(Editor's note: Notre Dame junior center Ruth Riley will share a weekly diary with ESPN.com throughout the season. For more on the Irish, visit Notre Dame's official athletic site.)

Feb. 4, 2000

We have been playing a lot better in these past two games. Against Providence (a 90-60 win last Tuesday), we obviously had a really strong showing for everyone on our team. I think that everyone really contributed a lot, and that (junior forward) Kelley Siemon really stepped up.

	Riley led the nation in field goal percentage in 1999, sinking 198 of 290 attempts (68.3 percent).

She is an example of how anyone can step up on any given night. And the night we played Providence just happened to be Kelley's night.

It is comforting to know that whatever combination we have on the court will have success. It is also good to know that through any circumstances, like injuries or foul trouble, we will be able to substitute all the way around. It is a great feeling to know that when people come in, we won't lose any ground.

Lately, our team has seen more and more players stepping up a lot more. Kelley did it against Providence. And (freshman) Amanda Barksdale is doing it more and more in the post. She is coming in, being aggressive and blocking shots. It is the second half of her freshman year, and she is more comfortable with the role she has on the team. She is also able to handle more responsibility.

In the next month, we really need to focus on the little things. Regardless of whom we are playing, we have to zero in on executing the offense. We need to hold people on the number of offensive rebounds and stuff like that. On defense, we just need to focus so that we do not pick up any bad habits along the way.

	THE FULL DOSE OF DIARIES
	Jackie Stiles of SMS: A successful week
	Oregon's Shaquala Williams: Facing former teammates.
	UCLA's Maylana Martin: Getting sentimental

On Wednesday night, I caught part of the game between Connecticut and Tennessee. I went back and forth between it and the Notre Dame men's game. It was a tough matchup, which was to be expected since Tennessee and Connecticut are both powerhouses in women's basketball.

In the game, both teams played really well and really hard. Wednesday night just happened to be Tennessee's night.