tigers, the Cougars hope to bring the same intensity against Stanford and flip the script.
Another win would also mark the first time that the Cougars have won three or more games in postseason play since 2010.
The victory would push head coach Lee Cummard past BYU coaching legend Jeff Judkins and secure him the title of the winningest first-year head coach in program history.
Once again, the Cougars have an opportunity to break records and make their mark.
But who are the Cardinal, and how can BYU prevail?
Stanford spreads the scoring load, with five players averaging double figures. Two of them are standout freshmen, Lara Somfai and Hailee Swain. This makes Stanford the only Power Four program with multiple freshmen averaging at least 10 points per game.
Somfai is fifth in the ACC in rebounding, averaging 9.0 rebounds per game. Her combination of scoring and rebounding has earned her four conference Rookie of the Week honors.
Swain scored a career-high 20 points in the final game of the regular season — the first 20-point performance for a Stanford freshman since WNBA star Cameron Brink was playing for the program.
Young firepower isn’t a new concept to the Cougars, however.
Freshmen players Olivia Hamlin, Sydney Benally, Bolanle Yussuf and Braeden Gunlock have made their offensive presence known, accounting for 38.5 percent of BYU’s scoring this season.
Hamlin is also coming off a standout performance against Missouri, tying her career high of 23 points.
With so much offensive talent coming from both sides of the matchup, the game will likely come down to defensive stops and making the most of second-chance scoring.
The winner will head to Wichita, Kansas, to face either San Diego State or Kansas on March 30.