These February faceoffs will determine March marching orders

One pretty fun February itinerary for the women's college hoops fan:

• Today, Tennessee at Vanderbilt -- The top seven draws for women's basketball games at the Commodores' Memorial Gym have turned out when the Lady Vols were in town. This season's meeting, pitting the No. 2 and 8 teams in The Associated Press poll, is one of the more intriguing in the history of the series. Vandy on Jan. 30 announced the game as a sellout. Of course, the anticipation isn't even comparable to that for the Jan. 30, 1993, game. A regular-season women's college basketball game had never seen so much national attention. Memorial sold out 16 days in advance of tipoff. The final attendance tally was 15,317. Even the Vandy president couldn't get into the game. Tennessee entered as the underdog -- No. 2 to the Commodores' No. 1 -- but left Nashville with a 73-68 victory.

• Feb. 3, Marquette at DePaul -- Zero national buzz, but this is a very compelling Conference USA clash. The Blue Demons won in Milwaukee, 64-60, on Jan. 6. Since then, Marquette has won six straight. DePaul has gone 6-1. Both teams' Ratings Percentage Index rank in the 40s nationally -- the range at this time of the year where it feels that your NCAA-tournament hopes hang on every shot.

• Feb. 4, Eastern Kentucky at Tennessee Tech -- Traditional Ohio Valley Conference powers meet for the 60th time ever and second time this season. Eastern Kentucky won at home, in Richmond, 71-64, on Jan. 3. The Lady Colonels -- a full-court pressing, high-gas outfit -- turned Tennessee Tech into a one-woman team. Senior forward Janet Holt had 28 points and eight rebounds, but she was the only Golden Eaglette to reach double figures in scoring.

• Feb. 5, Saint Joseph's at Temple-- It's a good day to be Mel Greenberg. Temple won the first meeting of the Philadelphia rivals, 66-59 on Jan. 27. The winner of this one probably wins the Atlantic 10 Conference's East Division, though Saint Bonaventure is certainly a factor.

• Feb. 7, Fairfield at Siena -- After opening the season with three losses, the Saints of the Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference have won 16 consecutive games. One of the closest calls was a 59-57 decision at Fairfield on Dec. 6.

• Feb. 8, Old Dominion at Tennessee -- Nine national championships between them.

• Feb. 9, Long Island at Saint Francis (Pennsylvania) -- The Blackbirds were the Northeast Conference coaches' preseason favorites, but they've already lost four league games -- including an 86-63 decision at home against Saint Francis on Jan. 21. The Red Flash of Loretto, meanwhile, were the eighth-place choice but sit alone atop the 12-team conference.

• Feb. 10, Virginia Tech at Connecticut -- The Huskies' closest challenge this season came Jan. 29 at in Blacksburg, 59-50. Think the decision might be a little more convincing in Storrs?

• Feb. 11, Howard at Coppin State -- Most daunting date of a four-game road swing for the Lady Bison, who remain undefeated in the Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference.

• Feb. 12, Western Kentucky at Southwest Missouri State -- Pretty good non-conference matchup for this late in the season, and both frequent NCAA-tournament participants might well need the win to have any shot at an at-large berth to this season's event.

• Feb. 13, Ball State at Kent State -- If you're going to see one Mid-American Conference game a year, it's Toledo-Kent State. But that one has already passed (Toledo won, 67-62, on the road Jan. 9), and this matchup figures to be pretty interesting, anyway. Kent State leads the MAC's East Division, and Ball State shares the West lead with Toledo.

• Feb. 14, Colorado State at Nevada-Las Vegas -- Maybe the Rams still corral a top-16 seed (and first- and second-round home games) in the NCAA tournament if they dominate the Mountain West Conference the rest of the way. That's no small challenge, of course -- as evidenced by the 56-50 loss at New Mexico on Jan. 31. This game at UNLV could prove similarly problematic. Colorado State won by five at home against the Runnin' Rebels on Jan. 19.

