Throughout the season, freshmen around the country have made solid impacts on their respective teams.

From Kennitra Johnson at UConn to Kara Lawson at Tennessee, from Nicole Kaczmarski at UCLA to Alicia Ratay at Notre Dame, and from N.C. State's Kaayla Chones to Western Michigan's Kristin Koetsier ...

	Freshman Kristin Koetsier is averaging 21.1 points.

Wait a sec. Who?

If you haven't heard -- and you probably haven't -- Koetsier ranks 13th in the nation in scoring, averaging 21.1 points through 14 games and posting seven double-doubles along the way. She is the country's third highest scoring and rebounding freshman.

Against Campbell on Dec. 30, Koetsier scored 31 points to notch a new Mid-American Conference freshman record -- and the conference's top individual scoring performance of the season. Through Tuesday, she led the MAC in scoring and field goal percentage (112 of 197, 56.9 percent), ranked second in rebounding (9.7) and was fourth in free throw percentage (69 of 85, 81.2 percent) and blocked shots (1.21).

Still not impressed? In her first collegiate game, the 18-year-old was guarded by Illinois' Susan Blauser, a preseason "best of the rest" Naismith Award candidate. Despite a 112-73 loss, Koetsier poured in 29 points and pulled down eight rebounds.

Said Illinois coach Theresa Grentz: "(Koetsier) was very impressive. We kept switching people on her, but we could never contain her. She is going to have a great collegiate career."

A month later at Stanford, Koetsier led all scorers -- including Stanford's Jamie Carey, a preseason first-team All-Freshman selection by Women's Basketball News Service -- with 24 points and added eight rebounds in an 80-66 loss. After the game, Stanford coach Tara VanDerveer called Koetsier "an excellent player" and "a legitimate big-time player."

Now that we've got your attention, consider that just six months ago, on July 23, doctors removed Koetsier's spleen after discovering she suffers from Immune (Idiopathic) Thrombocytopenia Purpura, an auto-immune disorder caused by a low blood platelet count. The disease occurs when a patient forms antibodies which destroy his or her own platelets because the body considers them foreign, attacking them as it would bacteria.

Koetsier originally began showing symptoms of ITP around July 4. Within hours, the stomach pain was so intense she could hardly stand up. After tests, doctors discovered her blood count at 13,000 (Koetsier says an average count is between 200,000 and 300,000), and the spleen was removed three weeks later.

After surgery, Koetsier remained hospitalized for a week and over the next few weeks, lost 10 pounds. Typical recovery time is 2½ months, and Koetsier missed most of the off-season training and a majority of the preseason before returning in late September. Although out of shape, she scored nine points and grabbed eight boards Nov. 4 against the Chicago Challengers in the Broncos' first exhibition game of the season. In another exhibition five days later, Koetsier had 12 points and 12 rebounds, and has been on a tear ever since.

So get to know her name.

Ballpark bits
Tennessee and Arizona State have never played before. But when they meet on the court for the first time, they're hoping to set a new record.

In hopes of breaking the NCAA women's basketball single-game attendance record, ASU will play Tennessee at Bank One Ballpark, which seats more than 48,000, next season.

The ballpark, home of the Arizona Diamondbacks, has a retractable roof similar to the Seattle Mariners' new home, Safeco Field.

"This will be a historic event," ASU coach Charli Turner Thorne said. "This game has the ability to be one of the greatest events in women's basketball history."

The current attendance record was set by Tennessee when 24,597 fans watched the Lady Vols beat Connecticut at Thompson-Boling Arena on Jan. 3, 1998 in Knoxville, Tenn.

The Tennessee-ASU game is scheduled for Dec. 28, 2000, and will be televised nationally. Proceeds from tickets sales will benefit breast cancer research.

Home (is still) sweet home
Speaking of homecourt victories, Grambling still has the nation's longest home winning streak.

Entering the season with 55 consecutive home wins, the five-time defending Southwestern Athletic Conference champions are undefeated at home so far this season, running the streak to 61 games.

Assistant coach Fredrick Bivens admits the streak is important to he and the Tigers.

"It matters because ... it's the one thing we can hold as ours and ours only," he said. "And each time we step on the floor, we keep it in mind and have a lot of pride sustaining that."

A lot of pride, especially since the Tigers have been able to stay consistent despite losing seven players to graduation.

"That's been very uplifting," Bivens said. "The expectations were high because of what the seniors had left behind, but our players have met every challenge so far this season."

Of note, junior center Nakesha Jewell is averaging 18 points a game, and freshman Shrieka Evans leads the nation in 3-point field goals made per game. Evans went 7-for-12 from beyond the arc in her last game, bringing her season total to 64. Through 16 games, she's sinking 4.0 3-pointers per game.

The Lady Tigers, 12-0 at home last season, are 13-3 overall this season and 7-0 in the SWAC. Grambling hasn't lost a conference game since 1997.

Lambert likes La. Tech
East Coasters might not have heard about Sheila Lambert, but it's clear that folks in Louisiana -- Leon Barmore, at least -- know about her.

