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In the estimation of one legendary coach, her team might be one backcourt player away from competing with the best in women's college basketball.

At a Friday night contest at the Huntsman Center, Tara VanDerveer's 13th-ranked Stanford Cardinal also demonstrated the host Utah Utes might need more than one player to be able to stay at its level.

Stanford grabbed a double-digit lead late in the first quarter and withstood a pair of Utes' challenges to take a 77-58 win in Pac-12 play.

"I thought we had a lot of different people contributing," VanDerveer said. "I thought it was our depth, honestly. I thought people played really hard and they were determined."

For Utah (12-4, 1-4), coach Lynne Roberts felt her team's effort was better than in losses last week to Arizona State and Arizona. But it was the Utes' fourth loss in their past five games — three coming on their home court.

"I thought our effort was better, and we did a lot of things better," Roberts said. "In the first quarter, we had eight turnovers and took a couple of bad shots, and that's all that Stanford needs."

The key contributors early for the Cardinal were senior post Erica McCall and senior guard Karlie Samuelson. Stanford (14-3, 4-1) got its first 10 points through McCall's two inside buckets and a pair of 3-pointers from Samuelson.

A 9-0 run in the first quarter gave the visitors a 17-7 advantage, but that was trimmed to five in the second period. The Cardinal answered that challenge, however, and — with a three-point play by Brittany McPhee to start the third — built the lead back to 14.

Samuelson had 14 points to lead Stanford while McCall scored 11. Utah was paced by season scoring leader Emily Potter, who finished with 15 points.

The Utes' last dent into the Stanford lead came when Daneesha Provo, who later dislocated a finger, stepped back for a 3-pointer and Potter followed that with a basket to make the score 40-34 with 5:17 left in the third.

The Cardinal immediately struck back with a three-point play and another field goal by reserve guard Marta Sniezek.

"I thought we got great contributions of fthe bench. Kaylee Johnson, Marta Sniezek — really, they're starters," said VanDerveer, who got her 994th career coaching victory. "It's hard, because we've got seven starters. We're hoping to get one more perimeter person to get us up to speed." —

Storylines

R Stanford gets a 10-point lead in the first quarter and, after holding off challenges in the next two quarters, gradually pulls away.

• The Cardinal are led by Karlie Samuelson's 14 points, while Emily Potter led Utah with 15.