• Feb. 15, UC Riverside at UC Santa Barbara -- That the Gauchos opened 6-0 in Big West Conference play is no shocker; that the Highlanders opened 8-0 is. UCSB was the league coaches' preseason favorite. UCR was picked to finish eighth in its second season of Division I play.

• Feb. 16, Army at Holy Cross -- Holy Cross has two Patriot League losses, and both were close decisions, on the road and within a four-day span of each other. The two teams that beat the Crusaders -- Lehigh and Army -- visit Boston within a four-day span in February. Lehigh (which prevailed, 84-75, in double overtime on Jan. 19) is in town on Feb. 12. Army (a 68-67 winner on Jan. 23) arrives four days later.

• Feb. 17, Florida at Georgia -- Of course, it's hard to not stumble across a great regular-season game in the Southeastern Conference.

• Feb. 18, Wofford at Chattanooga -- Greensboro is the Southern Conference leader, but Chattanooga, the coaches' preseason favorite, has won six league games in a row after opening 2-3 in SoCon play. Wofford is improved and part of the conference's second tier.

• Feb. 19, Binghamton at Vermont -- Binghamton is another eighth-place pick in a preseason coaches poll that is doing very well in its league. We'll see about the Bearcats, though, during a six-game span in February when they play the America East Conference-favorite Catamounts twice. This date in Burlington is the second of those games.

• Feb. 20, Colorado at Baylor -- If one of the teams gets a four seed for the NCAA tournament and the other gets a five -- and that's a huge difference, given that the four seed gets home games in the opening two rounds -- they both may well be looking back at this game as the reason.

• Feb. 21, Louisiana Tech at Rice -- It's very unlikely -- the Lady Techsters won by 46 in the meeting in Ruston -- but, if Louisiana Tech is going to see a significant challenge in the Western Athletic Conference the rest of the year, it's probably going to occur in this game. Owls coach Cristy McKinney was part of the last coaching staff to give Leon Barmore fits in conference play -- with Western Kentucky in the Sun Belt in the early 1990s.

• Feb. 22, Harvard at Cornell -- A lot could change before then, but they're the Ivy League leaders today. And remember: no conference tournament for the Ivy. The regular-season winner gets the automatic berth to the NCAA touranment.

• Feb. 23, Wisconsin-Green Bay at Wisconsin-Milwaukee and Pepperdine at Santa Clara -- Here's a good argument for time zones. The Phoenix and Panthers tip at 2 p.m. Central; the Waves and Broncs, two hours later at 2 p.m. Pacific. The Horizon League and West Coast Conference leads, respectively, will likely be at stake.

• Feb. 24, Duke at North Carolina -- The Blue Devils won, 102-82, in Durham on Jan. 24. 'It was pretty simple. We got beat by a better team,' Tar Heels coach Sylvia Hatchell said. 'It looked like they were having a shooting practice for a few minutes during the first half. They are a great team, and we learned a lot from tonight. We look forward to them coming to Chapel Hill.'

• Feb. 25, Northwestern State at Stephen F. Austin -- Northwestern State won 67-42 at home on Jan. 7 -- the Ladyjacks' only Southland Conference loss so far this season. But that was Natchitoches (Louisiana, site of Northwestern State), and this is Nacogdoches (Texas, site of Stephen F. Austin).

• Feb. 27, Texas Tech at Oklahoma -- Regardless of where their teams are in the conference standings, there are coaches you don't want to see coming to your town if you're trying to protect a good seed for the league tournament in the final days of the regular season. Texas Tech's Marsha Sharp is on that list of coaches.

• Feb. 28, Big Ten Conference tournament in Indianapolis -- First-round action will pit the eighth seed against the ninth, seventh vs. 10th and sixth vs. 11th. As many as five of those teams might have RPIs in the top 100 nationally.

