In each of Stanford women's basketball's three games so far this season, sophomore guard Hailee Swain has set a new career high in points scored. In the loss against Arizona, Swain dropped 21 points, followed by 22 points against Saint Mary's two days later, and finished out the week with a 26-point effort against UC Davis. 

It's been clear from the start of the season that the Cardinal offense is set to run through Swain, and she has led the team in shots taken in all three contests, shooting a combined 26-of-45 (57.78%) from the field. The rest of the team has shot 59-of-125, or 47.2%. 

Swain is the only Cardinal to score in double figures in each of the first three games this season, though Shay Ijiwoye scored 14 and 11 in the first two games before dropping 6 on Sunday. Nora Ezike scored 8 points in the first game, but has been a big contributor in the past two contests, scoring 18 and 11. 

Stanford is 2-1 through three games, and that's not a bad place to begin, but last year the Cardinal beat UC Davis 70-45, while they defeated them 67-60 on Sunday. One big difference between the two games was the number of turnovers Stanford committed, and it's going to be a key factor for them as the season continues. 

Against Arizona's tough defense, Stanford committed a program record-tying 30 turnovers, with five different players committing at least four turnovers. Stanford lost that game 84-69, but you could chalk up some of those turnovers to a new roster getting some footing in its first game of the season. 

The biggest difference in that game was that Arizona ended up taking 15 more shots than Stanford and hitting six more than the Cardinal. The loss of possessions is what killed Stanford in that game, with the Wildcats hoisting 67 shots to the Cardinal's 52. That led to six more makes for Arizona, which accounts for most of the difference in that game. 

In the Saint Mary's game on Wednesday, Stanford still committed 15 turnovers, but they also forced 16 steals, so the score was a bit more lopsided, with the Cardinal coming out ahead 87-54. 

On Sunday the turnovers returned, this time with 22 of them, which led to Davis outshooting Stanford 65-56. The Cardinal have better shooters and still sank 25 shots to the Aggies' 24. Stanford also shot 10-of-12 from the free throw line, while Davis didn't take a single free throw. 

"This is something we have to fix, and fix quickly," Stanford head coach Kate Paye said of the turnovers after Sunday's game. 

While they escaped with the win at home, this game should be concerning. Last season Stanford clobbered UC Davis 70-45 while out-rebounding them 56 to 25 and turning the ball over just 11 times. This year they edged Davis out 37 to 35 on the glass. 

The turnovers are obviously the biggest concern for the program in the immediate term, because Stanford won't be able to get away with that many turnovers very deep into the season as the tougher opponents start coming to town. 

The other worry is that the offense doesn't have an answer if Swain is having an off night. Luckily she hasn't yet, but those nights will certainly come, because they come for everyone. The one knock on Swain early on is the lack of assists she has had thus far, totaling just five through three games. She's also responsible for 12 of those turnovers. 

Stanford's success or failure hinges a little too much on Swain right now. The offense runs through her, primarily through her own scoring, while the turnovers around her are slowing down the offense. She has also played at least 33 minutes in all three games, reaching 37 minutes against Arizona and 38 against Davis. 

This part of Stanford's schedule should be the easy part where the Cardinal don't have to utilize Swain nearly as much, but instead they're having her carry the workload well before conference play is even on the horizon.