From the Conference USA website

Louisville's Sara Nord earned C-USA Player of the Week honors after becoming the
all-time assists leader in Louisville history; Cincinnati (6-2) will face its
first ranked opponent of the season when it hosts No. 15 UC Santa Barbara on
Tuesday. The Bearcats are 4-0 at home this season; On Wednesday, DePaul will
look to extend its 8-0 record when it battles No. 2 Tennessee (5-0), who is also
unbeaten this season.

PLAYER OF THE WEEK
SARA NORD
Sr., G, Jeffersonvile, Ind. (Jeffersonville)

Louisville's SARA NORD earns C-USA Player of the Week honors for the period
ending Dec. 14. Leading the Cardinals to a 2-0 week, Nord shot 60 percent
(21-of-35) from the field, including a 10-of-18 effort (55.6 percent) from the
three-point line. She scored a career-high 32 points against Ball State, while
also posting 12 assists and no turnovers in her 40 minutes of play against the
Cardinals. Nord then tallied nine assists to become the all-time assists leader
in Louisville history with a total of 716, surpassing former men's player
LaBradford Smith (1987-91). She finished the game leading all scorers with 23
points, while adding eight rebounds. For the week, Nord averaged 27.5 points,
10.5 assists and six rebounds per game.

UNDEFEATED IN 2003
As of Dec. 15, there are 13 teams in the nation with undefeated records and
C-USA has two of them. DePaul (8-0) and Southern Miss (7-0) are both unbeaten
this season. The BIG EAST leads the nation with three undefeated teams, while
C-USA, Big 12 and the SEC follow with two.

THE LEAGUE'S BEST STARTS
DePaul needs six more wins to tie the league's mark for the best start in
non-conference play. Tulane holds the record with a perfect 14-0 start during
the beginning of the 1999-00 season. Here a look at the league's best starts:

14-0 Tulane 1999-00
11-0 Cincinnati 2001-02
8-0 DePaul 2002-03
7-0 Southern Miss 2002-03
7-0 USF 1999-00

THIS WEEK'S MATCHUPS
Cincinnati will face its first ranked opponent of the season when it hosts No.
15 UC Santa Barbara on Tuesday. The Bearcats are 4-0 at home this season.

On Wednesday, DePaul will look to extend its 8-0 record when it battles No. 2
Tennessee (5-0), who is also unbeaten this season. The Blue Demons will be
looking for a little December magic. Last year, DePaul captured a 75-59 victory
over No. 8 Notre Dame on Dec. 11, 2002 and a 64-46 win over No. 21 George
Washington on Dec. 22.

HOME SWEET HOME
With a 102-57 victory over Southern Illinois on Sunday, DePaul is now tied for
the fifth longest home win streak (18) in the nation. Arizona, Ohio State and
Purdue have also posted 18 consecutive wins at home. The Blue Demons' last home
loss occurred on March 2, 2002 against Tulane, 88-83, in the quarterfinals of
the C-USA Tournament.

Charlotte's streak of home wins ended on Sunday with a loss to South Carolina,
84-67. Prior to the defeat, the 49ers had not lost at Halton Arena since the
2001-02 season, tallying a total of 20 consecutive wins.

Currently, five C-USA teams are undefeated at home this season, with Southern
Miss posting a league-high 7-0 record. Cincinnati, DePaul and Saint Louis follow
with a 4-0 mark, while TCU is 3-0.

BLUE DEMONS' 100-POINT GAMES
This past weekend, DePaul posted back-to-back 100-plus point games. The Blue
Demons opened the weekend defeating Illinois-Chicago, 106-60, and then claiming
a 102-57 victory over Southern Illinois on Sunday. DePaul leads the league with
three 100-plus point games this season.

DISHING IT OUT
In a 76-48 victory over Jackson State on Sunday, Louisville's SARA NORD became
the all-time assists leader in U of L history. With eight assists in the game,
Nord surpassed former men's player LaBradford Smith (1987-91), who recorded 713
during his four-year career. Currently, Nord has a total of 716 assists.

