Being that Christmas is less than two weeks away, it's not too early to to pick the ideal holiday gifts for some of the top teams around the country.

Happy holidays to all:

	Yamasaki made the 1999 All-Pac-10 honorable mention volleyball team.

Stanford: Lindsey Yamasaki. In this case, the Cardinal get their wish -- six weeks after the season opened. Yamasaki, a 6-foot-1 sophomore guard, also competes for Stanford's Final Four-bound volleyball team, and the outside hitter/middle blocker isn't slated to return to Tara VanDerveer's squad until Dec. 26. Yamasaki led the Cardinal in scoring last season, averaging 14 points en route to landing on the Pac-10 All-Freshman team. Think Yamasaki's volleyballing had anything to do with the fact Stanford has played just four games this season, compared to, say, Georgia, which has played 12?
Stocking stuffer: Since she'll be in Honolulu, Hawaii, for the Final Four, Yamasaki should pick up some macadamia nuts for VanDerveer, who after going through a similar situation with former two-sport athlete Kristin Folkl, is probably going a little nutty herself. Said VanDerveer last week in the San Jose Mercury News: "I can't think of any coach who would be real excited."

Connecticut: Continued good health. True, Tamika Williams is out with a stress fracture, and Svetlana Abrosimova did suffer a broken nose, but Sveta didn't even miss a game. And, if that's all the Huskies have to endure, they'll be blessed. After all, injuries doomed UConn last season. Here's another idea: Better-looking practice jerseys, in case the Huskies ever have to wear them again on national television.
Stocking stuffer: Croakies for Geno Auriemma, since he always seems to be readjusting his spectacles, which he started sporting at games this year.

UCLA: The opening of Pac-10 play, which not only is expected to coincide with the return of injured senior point guard Erica Gomez, but also might give the Bruins some respite from their tough non-conference schedule. At the beginning of last week, the Bruins were hovering at .500 with a 2-2 record. Of course, after games against Tennessee and Louisiana Tech, who could blame them. But after improving to 4-2 after sweeping San Diego State and Pepperdine last week, UCLA faces Rutgers (Dec. 21) and UConn (Dec. 23) in a three-day span. Ho ho ho.

Rutgers: Just one more win, which would finally give coach C. Vivian Stringer her 600th career coaching victory. Stringer entered the season just five wins short of the milestone, but after suffering upsets to N.C. State and George Washington, Rutgers has had to settle for a 4-2 record. Up next: Texas on Saturday, then a trip out west to face UCLA (Dec. 21) and USC (Dec. 23). If the Scarlet Knights fail to win one of those games, Stringer will have to wait until 2000 (perhaps Jan. 2 against Massachusetts) to get that elusive 600th win.

Tennessee: Christmas came early for coach Pat Summitt, who won her 700th game on Dec. 5. But even Summitt, a 26-year coaching vet, couldn't have guessed how fruitful her freshmen would be this season, and continued progress by the foursome would make any coach happy. Said Summitt last week: "I felt that they could contribute during the year, but it was surprising how soon they made an impact." Frosh Kara Lawson ranks second on the team in scoring with a 15.3 average and has sank a team-high 19 3-pointers (19-41, 46 percent). Now, if junior point guard Kristen Clement can just buff up that 1.26 assist-to-turnover ratio.

Deck the halls with boughs of Hollosy
Several women's college basketball players have poured on the points this season. Southwest Missouri State's Jackie Stiles, for instance, scored 38 points in a 70-69 win over Oregon last week.

But it's not often that a player on one team scores more than her entire opponent.

That's what Arkansas-Monticello's Krisztina Hollosy did last Tuesday, chipping in 42 points to lead her team to a 115-40 victory over Arkansas Baptist.

Hollosy went 15-for-33 from the field, including an 11-of-24 performance from 3-point range.

	Martin

Martin moving up
With her first basket against Pepperdine, UCLA senior Maylana Martin passed four-time All-American Ann Meyers on the Bruins' career scoring charts. Martin stands fifth with 1,705 points.

Martin also ranks 13th on the Pac-10 all-time scoring list and ninth in career scoring average (18.3 ppg). She has scored in double figures in 36 straight games and in 89 of her 93 career games.

This season, Martin leads the Pac-10 rebounding (10.7 rpg), is tied for first in steals (2.5 spg) and ranks second in scoring (18.3 ppg).

The week that was ...
On Wednesday, Iowa State's Stacy Frese went 10-for-18 from 3-point land to score a career-high 34 points, but it wasn't enough.

Drake pulled off the upset of the week, as the Bulldogs beat the then-No. 10 Cyclones 90-86.

