SAN FRANCISCO – A weekend without cell-phone service or e-mails sounds like death to many college-aged kids, but to players on the Stanford women’s basketball team, it’s exactly what they want. On off weekends during the offseason, some Stanford players like to hit the outdoors for excursions that help build team chemistry, venturing off to places that are far from conducive to getting LTE coverage.

Along with junior guard Alexa Romano, senior guard Brittany McPhee is considered one of the ringleaders for these Stanford women’s basketball adventures, as players pile into McPhee’s SUV for a getaway. Last weekend, junior forward Alanna Smith teamed up with McPhee and other teammates for a trip up to Mammoth Lakes and Yosemite National Park.

“People come all the time and we just try to get out in a different atmosphere,” McPhee said at 2017 Pac-12 Women’s Basketball Media Day. “It’s just fun to get to know each other… You get to learn a lot about each other.”

Even if there are tight quarters.

“It’s not every day you have to sleep in a three-man tent with four people, so you get up close and personal,” Smith quipped. “It was nice and warm and safe.”

Now the time approaches for another adventure, one involving hardwoods across America. The first stop is Columbus, Ohio, where the Cardinal will face Ohio State and UConn in its first two games of the season. Not exactly easing into the schedule, another hallmark Stanford women's basketball tradition.