C-USA IN NON-CONFERENCE PLAY
As of Dec. 15, Conference USA teams are a combined 73-33 (.689) in
non-conference action. A total of 10 league teams won their season-opening games
this season and 11 league squads have posted non-conference records of .500 or
above.

FRESHMEN IMPACT
Several freshmen are already making a big impact in only their first season in
the conference. Currently, USF's NALINA MILLER is second among the league's
block leaders with 1.86 per game, while also ranking third in rebounds (9.9 pg).
Southern Miss freshman MICHELLE POINDEXTER follows in ninth place with 8.0
rebounds per game.

Louisville's JAZZ COVINGTON leads the freshmen class in scoring and ranks 11th
overall with an average of 15.1 points per game.

PRESEASON COACHES' POLL
TCU, which captured the 2003 Conference USA Tournament title, has been chosen by
the 14 C-USA head coaches to win the 2003-04 regular season title. Houston's
CHANDI JONES, who led the nation in scoring (27.5 ppg) last season, has been
selected by the coaches as the C-USA Preseason Player of the Year.
2003-04 Conference USA Coaches Preseason Poll
1. TCU
2. DePaul
3. Cincinnati
4. Charlotte
5. Houston
6. Tulane
7. Louisville
8. Marquette
9. Memphis
10. Saint Louis
11. East Carolina
12. Southern Miss
13. UAB
14. USF
Preseason All-Conference Team
Jenni Dant, DePaul
Sandora Irvin, TCU
Chandi Jones, Houston*
Valerie King, Cincinnati
Debbie Merrill, Cincinnati
Preseason Player of the Year

WEEKLY HONOR ROLL
Here are some of Conference USA's top individual performances from games of Dec.
8-14.

MONICA LEAGUE, CHARLOTTE: Led the 49ers with 14.5 points per game, while
shooting 58.8 percent from the field last week ... recorded a season-high 19
points against Wichita State.

ANNE STEPHENS, CINCINNATI: Posted the sixth-best shooting day in UC history when
she made 6-of-7 field goals at Indiana State on Saturday ... finished the game
with 12 points and seven rebounds ... averaging 12.3 points and eight rebounds
in her last three games.

JENNI DANT, DE PAUL: Averaged 16 points and shot 53.3 percent from the field,
while leading the Blue Demons to a 3-0 record last week ... posted only two
turnovers, while tallying nine assists for the week.

COURTNEY WILLIS, EAST CAROLINA: Notched a season-high 27 points and became the
18th Pirate to score 1,000 points in a career ... shot 71.4 percent from the
field, including a 7-of-8 effort from the free throw line.

KELLY SCHWERMAN, MARQUETTE: Averaged 13.8 points per game last week ... tallied
17 points, three assists and one steal against Virginia Commonwealth.

ANGIE LEWIS, SAINT LOUIS: Posted her fifth double-double of the season with 15
points and 11 rebounds against Drake last weekend ... notched 13 of her 15
points in the second half.

DENISE WILSON, SOUTHERN MISS: Came off the bench against Sam Houston State, to
record her first career double-double with 17 points and 11 rebounds last
weekend ... shot over 40 percent from the field, including a 9-of-11 effort from
the free throw line.

AROUND C-USA...
CHARLOTTE (5-4, 0-0 C-USA)
Charlotte suffered an 84-67 setback to South Carolina on Sunday. The loss ends
the 49ers' 20-game win streak at home, which had been the fifth-longest in the
nation. Charlotte had five players reach double figures in scoring, led by
SAKELLIE DANIELS' 17 points. Before Sunday, the last time the 49ers had four
players score in double figures was against Louisville last season. The other
four players in double figures - PEACHES HARRIS, LESLIE COOK, MONICA LEAGUE and
PAM BROWN - all scored 10 points. Charlotte has a break from games for exams and
returns to action on Sunday, when the Niners host UNC Wilmington.