Lambert, a graduate of Seattle's Chief Sealth High School who is a sophomore at Grayson County College in Denison, Texas, said Louisiana Tech is winning the recruiting war with her.

"I haven't made up my mind, but it would be my top pick right now," Lambert, who visited the Ruston, La., campus in December, told The Seattle Times last week.

Lambert could take four more official recruiting visits, but says she's not sure she needs to see any other campuses, adding, "I really enjoyed myself (at Louisiana Tech). It would be kind of hard to beat."

Lambert rewrote the Washington high school record books before graduating in 1999, capping her prep career by setting or tying eight state-tournament records, including a 42-point single-game performance in the Class 3A 1998 tournament. As a junior, she averaged 29.5 points.

As a high-school senior, Lambert signed a letter of intent to attend the University of Washington, but failed to achieve an entrance-exam score high enough to be eligible for a scholarship.

This season, Lambert has helped lead No. 2 Grayson County, a perennial National Junior College Athletic Association power, to an 18-0 record. Lambert is averaging 23.6 points, fourth-highest nationally among JC players.

Last season, Lambert was one of two freshmen named NJCAA All-Americans. She led the NJCAA in assists (7.9 per game), was fourth in scoring (24.4 points per game), third in 2-point field-goal percentage (62.9) and fifth from 3-point range (43.9 percent).

The week that was

	Catchings

Georgia 78, Tennessee 51: The Lady Bulldogs handed Tennessee its worst loss since 1984 -- and its worst SEC defeat ever. Tamika Catchings, the preseason Player of the Year favorite, scored 13 for the Lady Vols while Georgia junior Deana Nolan matched her career high with 25 points. Tennessee, which fell to 13-3 overall, has lost more games already this season than in the past two years combined. Said Catchings: "We have a lot of work to do. We have competitors, but we never have five competing at one time."

Wolfpack crack: When last week started, North Carolina State was one of just three unbeaten Division I teams around the country. This week, the Wolfpack are just another 14-2 team after suffering back-to-back ACC losses to Clemson and Virginia.

Tulane goes 0-2: Like N.C. State, Tulane's unbeaten season came to end. Tulane dropped to 14-2 after suffering successive losses to a pair of unranked foes (Cincinnati and Louisville), then tumbled from 13th to 21st for the biggest drop within this week's AP poll. Tulane also dropped from 15th to 20th in the coaches' poll.

The week ahead
No. 8 Duke at No. 5 North Carolina State (7 p.m. ET Thursday): Definitely one of the biggest games of the week. Duke has won 15 consecutive games. N.C. State, after winning its first 14 games of the season, has lost two straight, both of which were against ACC foes. A Blue Devil victory keeps the streak alive and puts Duke and Virginia at the front of the ACC race.

One step forward
Oklahoma: Sure the Sooners are 13-3 ... but so is Tennessee. And like the Lady Vols, one of those losses came against UConn. Not bad for a program that was 5-22 four seasons ago. Although Oklahoma didn't break into the coaches' poll, the Sooners were ranked 25th in the AP poll, their first ranking since February 1995.

Two steps back
North Carolina: After finally breaking into the top 10 of the coaches' poll, the Tar Heels fell 11 spots to No. 23 this week. The AP poll was a bit more harsh, completely dropping North Carolina from the Top 25 after five consecutive losses over the past two weeks. The streak started with a five-point loss to then-unbeaten N.C. State. But then Nikki Teasley left the team and the Heels suffered another four losses -- all to unranked ACC foes. When UNC fell out of this week's AP Top 25, it marked the first time North Carolina had not been ranked since the end of the 1995-96 season.

Oregon: How does a team -- let alone the defending Pac-10 co-champion -- blow a 26-point lead and end up losing by 16?

	Lauren St. Clair, Stanford
	8-12 FG | 6-9 3-PT 25 pts | 9 reb | 4 stl | 4 ast

The fine line
Answer: Lauren St. Clair.

St. Clair, a sophomore forward, was 6-for-9 from 3-point range Saturday, leading Stanford to a 78-62 upset of Oregon.

The Cardinal, after missing 19 of their first 21 shots and committing nine turnovers, trailed 36-10 with a few minutes left in the first half. But St. Clair's 3-pointer with 13:26 to play capped a 35-11 Stanford run and gave Stanford the lead for the first time since the opening minute at 50-49.

St. Clair finished with a game-high 25 points on 8-for-12 shooting. She also tallied nine rebounds, and made four assists and four steals with just one turnover.

Honorable mention: Notre Dame's Ruth Riley, who last Tuesday scored 17 points, grabbed 13 rebounds and blocked seven shots in an 80-52 home win over Seton Hall. The junior center was 6 of 8 from the field. Said Seton Hall coach Phyllis Mangina, "We decided we couldn't guard Ruth, so we might as well go small and try to make it more of an open court."

Parting shot
Tennessee coach Pat Summitt, after Tennessee's 78-51 loss to Georgia Monday, the Lady Vols' worst loss since 1984: "They say a team takes on the personality of its coach, but this is not my personality."