	East	Mideast	Midwest	West
1.	Connecticut	Tennessee	Oklahoma	Stanford
2.	Duke	Kansas State	Purdue	Louisiana Tech
3.	South Carolina	Vanderbilt	Florida	Baylor
4.	Colorado	Boston College	Texas	Minnesota
5.	Old Dominion	Wisconsin	Florida International	Texas Tech
6.	North Carolina State	Notre Dame	Colorado State	Illinois
7.	Virginia Tech	Georgia	North Carolina	Arizona State
8.	George Washington	Texas Christian	Iowa State	Pepperdine
9.	Penn State	Santa Clara	Creighton	Louisiana State
10.	Georgia Tech	Marquette	Mississippi State	Oregon State
11.	Clemson	Michigan	Drake	Nevada-Las Vegas
12.	New Mexico	DePaul	Iowa	Santa Barbara
13.	Greensboro	Wisconsin-Green Bay	Tennessee Tech	Siena
14.	Southern	Toledo	Binghamton	Holy Cross
15.	Howard	Valparaiso	Belmont	Montana
16.	Elon	Cornell	Stephen F. Austin	Saint Francis

East Region (semifinals and final to be played in Raleigh, N.C.)

2. Duke -- Opened with a 7-0 spurt in 50 seconds, and then ran away from Florida State, 102-80, on Jan. 28. 'Well,' Seminoles coach Sue Semrau said after the game, 'that was, I thought, an incredible Duke team ... Gail (Goestenkors, Duke's coach) told me before the game that she felt like she had weights taken off of her with the chemistry she has on her team. They play so well off of each other, especially for as young as they are.'

3. South Carolina -- Senior center Teresa Geter -- 'one of our leaders on the court and off,' coach Susan Walvius said -- is out for an indefinite span because of a stress fracture in her left foot. She was averaging nine points and seven rebounds a game. 'She plays a vital role in our offensive and defensive schemes, and we'll need her teammates to step up and produce while she's out,' Walvius said in the Jan. 24 announcement of the injury. 'We are entering one of the most demanding stretches of our schedule, ... and Geter's absence will further test our versatility.' In their first game without her, the Gamecocks bowed, 74-46, at Arkansas on Jan. 27.

4. Colorado -- Assistant coach Latonya Watson is the all-time assists leader at Eastern Michigan. There, from 1988 through '92, her head coach was Cheryl Getz -- who played 1979 through '82 at Cincinnati. The head coach at Cincinnati at the time: Ceal Barry, now the head coach at Colorado.

5. Old Dominion -- Slipped behind 4-0 at James Madison on Jan. 27 but then dealt out 13 consecutive points, opened a 33-18 advantage at halftime and won, 68-51, against its closest challenger in the Colonial Athletic Association.

6. North Carolina State -- Plays Feb. 3 at Virginia, the only Atlantic Coast Conference team to hold a lead in its all-time series with North Carolina State. The Cavaliers have 29 wins in the 28-year-old series; Virginia, 24.

7. Virginia Tech -- The season so far: three wins, then two losses, then 12 wins and now three losses. Next: at home against Miami on Feb. 5.

8. George Washington -- Trailed by eight with 47 seconds to go but forced three turnovers in the final 25 seconds and prevailed, 87-86, at home against Richmond on Jan. 27. 'I remember Joe Gibbs (a former coach of the NFL's Washington Redskins) saying that sometimes you do things out of panic and end up looking smart,' coach Joe McKeown said after the game. 'We got a few breaks, made a few big plays down the stretch. ... We'll take it.'

9. Penn State -- The university's public-TV station, WPSX-TV, will document Kelly Mazzante's return home to Montoursville, Pa., on Feb. 4 for an advance celebration of National Girls and Women in Sports Day (Feb. 6). The sophomore guard -- who, at 25 points a game, leads Division I in scoring -- will speak during assemblies at Lyter Elementary and McCall Middle schools that afternoon. She'll make a couple of media conferences at Montoursville Area High School and then stick around for the school's girls' basketball game against Warrior Run that evening. Mazzante will sign autographs before the game and present the school's principal with a pair of her sneakers for the school's trophy case.