CINCINNATI (6-2, 0-0 C-USA)
UC fell to Indiana State, 57-54, on Saturday. ANN STEPHENS posted the sixth-best
shooting day in UC history when she made 6-of-7 field goals. She finished the
game with 12 points and seven rebounds. UC went 11-for-11 from the line as a
team, tying the UC and C-USA record. VALERIE KING, who went 7-of-7 for the day,
raised her career free throw percentage to .881 (31-of-32), marking the third
best in NCAA history and second in Division I all-time. The Bearcats held their
sixth-straight opponent to 60 points or less and have allowed 30 points in just
two of the last 12 halves of play. UC faces its first ranked opponent of the
season when the Bearcats host No. 15 UC Santa Barbara on Tuesday.

DE PAUL (8-0, 0-0 C-USA)
With wins over Illinois-Chicago, 106-60, and Southern Illinois, 102-57 last
weekend, DePaul is now only one win away from tying the best start in DePaul
history. (In 1995-96, the Demons opened with a 9-0 record). The eight-game
winning streak is also the longest since a nine-game winning streak from Feb. 4
to March 2, 1996. Against Southern Illinois, JENNI DANT scored 23 points on
7-of-10 shooting from the field and a 9-of-10 mark from the free throw line.
With the nine free shots, she moved into eighth place on DePaul's all-time free
throws made list with 277 in her career. KHARA SMITH recorded her sixth
double-double of the season with 13 points and 13 rebounds. Currently, DePaul
leads the nation in scoring at 95.8 points per game and fourth in scoring margin
at 30.8 points per game. The Blue Demons go for their ninth straight win on
Wednesday against No. 2 Tennessee at the DePaul Athletic Center.

EAST CAROLINA (5-3, 0-0 C-USA)
COURTNEY WILLIS led the Pirates to their third consecutive win after defeating
UNC Wilmington, 70-60, on Saturday. Willis posted a season-high 27 points and
became the 18th player in program history to score 1,000 points in a career.
VIOLA COOPER scored a career-high 13 points and shot a perfect 5-of-5 from the
field. ALISHA BISHOP scored eight points off the bench, including five of them
in the last two minutes of the game. JENNIFER JACKSON poured in 10 points,
including two from behind the three-point arc. She now has 79 three-point
baskets in her career. On Sunday, ECU travels to Winston-Salem, N.C., to take on
Wake Forest.

HOUSTON (5-2, 0-0 C-USA)
After a week off for exams, the Cougars are back in action when they host
Texas-San Antonio. Houston was within minutes of upsetting No. 7 Purdue on Dec.
7, but the Cougars fell just short as the Boilermakers escaped with a 66-63 win.
Houston was led by CHANDI JONES and SANCHO LYTTLE who combined to score 47 of
UH's 63 points. Jones led all scorers with 24 points while Lyttle added 23
points and 11 rebounds.

LOUISVILLE (5-4, 0-0 C-USA)
SARA NORD became the all-time assists leader in U of L history, while leading
Louisville to a 76-48 victory over Jackson State on Sunday. With nine assists in
the game, Nord surpassed former men's player LaBradford Smith, who recorded 713
in his U of L career. She currently has 716 assists. Nord also led the Cardinals
offensively, posting a game-high 23 points, while freshman JAZZ COVINGTON
registered her third consecutive double-double with 17 points and 11 rebounds.
Louisville will look to extend its three-game winning streak when it faces
Cleveland State on Thursday.

MARQUETTE (6-1, 0-0 C-USA)
The Golden Eagles captured a 67-45 win over Virginia Commonwealth on Saturday.
Marquette is 6-1 for only the second time in school history. MU went 8-1 during
the 1999-2000 season. KELLY SCHWERMAN led the Golden Eagles, tallying 17 points,
while CAROLYN KIEGER recorded her fourth straight double-figure scoring outing
in as many games with 12 points. Marquette is off to a 2-0 start away from
Milwaukee. The Golden Eagles were very comfortable away from home last season,
going 10-6, tying the school record for road wins in a season with five. MU won
six in a row away from Milwaukee in that time, including a neutral site win.
Marquette next hits the road on Thursday against St. Bonaventure.


