Stanford University’s women’s basketball team will begin its 2025-26 season by hosting UNC Greensboro on Monday, November 3 at 7 p.m. The game will be broadcast on ACCNX with Tim Swartz and Joaquin Wallace providing commentary. Kevin Danna will cover the radio broadcast through GoStanford.com, the Stanford Athletics app, and Learfield’s Varsity Network.
The Cardinal enters the season with a strong record in openers, holding a 39-12 all-time mark and having won their last seven season-opening games. The team has also secured victory in its last 26 home openers. If two freshmen are in the starting lineup for this game, it would be the first time since November 17, 2000, that Stanford has started two freshmen in a season opener.
Stanford brings back a significant portion of its production from last year, returning more than half of its scoring and assists as well as nearly half of its rebounding and minutes played. The team also stands out for roster stability, having just one transfer—the fewest among all Power 4 programs.
This year’s roster features new talent from what espnW HoopGurlz ranked as the nation’s No. 3 recruiting class. Head coach Kate Paye’s first signing class includes three five-star recruits—Hailee Swain, Lara Somfai, Alexandra Eschmeyer—and two four-star recruits—Nora Ezike and Carly Amborn—with four players ranked in espnW HoopGurlz’s top 100 list. The three five-star signees tie Stanford for the national lead alongside Tennessee and LSU. Additionally, three McDonald’s All Americans (Swain, Somfai, Eschmeyer) join the team; this figure is nearly equal to the total number of such honorees on other ACC teams combined.
Individual player recognitions include Nunu Agara being named to watch lists for both the Naismith Trophy and Katrina McClain Award (power forward), while Kennedy Umeh appears on the Lisa Leslie Award (center) watch list.
Monday’s contest marks Stanford’s first-ever meeting with UNC Greensboro. In recent history against Southern Conference opponents since 2002-03, Stanford lost to Chattanooga in December 2014 but defeated them at home in December 2015. UNC Greensboro head coach Trina Patterson previously served as an assistant coach at Stanford during the 2011-12 and 2012-13 seasons when the Cardinal posted a combined record of 68-5 and reached the Final Four in 2012.
“