10. Georgia Tech -- Freshman forward Maya Monroe is the daughter of Basketball Hall-of-Famer Earl 'The Pearl' Monroe.

11. Clemson -- Senior swing player Marci Glenney averaged 20 points per game over the last four, and Clemson has won three of them.

12. New Mexico -- Before taking over at UNM, Don Flanagan helped Eldorado High School to 11 New Mexico state titles in 16 years.

13. Chattanooga -- Lynne Agee in June replaced her program's No. 1 all-time scorer, Angie Polk, with the No. 2, Melinda Goodson, on the Spartans' coaching staff. Polk scored 1,585 points for UNCG from 1985 through '89. With nine games to go in her senior season, 1999-2000, Goodson had 1,464 points and was on pace to pass Polk. She tore an anterior cruciate ligament, and her playing career was through. 'Melinda is considering coaching as a career, and we're glad to help provide the groundwork for her in this profession,' Agee said. Goodson is working with the Spartans' post players primarily.

14. Southern -- At Grambling State today looms as the Southwestern Athletic Conference game of the season.

15. Howard -- Coach Cathy Parson scored a school-record 2,128 points at West Virginia in the early 1980s and then served as an assistant coach at Providence and head coach at Christopher Newport University before joining the WNBA's Washington Mystics as an assistant in 1998. Parson moved up to interim head coach at the end of that season, spent a year as an assistant coach at the University of Richmond and then took over at Howard.

16. Elon -- Amid a career-high 12 assists in an 84-75 win at Winthrop on Jan. 28 was Jayme Chikos's 405th of her career. That made the junior guard Elon's all-time leader. She passed Lisa Brigg, who played from 1983 through '85.

Mideast Region (Milwaukee, Wisc.)

2. Kansas State -- Five straight wins over ranked opponents, and No. 16 Iowa State visits Bramlage Coliseum in Manhattan today.

3. Vanderbilt -- Rallied from an 11-point loss at home to Florida to win, 64-53, in front of 8,153 at Louisiana State on Jan. 27. Two of Vanderbilt's front-court starters, 6-6 junior center Chantelle Anderson and 6-2 senior forward Zuzi Klimesova, combined for 52 points. 'We tired to play a 2-3 match-up on them and then double down on Anderson,' Louisiana State coach Sue Gunter said. 'What made it so difficult is that we were a little late getting down to the ball. When Anderson gets you deep in the post, there's just not much you can do.'

4. Boston College -- Clare Droesch bottomed all five of her three-pointers in a 76-51 win over West Virginia on Jan. 30. That brought the freshman swing player to an even 50 percent from long range on the season (33 of 66). A two-time New York City player of the year at Christ the King High School, Droesch is giving the Eagles about 11 points, four rebounds and two assists in 20 minutes per game.

5. Wisconsin -- Out-rebounded by 42 to 30 in a 63-49 loss at Penn State on Jan. 27 -- the Badgers' third straight loss after a 16-1 start. 'I was really disappointed in how my team played in a big game,' coach Jane Albright said. 'You can't stay ranked if you don't get rebounds. There was not much rebounding effort.' Wisconsin, ranked fifth nationally by The Associated Press on Jan. 14, slipped to No. 9 in the Jan. 21 poll and was down to No. 15 in the Jan. 28 list. Since then, the losing streak has grown to four, and next up is a road date with Purdue on Feb. 3.

6. Notre Dame -- Junior center Amanda Barksdale ranks third nationally in blocks per game, at better than three an outing. In December, she had one-game totals of eight and seven blocks.

7. Georgia -- The Lady Dogs have lost two in a row and play at Kentucky on Feb. 3. Georgia has known only three three-game losing streaks in 23 seasons with Andy Landers as head coach. The most recent came in the opening three games of the 1991-92 season.

