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If the early part of Stanford's schedule was the leadoff, the second-ranked Cardinal women's basketball team is about to face the heart of the order.

Junior forward Kayla Pedersen scored 17 points and grabbed 11 rebounds as Stanford beat host UC Davis, 76-51, Sunday in a nonconference contest.

Stanford's next eight opponents all played in last year's NCAA tournament, and the next five are at Maples Pavilion beginning with Utah in a 1 p.m. Friday affair.

Gonzaga, DePaul, Duke and Tennessee follow, with road trips to defending national champion Connecticut and Fresno State before opening the Pac-10 season against Cal.

There's no pitching around these heavyweights.

"They are five great programs, five great teams that will be a challenge for us," Stanford coach Tara VanDerveer said.

"It's great to be at home," Pedersen said. "Maples is my favorite place to play. We get a lot of support there."

Pedersen has recorded her first double-double of the season, another by-product of teams trying to take away senior All-American Jayne Appel, who had 18 points and nine rebounds against the Aggies.

"We have to be better with our zone offense," Pedersen said. "They did a lot of good things. They run the Princeton offense perfectly."

UC Davis coach Sandy Simpson said he thought long and hard about what the Aggies could do to keep Stanford off balance.

"You have to pick your poison and when we came up with our game plan we were determined to stick to it," said Simpson, who played high school basketball at nearby Hillsdale High in the 1970s. "Stanford's basketball acumen, their work ethic, their team speed; it's impressive. Their post contingent is the best in the country. Jayne Appel has the best hands of any post player I've seen. It's just scary. They can go big, they can go small; they are so versatile."

UC Davis tried a number of things about Stanford to mixed success. The Aggies effectively took away Stanford's transition game, worked the shot clock and all but dared the Cardinal to shoot over their zone.

"That's a well-coached team," VanDerveer said. "They shoot the ball well, they executed their offense and their kids played hard. They wanted to take away our inside game and we had people hit perimeter shots. They did take away the transition game and we didn't get any easy baskets. They were able to control the tempo of the game and that's something where we need to be more aggressive."

Stanford (4-0) is a little thin on the bench these days, with Hannah Donaghe, Ashley Cimino, Josyln Tinkle and Sarah Boothe unavailable, and Michelle Harrison playing in just her second game.

"Josyln Tinkle is important to them," Simpson said. "She's like having two or layers out because when she goes in that allows Tara to move people around."

Hannah Donaghe (knee) was on the bench watching her older sister, Haylee, lead UC Davis in scoring with 11 points.

"Playing Stanford was the consolation prize for not signing Hannah," Simpson quipped.

"I'm proud of my sister for how she's handled the situation," said the elder Donaghe. "I guess getting hurt is a Donaghe curse. But I do know how much work she has out in to get back."

The Donaghe sisters managed to play against each other once, when Hannah was a freshman.

Nnemkadi Ogwumike got into early foul trouble, and that gave JJ Hones the opportunity to play an extended period. She hit her first three 3-pointers to spark a Cardinal run that put it in firm control of the scoreboard, if not the tempo.

"For her to step on the court like that and two seconds later knock down a 3, that just gives the team a lot more confidence," Pedersen said.

"As I've said earlier I'm here to help the team however I can," Hones said. "But 13 minutes last game, 31 minutes this game, I'm cool with that."

Hones and Ogwumike each scored 11 points as the Cardinal was held to its lowest point total of the season.