Freshman center Carla Bennett led Drake with 21 points on 10-for-12 shooting. And tough defense helped hold Frese in check, who after making her ninth 3-pointer with 11:51 to play, failed to make another long-range bomb until just 1:52 remained.

Drake, which lost to Iowa State 78-60 last season, shot 61.3 percent in the second half (19 of 31) and 55.7 percent for the game.

... And the week ahead
Penn State at Clemson, 1:30 p.m. ET Sunday: First game of doubleheader at Lambo Arena in Myrtle Beach, S.C., pits two teams that know how to win. Clemson, led by 6-4 Erin Batth, its only returning starter, won the 1999 ACC Tournament. Penn State was last season's Big Ten runner-up behind Purdue.

Michigan State vs. North Carolina, 3 p.m. ET Sunday: Doubleheader concludes with two teams who have combined for 14 wins and just three losses so far this season. The Spartans (7-1) opened the 1999-2000 campaign with their best start in school history -- seven straights wins -- before getting derailed Saturday by Notre Dame. North Carolina is 7-2, with losses against UCLA and Notre Dame.

Texas at Rutgers, 2 p.m. ET Saturday: Two of the winningest women's basketball coaches around clash in a game that pits the 4-2 Scarlet Knights against the 6-2 Longhorns, who are ranked No. 25 in this week's AP poll after a 39-week absence. Edwina Brown of Texas ranks 10th in the country with a 23.3 scoring average. Also, Scarlet Knights coach Stringer is going for win No. 600.

One step forward ...
Duke: The Blue Devils won their seventh consecutive game Saturday, improving to 8-1 with a 66-52 win over Seton Hall. Duke hasn't lost in a month, a 77-70 loss to Boston College, and has posted wins over Penn State, Virginia and Virginia Tech since. The Blue Devils have a good shot at winning the Bahamas Sun Splash Shootout, which is Monday and Tuesday next week in Nassau.

Arizona: The Wildcats -- just one of 11 undefeated Division I teams in the country -- improved to 8-0 Sunday, winning the Insight.com Bowl Classic. Overall, the Wildcats won three games last week. Although Arizona did beat UCSB by 10 earlier this season, the Wildcats get their toughest test next Tuesday on the road at Kansas. Arizona is averaging 85 points per game, with a .502 field goal percentage and a bench that's averaging 30 points a game.

Southwest Missouri State: Paced by Stiles' 38 points -- her 11th game with 30 or more points -- the Lady Bears handed Oregon its first loss of the season. Stiles, a 5-8 junior guard went 14-for-25 (56 percent) from the field. Incidentally, Stiles, who ranked second in the nation last season with a 25.7 scoring average, has reached double-digits in scoring in 33 straight games. Her career high is a school-record 52 points against Baylor last December. She's averaging 26.8 points this season, which ranks second behind Pennsylvania's Diana Caramanico's 28.8 average.

Maryland: Last season, the Lady Terrapins won just a half dozen games, posting a 6-21 record. But Maryland already has won as many games this season. After opening the 1998-99 campaign with nine straight losses, the Terps are 6-2 this season. Of course, all eight games have been at home, and although the two losses came against ranked opponents, the defeats were huge: a 31-point loss Penn State and a 13-point loss UNC.

... Two steps back
Nebraska: Although the Huskers beat Creighton on Sunday, they suffered their worst home loss in six seasons -- since losing to Creighton 97-64 in December 1993 -- on Thursday, falling 81-57 to BYU at the Bob Devaney Sports Center. Nebraska opened the season ranked 24th by AP, but dropped out of the Top 25 after the second week of the season and hasn't been back since. To make matters worse, Nebraska lost Stephanie Jones for the rest of the season Sunday after the freshman forward suffered a torn ACL.

	LaQuanda Barksdale, UNC
	Tuesday: 31 pts | 18 reb Saturday: 29 pts | 19 reb

The fine line
Last week, UNC's LaQuanda Barksdale combined for 60 points and 37 rebounds -- in two games.

On Tuesday, the 5-11 junior forward lit up Georgia Southern with a career-high 31 points and 18 rebounds on 13-for-22 shooting to lead the Tar Heels to a 74-55 win. Saturday, Barksdale scored 29 points on 10-for-20 shooting and grabbed a career-high 19 rebounds in a 77-58 victory over Radford.

Including a Dec. 5 106-80 win over Richmond, Barksdale was 30-for-53 on the week, making 56.6 percent of her shots.

Parting shot
Nebraska's Nicole Kubik, after the Huskers muscled out a 77-69 win over Creighton on Sunday: "We played together better today than we have. We were more intense. We were physical, and that's Nebraska basketball. It may not be pretty, but sometimes we're going to win ugly."