8. Texas Christian -- Odd visit to the Old North State. Charlotte was averaging 57 points a game before its Jan. 25 visit from Texas Christian but rung up 81 in a 14-point upset win. The Lady Frogs headed 250 miles east to Greenville and rebounded to beat East Carolina, 58-42. It was the eighth time this season that Texas Christian had held an opponent to 50 or fewer points.

9. Santa Clara -- Senior guard Carolina Gruening's driving layup with 14 seconds to go forced the first overtime period, and her three-pointer with 39 seconds left decided the 93-90 Santa Clara win over Saint Mary's on Jan. 31. She finished with a career-high 25 points. After helping Juneau's Douglas High School to an Alaska state championship, Gruening joined the Broncs in 1998 as a walk-on. She eventually earned a starting job at off guard at Santa Clara. Last season, she was an honorable-mention choice to the All-West Coast Conference team, and, this year, she's a team captain.

10. Marquette -- Tulane got back within two points of home-standing Marquette in the second half on Jan. 27, but the Golden Eagles pulled away for their sixth consecutive Conference USA win, 65-44. Senior guard Kristi Johnson 'was the calming force when Tulane made their run,' Marquette coach Terri Mitchell said. 'She is the coach on the floor for us.' Johnson scored 11 of her 13 points in the second half. Her four-point play with 14:41 to go pushed the Golden Eagles ahead by 13.

11. Michigan -- 10-1 in its first 11 of the season, probably 4-7 in its second (after a Feb. 3 visit from 4-17 Northwestern).

12. DePaul -- Ranked 13th among Division I teams in the Women's Basketball Coaches Association's Academic Top 25 list for 2000-01. Wisconsin-Green Bay ranked first.

13. Wisconsin-Green Bay -- Scored the final seven points of regulation to force overtime and then held visiting Wisconsin-Milwaukee to two points in an 83-75 victory Jan. 26. The decision broke a tie atop the Horizon League standings.

14. Toledo -- Mid-American Conference's West Division lead is the bounty in today's tipoff at Ball State. Both teams are 7-1 in league play.

15. Valparaiso -- No. 25 on the WBCA's 2000-01 Academic Top 25.

16. Cornell -- The coach, Marnie Dacko, was a standout on four AIAW-tournament participants at Southern Connecticut State. The Owls went 72-27 during Dacko's stay and in her junior year, 1976-77, went 20-6 as she averaged 17.2 points and 9.6 rebounds an outing. She was a Wade Trophy finalist as a senior. When she graduated in 1978, Dacko ranked as the program's top scorer and rebounder.

Midwest Region (Ames, Iowa)

2. Purdue -- The first women's basketball team to go to the Final Four under three different coaches.

3. Florida -- Senior forward Monique Cardenas spread 35 points across a couple of important wins last week. She had 16 in a 62-51 win at Vanderbilt on Jan. 24 and 19 in a 73-64 win at home against Georgia on Jan. 27. Coach Carol Ross said, 'Somebody woke her up in January and said, "It's time to play SEC ball." She stretched and yawned and got ready to play.' Cardenas, named Jan. 28 as Southeastern Conference player of the week, was averaging about 16 points and seven rebounds per league game before being limited to six points and four rebounds in Florida's most recent game, an 86-66 loss at Tennessee on Jan. 31.

4. Texas -- 'Losing is hard,' coach Jody Conradt told Olin Buchanan of the Austin American-Statesman after the 80-76 double-overtime loss to Kansas State, 'but sometimes it's how you lose ... I think we are growing up as a result of that game. I'm very happy with the way we've responded. Even though it was a loss, we played so hard and worked at it until the bitter end.'

5. Florida International -- Nation's 16th-best RPI.

6. Colorado State -- Surrendered 20 rebounds at New Mexico's offensive end in a 56-50 loss at 'The Pit' in Albuquerque on Jan. 31. 'We didn't box out,' coach Tom Collen said, 'and we knew that would be the key tonight.'

