In the eve of this week's NCAA Division I Volleyball Championships in Kansas City, here's an update on four basketball teams -- California, USC, Penn State and Texas.
All of them have one thing in common -- they're enjoying winning records.
Penn State has the better record out of the four teams. The Nittany Lions are 9-2 after turning in back-to-back 95-point efforts against Army and Maine last week.
Cal, which is the defending WNIT champion, is 6-2. Texas and USC each have 5-3 records.
Penn State won its first five games -- including a 112-107 double overtime win over Dayton on Nov. 12 -- before losing to Green Bay in the Caribbean Challenge in Cancun over the Thanksgiving weekend. The Nittany Lions lost a heartbreaking, 113-104 overtime loss to Boston College on the road in the ACC/Big Ten Challenge.
Since the loss to the Eagles, the Nittany Lions bounced back to beat Texas Tech, Army and Maine. They will take a three-game winning streak into Sunday's home game with Delaware. Penn State also has non-conference home games against Drexel (Dec. 21) and Bucknell (Dec. 28) before beginning its Big Ten season on Dec. 30 against Iowa at home.
The Nittany Lions have four players averaging in double figures. Julia Trogele, the team's only senior, is averaging 10 points and 7.1 rebounds per game. Freshman Maggie Lucas is the team's leading scorer at 17 points per game.
"Having so many weapons on the offensive end has been really good for us," Penn State coach Coquese Washington said in the Penn State Daily Collegian on Dec. 10. "Now we just need to just turn some of that energy and focus on offense, we need to transfer it down to the defensive end of the floor."
Cal and Texas will head to Las Vegas this weekend. The Bears will play UT-Arlington and Texas Tech on Saturday and Sunday, respectively, in the Las Vegas Holiday Hoops Tournament at South Point Casino. Texas plays three games in the Basketball Travelers Classic at UNLV -- SMU on Saturday, UNLV on Sunday and San Francisco on Monday.
Cal won all of its games at home and lost both of its games on the road. The Bears' last game was on Dec. 11, when they beat Long Beach State 82-56 at Berkeley.
The Bears have three players averaging in double figures, all of them are sophomores. DeNesha Stallworth is the leading scorer at 18 points per game. Layshia Clarendon is second at 15 points per game and Talia Caldwell is averaging 12.5 points per game.
Rachelle Federico and Rama N'diaye are the team's only seniors. Federico played all eight games off the bench.
Texas, which is ranked 23rd, has lost three of its last four games after starting off 4-0. The Longhorns lost 92-77 to Tennessee on Sunday in Austin. They lost all of three of their games to ranked teams.
The Longhorns received some good news on Wednesday. Redshirt senior Kristen Nash has returned to the team after receiving a medical redshirt for the 2006-07 season and plans to play with the Longhorns in Las Vegas this weekend.
"Kristen is going to give us experience and depth that we are lacking right now," Texas coach Gail Goestenkors said in a statement. "She's a great person and a tremendous asset to our program. We're excited to have her back."
Kathleen Nash, Kristen's younger sister, and Sarah Lancaster round out the senior class. Kathleen Nash is the team's leading scorer at 17.3 points per game and Lancaster is averaging 2.7 points per game in six games.
USC will play in the four-team USC Basketball Tournament this weekend at the Galen Center. The Trojans play Colorado on Saturday and play either Dayton or San Diego State on Sunday.
USC hasn't played since Dec. 5, when it beat North Carolina State 84-75 on the road.
The Trojans have four players averaging in double figures. Junior Briana Gilbreath is the leading scorer at 14.8 points per game. Junior Ashley Corral leads the team with 18 three-pointers and is averaging 13.9 points per game. Senior Jacki Gemelos is averaging 11.3 points per game and sophomore Christina Marinacci is averaging 10 points per game.
Big jump: Iowa and Maryland tied for the biggest jump among the top 25 teams this week. The Hawkeyes and Terrapins moved up three spots from last week's rankings.
Iowa moved up to No. 16 after beating in-state rival Iowa State 62-40 in the Hy-Vee Cy-Hawk Series. The Hawkeyes are 9-
Maryland moved up to No. 19 after beating Loyola (Md.) and UMBC (University of Maryland-Baltimore County) last week. The Terrapins are also 9-1 and will play Delaware State 1 and return to action on Saturday with a road game against South Dakota State.on Sunday on the road.
Welcome aboard, Orange and Eagles: Syracuse and Boston College enter this week's polls at No. 24 and 25 respectively.
Syracuse improved to 8-0 after upsetting No. 6 Ohio State 75-66 at the Carrier Dome on Sunday. The Orange, who won all of their games at home, will play No. 2 Baylor in the Bahamas Sunsplash Shootout on Dec. 21.
Boston College is off to a 10-0 start after beating Holy Cross and Rutgers last week. The Eagles will play UNC-Wilmington on Sunday at home.
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