PALO ALTO, Calif. — Facing tough competition isn’t anything new for the Iowa women’s basketball team.

All season long, the Hawkeyes have faced injuries and illnesses, but they have managed to overcome adversity to make a run at the Big Ten title and earn an No. 8 seed in the NCAA Tournament.

With a trip to the Sweet 16 on the line, the Hawkeyes (19-13) will face their toughest challenge in the Maples Pavilion tonight — No. 1 seed and second-ranked Stanford (32-1).

As heavy underdogs in the matchup, Iowa head coach Lisa Bluder said her team can be dangerous because it doesn’t have anything to lose.

“We have nothing to fear. Let’s just go in here, play our guts out, and see what happens,” Bluder said. “We’ve had a Cinderella season, everyone knows that, but to make it a classic, we have to win [today].”

Balanced scoring was key for Iowa in its opening-round win against Rutgers on March 20. The five starting Hawkeye players scored in double figures — remaining 14-0 under such circumstances.

Junior Kachine Alexander paced the Hawkeyes with 18 points, eight rebounds. Sophomore Kamille Wahlin and freshman Jaime Printy had 15 points each, freshman Morgan Johnson added 12, and sophomore Kelly Krei had 10.

Stanford head coach Tara VanDeeveer said the balanced scoring is one of the Hawkeyes’ strengths.

“All in all, the teams at this level — if you’re talking about the top-30 teams in the country — you have to have more than one weapon,” she said. “Or you have to figure out different ways to score. For [the Hawkeyes] to be successful, they get a lot of scoring from different people.”

The 70-63 win over the Scarlet Knights was the 10th time in the last 15 games Iowa has scored 70 or more points, winning all 10 of those games. The team averages 69.5 points on the season.

However, Stanford is just as dynamic offensively, averaging 77.3 points on the season. The Cardinals are led by sophomore Nnemkadi Ogwumike, junior Kayla Pedersen, and senior Jayne Appel.

The trio average double figures and just over nine rebounds each. Ogwumike, the Pac-10 Player of the Year, averages 18.3 points and 9.5 rebound per game, and Pedersen and Appel aren’t too far behind at 16. 1 and 13.6 points and 9.2 and 9.0 rebounds.

Despite Stanford’s seemingly intimidating statistics, Printy said that with everything the team has gone through, she and her teammates can channel their experiences into facing a top-ranked team.

“We have been through a lot this season,” she said. “I think all of the experience we’ve had with these close games and the competition that we’ve play — like we just got done playing Ohio State — we’re just going to come out not intimated and ready to play and be the underdogs.”

Iowa’s last trip to the Sweet 16 came when it defeated DePaul, 72-71, in 1996. The Hawkeyes are 5-9 in NCAA Tournament second-round games.

With No. 9 Northern Iowa’s upset win over No. 1 Kansas in the NCAA men’s donnybrook two days ago, some of the players said they use that victory as motivation for their matchup.

Alexander believes unpredictability makes the tournament worthwhile.

“It doesn’t have to be the best team overall,” she said. “It’s whoever is the best team on that night. That’s the greatness of the NCAA Tournament.”