7. North Carolina -- North Carolina senior guard Nikki Teasley after the 31-point, eight-rebound performance by Duke sophomore swing player Alana Beard in the Blue Devils' 102-82 win Jan. 24: 'Alana Beard is a great player, and, more importantly, she is a great leader. I have not been able to do the leadership things for us that she can do for her team. She is a great player on a great team.'

8. Iowa State -- At the team's awards banquet last April, Fennelly honored his team's seniors and leaders in free-throw percentage (Megan Taylor) and rebounds per game (Angie Welle). Also, Tracy Gahan was presented with the coaches' Cyclone Pride Award, 'given to the player who best represents Iowa State women's basketball both on and off the court,' according to a university release. As usual with the Cyclones, no MVP was named. 'It is a team game, and I do not believe in such awards,' Coach Bill Fennelly said. 'A good player is recognized by all-league and All-American honors. That's the ultimate compliment to be honored by peers.'

9. Creighton -- Had never swept the regular-season series with Southwest Missouri State until this year. Has never swept the regular-season series with Wichita State but faces the Shockers on Feb. 3 for the second time. The Bluejays won at home against Wichita State, 67-56, on Jan. 4.

10. Mississippi State -- 6-2 start in the Southeastern Conference is the best in the history of the program.

11. Drake -- Sophomore swing player Allison Burchill is a potter. Senior guard Jayme Anderson and senior forward Erin Richards are into in-line skating. Senior guard Stephanie Schmitz likes to play ping-pong. Junior center Carla Bennett's hobbies? 'Intervarsity Christian Fellowship and frequent naps.'

12. Iowa -- Why the 'Hawkeyes'? It was the name of the hero in James Fennimore Cooper's 1826 novel, The Last of the Mohicans. So taken with it were a local judge and newspaper editor that they began the push that eventually resulted in the nickname being adopted officially for the residents of the Iowa territory. And why gold and black? They are the colors of Iowa's cornfields and rich soil, respectively.

13. Tennessee Tech -- It's not just the tight race at the top of the Ohio Valley Conference that's keeping things hot in the Eblen Center. Temperatures in Cookeville have been unseasonably warm, and the Eblen Center's central cooling system has been disabled. 'Dress lighter than normal,' warned Rob Schabert, Tennessee Tech's sports information director, in advance of this weekend's games. 'It's not terribly hot, but it is certainly warmer than we're used to for our home games. It shouldn't deter anyone from attending these important games!' Southeast Missouri State, a dangerous middle-of-the-pack OVC challenger, is in town for a game today, and Eastern Kentucky, the league leader, visits on Feb. 4.

14. Binghamton -- Sophomore guard Kate Townley has reset her career high in points three times in the last five games. Most recently, it was a 20-point effort in a 60-54 win at Albany on Jan. 31. The Great Danes led by seven at halftime, but Townley scored 14 in the second half to key a comeback.

15. Belmont -- Two of the next three are rematches with the teams responsible for the Bruins' two Atlantic Sun Conference losses. Belmont plays at Stetson today; the Hatters won, 87-81, in Nashville on Jan. 24. Florida Atlantic visits Feb. 11; the Lady Owls won, 72-70, at home Jan. 19.

16. Stephen F. Austin -- The Ladyjacks' original logo showed a woman on a tree stump. It was designed by Carol Lamberth, a member of Sue Gunter's 1973-74 squad and an art major.

West Region (Boise, Idaho)

2. Louisiana Tech -- The Jan. 26 game in Ruston, La., pitted the first- and second-place teams in the Western Athletic Conference -- Louisiana Tech at 8-0, Rice at 7-1. Three minutes into the game, it was 9-0, Lady Techsters, and the home team rolled on to an 88-42 victory. 'This completes the first cycle of going through this conference,' Louisiana Tech coach Leon Barmore said. 'I think we have done very well against Rice, Hawaii and Tulsa; however, we still have to play at Rice and Tulsa on the road, and I am sure it will be tougher there. At least after the first round, I think they can spell our name.'

