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Stanford will be the top seed at the 2013 Pac-12 Women's Basketball Tournament that begins this week at Key Arena in Seattle, Wash.

The fourth-ranked Cardinal (28-2, 17-1 Pac-12) finished the regular season as Pac-12 co-champion, its 13th straight conference title and 22nd overall.

Stanford and California, with matching 17-1 records, shared this year's title. The Cardinal, however, earned the tournament's top seed by virtue of the third tiebreaker, a higher overall winning percentage.

Stanford has won nine of 11 conference tournament titles including the past six in a row. Stanford's record at the event is 33-2 with the two losses occurring in the 2002 and 2006 title games.

The Cardinal, which has now been the top seed at all 12 editions of the conference tournament since its inception in 2002, received a bye into Friday's quarterfinal round along with second-seeded California, third-seeded UCLA and fourth-seeded Colorado.

There, Stanford will tip off at 6 p.m. against the winner of Thursday's 6 p.m. game between No. 8 Washington State and No. 9 Arizona State.

No. 7 USC and No. 10 Oregon State will open the tournament at 12 p.m. Thursday, followed by No. 6 Utah and No. 11 Arizona at approximately 2:30 p.m. In the evening session, No. 5 Washington and No. 12 Oregon will clash at 8:30 p.m. following the Cougars-Sun Devils matchup.

Thursday's first-round games along with Friday's quarterfinals and Saturday's semifinals will all be televised on Pac-12 Network. Sunday's championship game will be televised on ESPN2 at 5 p.m.

The Cardinal heads into the event led by the play of consensus national player of the year candidate Chiney Ogwumike, who is the only player in the nation ranked in the NCAA's top five in scoring (22.9 ppg), rebounding (12.7 rpg), field-goal percentage (59.1) and double-doubles (24). She also leads the Pac-12 in all four categories.

Forwards Joslyn Tinkle 12.3 ppg, 5.9 rpg), the Pac-12's shot-blocking leader at 1.90 blocks per game, and Mikaela Ruef (6.7 rpg, 64 assists) help patrol the paint for the Cardinal while sophomore point guard Amber Orrange is averaging 10.2 points and 4.33 assists per game.

The Cardinal defense is on a record-breaking pace heading into next weekend's event, holding opponents to Stanford all-time lows of 51.9 points per game and a collective 31.6 field-goal percentage.

2013 PAC-12 WOMEN'S BASKETBALL TOURNAMENT
At Key Arena, Seattle, Wash.
Thursday
Game 1: #7 USC (7-11, 10-19) vs. #10 Oregon State (4-14, 10-20), noon
Game 2: #6 Utah (8-10, 17-12) vs. #11 Arizona (4-14, 12-17), 2:30 p.m.
Game 3: #8 Washington State (6-12, 10-19) vs. #9 Arizona State (5-13, 13-17), 6 p.m.
Game 4: #5 Washington (11-7, 19-10) vs. #12 Oregon (2-16, 4-26), 8:30 p.m.

Friday
Game 5: #2 California (17-1, 27-2) vs. #7/10 Seed, noon
Game 6: #3 UCLA (14-4, 23-6) vs. #6/11 Seed, 2:30 p.m.
Game 7: #1 Stanford (17-1, 28-2) vs. #8/9 Seed, 6 p.m.
Game 8: #4 Colorado (13-5, 24-5) vs. #5/12 Seed, 8:30 p.m.

Saturday
Game 9: Winner Game 5 vs. Winner Game 6, 6 p.m.
Game 10: Winner Game 7 vs. Winner Game 8, 8:30 p.m.

Sunday
Game 11: Championship game, 5 p.m. (ESPN2)

— Stanford Athletics

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