Taking its final break from conference play, No. 6 Stanford women’s basketball goes head-to-head with local rival Santa Clara tonight. The Cardinal (19-3, 9-2 Pac-10) ventures south to the Leavey Center for a 7 p.m. tip-off to open a three-game road trip this week that finishes at Oregon State on Saturday.

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Center Jayne Appel and the Cardinal have won seven straight games since losing a pair of upsets in Los Angeles. They will be looking for number eight tonight on the road against Santa Clara. #gallery http://daily.stanford.edu/image/full/8472
Alex Oppenheimer

Center Jayne Appel and the Cardinal have won seven straight games since losing a pair of upsets in Los Angeles. They will be looking for number eight tonight on the road against Santa Clara.

The Broncos (16-5) are currently second in the West Coast Conference with a 5-2 league record. They picked up the second of these losses on Saturday, when Gonzaga halted their five-game winning streak in an 88-52 decision. With the return home, however, Santa Clara will be looking to start a new streak against the Cardinal.

Leading the charge for the Broncos will be senior guard Chandice Cronk, who averages 17.1 points per game, good for fourth-best in the WCC. Inside, senior forward Jen Gottschalk is a formidable big, averaging 16.6 points and 8.4 rebounds per game. Other than Gottschalk, though, the Broncos are relatively small and usually run a three- or four-guard lineup.

This backcourt has found success, with junior Elizabeth Doran and senior Tracey Walker both averaging in double figures for scoring (10.8 and 10.1 ppg, respectively). As a team, Santa Clara also boasts 75.3 percent shooting from the stripe and 37.7 percent from long range, both areas in which Stanford has struggled.

Though the Broncos may be able to find an edge in free throws and threes, the story of the night, as usual, will be whether the Cardinal can remain focused on its own capabilities. Home court advantage and the prospect of a marquee win against Stanford should rally the Broncos, but they stand little chance barring a slip-up on the Cardinal’s end.

For one, senior guard Candice Wiggins has become something of a one-woman show, passing Stanford’s all-time scoring and free-throw records in the last week and earning her fourth Pac-10 Player of the Week honor of the season. She averages 18.7 points per game and has registered 68 assists this season.

Meanwhile, the inside combination of sophomore Jayne Appel and freshman Kayla Pedersen has been nearly as unstoppable. Both average near double-doubles: Appel averages 15.1 points and 9 rebounds per game, while Pedersen adds 12.4 points and 8.4 rebounds a night.

It is Stanford’s depth that will be key in this meeting with Santa Clara and throughout the remainder of the season. The highly acclaimed trio will likely see a bit more rest than usual against the Broncos, giving others a chance for valuable minutes as the season winds down.

With players like junior forward Jillian Harmon, sophomore guard JJ Hones, freshman forward Jeanette Pohlen and redshirt sophomore guard Rosalyn Gold-Onwude each stepping up as difference-makers at some point already this season, Stanford figures to find only more consistency from the group.

Defensively, the Cardinal has also recently hit its stride. After shutting down then-No. 8 California’s leading scorers Ashley Walker and Alexis Gray-Lawson the week before, Stanford forced USC into a season-high 29 turnovers on Thursday. In fact, the Cardinal defense has helped Stanford win 28 of its last 34 games by at least a 10-point margin.

In short, the Cardinal heads to Santa Clara looking to focus on the weaker points of its own game, like shooting percentages from behind the arc and at the line. With seven consecutive victories and a No. 6 national ranking, Stanford has little to prove at Santa Clara beyond its continued success.