3. Baylor -- The Lady Bears improved from seven wins in 1999-2000 to 21 in Kim Mulkey-Robertson's first season as head coach. This year, it appears Baylor will have at least that many with the Big 12 Conference and NCAA tournaments left to go.

4. Minnesota -- Before hiring Brenda Oldfield away from Ball State, Minnesota women's athletic director Chris Voelz was also reportedly interested in landing Xavier's Melanie Balcomb for the Gophers' head-coaching vacancy.

5. Texas Tech -- The only Big 12 team to win on each of the other 11's home courts.

6. Illinois -- Opened the game with a couple of three-pointers, finished with a total of 10 and drummed visiting Michigan, 92-78, on Jan. 27. Shavonna Hunter made five of six attempts from long range en route to a career-high 21 points.

7. Arizona State -- Second place in the Pac-10 is the prize when Oregon State visits today.

8. Pepperdine -- Had a win streak end at 12 on Jan. 30, at Loyola Marymount. Will try to get another one going today, at home against Loyola Marymount.

9. Louisiana State -- The starting point guard of the last 10 games, sophomore Temeka Johnson, is averaging 10 points, seven assists and four rebounds per game. Johnson became eligible to begin practicing with the Lady Tigers on Dec. 15 -- only three days before junior Kisha James, LSU's regular starter at point guard, tore the anterior cruciate ligament in her left knee for the second time in her career. James averaged seven points, six assists and three rebounds a game in her eight starts for the Lady Tigers this season. At the time, oach Sue Gunter called the injury 'a devastating blow for our team ... She is such a leader on the court, and we will miss her fire.'

10. Oregon State -- Freshman guard Juleen Smith, a product of Morningside High School in Inglewood, Calif., has worked as a ballgirl for the WNBA's Los Angeles Sparks.

11. Nevada-Las Vegas -- Linda Frohlich's all-time favorite moment: making eye contact with Michael Jordan at a Las Vegas casino. 'He probably was not even aware of it,' the senior forward admits at her Web site, www.lindafrohlich.com.

12. UC Santa Barbara -- Jess Hansen led the Big West Conference last season with an average of 1.59 assists per turnover. In her junior season, she's again leading the Big West, and the average is up to 1.83 per.

13. Siena -- Does the win streak end today at 16? The Saints play at Canisius to end a three-game road swing that, so far, has been anything but easy: a 79-73 overtime win at Iona on Jan. 27 and a 75-73 victory at Niagara on Jan. 31. Siena won at home against Canisius by 15 back on Jan. 11.

14. Holy Cross -- Responded to its first back-to-back Patriot League losses in 11 years with a 76-55 victory at league-leading Bucknell on Jan. 30.

15. Montana -- 136-3 all-time record against Big Sky Conference opponents in its Dahlberg Arena.

16. Saint Francis (Pennsylvania) -- The Red Flash plays its home games in the Maurice Stokes Athletics Center. It's named after the men's basketball team's 6-7, low-post stud, who averaged 25 points and 22 points from 1951 through '55. Maurice Stokes, with the Rochester Royals, was named the NBA's rookie of the year in 1955-56 and went on to make three NBA all-star games. On March 13, 1958, his Royals (by this time, they'd moved to Cincinnati) were playing the Lakers (back then, they were in Minneapolis). Stokes took a hard fall in the game and was knocked unconscious for three minutes. Still, Stokes finished the game and then made the Royals' trip to Detroit to face the Pistons two nights later. On the flight home to Cincinnati, Stokes again fell unconscious -- and this time drifted into a coma for several months. Stokes remained paralyzed until his death on April 6, 1970. For the last years of his life, Stokes had a legal guardian -- his ex-teammate with the Royals, Jack Twyman. There was a movie, Maurice, made about Stokes's life and relationship with Twyman, and, to this day, the annual Maurice Stokes All-Star Game at Kurt Scherg Country Club in Monticello, N.Y., raises money for former NBA players with serious illness or disability.

2/2/02

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