Up Next: At home with Riverside and Bakersfield

The Cardinal have climbed out of the deep end of the pool and returned to Maples for games against UC Riverside on Friday evening at 7:00 pm and CSU Bakersfield on Sunday afternoon at 2:00 pm.

It's almost Thanksgiving, and Stanford Athletics is collecting canned food at both games. Bring some non-perishable goodies to help out — you can get a free general admission ticket for each donation.

There will be a chalk talk before each game and a Behind-the-Bench session after the game on Sunday.

  UC Riverside Highlanders

Riverside plays in the Big West Conference, along with Hawaii, UC Davis, and six other southern California schools. They've been picked to finish fifth this season.

They played USC on Monday night and lost 46-64.

Riverside's two most productive players from last season graduated, taking with them almost 40% of the team's scoring and rebounding. They'll likely be led this season by redshirt senior guard Lauren Holt and senior guard Michelle Curry.

The Cardinal and the Highlanders have met just once before — at Maples in the first round of the NCAA tournament in 2010 (game story).

Here is Riverside's roster.

This is the media coverage of the game:

• TV: Pac-12
• Video: Pac-12 Live
• Audio: Stanford All-Access, Sidearm Sports
• Stats: Stanford Live Stats, Sidearm Sports

  CSU Bakersfield Roadrunners

The Roadrunners play in the WAC and are the only California team in the conference. The other members are all over the western half of the country — Chicago. Phoenix, Kansas City, New Mexico, Seattle, Texas, Utah. The Roadrunners not only travel a lot — they also play some very tough teams.

The game on Sunday is the third consecutive one between Stanford and Bakersfield, but with just one McCall this time — Bird's dad, head coach Greg McCall.

Coach McCall likes to challenge his team in the non-conference season. The Roadrunners played four Top25 teams last season, and placed fourth in the WAC with a 24-6 record. They've been picked to finish second this season

The Roadrunners are led by senior forward Aja Williams, who was named to the All-WAC second team. She averaged 11.2 points and 4.1 rebounds last season.She took 40% of her shots from beyond the arc and made 30% of them.

The Roadrunners' strongest player is redhshirt senior center Jazmyne Bartee. She averaged 6.9 rebounds, 2.6 blocks and 8.0 points last season.

The Roadrunners have added a 6'5" junior college transfer, Nandi Jorden, to their roster this season. She has played just a few minutes in the Roadrunner's first two games of the season.

Here is Bakersfield's roster.

This is the media coverage of the game:

• Video: Stanford Live
• Audio: Stanford All-Access, Sidearm Sports
• Stats: Stanford Live Stats, Sidearm Sports

The Cardinal will wear their N7-inspired turquoise uniforms at this game in celebration of Honor Native American Heritage Month. The N7 philosophy embraces the Native philosophy: "In every deliberation we must consider the impact of our decisions on the next seven generations." Read more about N7 in: Stanford partners with N7 (last season's story).