MEMPHIS (7-1, 0-0 C-USA)
Memphis rolled to an 88-38 victory over Arkansas-Pine Bluff on Saturday at home.
The 50-point victory was the largest margin in a Tiger win since a 93-38 victory
over UMKC in the 2000-01 season. VICTORIA CRAWFORD led four Tigers in
double-digits with 17 points as constant defensive pressure by Memphis held the
Golden Lionettes to just 24 percent shooting from the floor and forced the
visitors into 37 turnovers. The Tigers return to action on Saturday against
Arkansas-Little Rock at The Pyramid.

SAINT LOUIS (6-2, 0-0 C-USA)
Saint Louis downed Drake, 72-58 on Saturday. The Billikens have now won nine
straight home games. ANGIE LEWIS posted her fifth double-double of the season
with 15 points and 11 rebounds. She helped SLU, who held a 34-30 lead at
halftime, secure the win by notching 13 points in the second half. Freshman
TYLER MCILWRAITH scored a season-high 14 points on 6-of-9 shooting, while
STEPHANIE SOLOMON posted her first career three-pointer. SLU shot a season-best
50.9, while also outrebounding Drake, 38-24. The Billikens take on Northern
Illinois on Thursday.

USF (3-4, 0-0 C-USA)
USF dropped a 65-58 decision to Florida State on Sunday. NALINA MILLER tallied a
career-high 17 points and 13 rebounds to lead the Bulls. The Bulls rank first in
the league in three-point field goal defense, holding the opposition to just
22.5 percent behind the arc. USF will head to the west coast this weekend to
face UC Riverside on Friday and UNLV on Sunday.

SOUTHERN MISS (7-0, 0-0 C-USA)
Southern Miss won its only game of the week, a 74-51 victory over Sam Houston
State on Saturday. The 7-0 record is the best start since the 1994-95 season.
DENISE WILSON recorded her first career double-double with 17 points and 11
rebounds. She shot 81.8 percent from the free throw line, while also adding one
assist and one steal. LOTTE HULSHOF scored 13 points and MICHELLE POINDEXTER
grabbed 10 rebounds. The Eagles connected on 8-of-17 from three-point range,
while holding the Bearkats to a 37.3 percent shooting. Southern Miss hits the
road for the first time, traveling to Carbondale, Ill., to face Southern
Illinois on Tuesday.

TCU (6-1, 0-0 C-USA)
The 19th-ranked Horned Frogs fell to No. 25 Rutgers, 73-65, on Sunday. Limited
to two points in the first half, SANDORA IRVIN scored 20 in the game, while AMY
PACK notched 18 and KIM ORTEGA followed with 11. TIFFANY EVANS underwent a small
knee operation on Dec. 8. The senior forward had started every game for TCU so
far this season. She is expected to miss only four games and is projected to
return to the lineup at the end of the month. This weekend, the Frogs will
remain on the road to face Florida State at the Pepperdine Holiday in Malibu,
Calif. TCU will then return home to take on Lamar on Dec. 29. The Frogs have
enjoyed playing at home since head coach JEFF MITTIE came to Cowtown in 1999.
TCU is 55-15 (.786) at Daniel-Meyer Coliseum since Mittie's arrival. In his
first year, TCU went 12-6 at home, followed by a 13-3 mark and an even more
impressive 13-2 the next season. The Lady Frogs were 12-3 last year.

TULANE (2-4, 0-0 C-USA)
The Green Wave took a break for semester exams and returns to action on Thursday
when they play host to James Madison. Tulane advanced to the championship game
of the Oakland Tribune Classic, but fell to California, 66-61, on Dec. 5-6.
Junior LAKETHIA HAMPTON recorded her first career double-double with 17 points
and 13 rebounds, while KELLY NADEAU added 10. Both were named to the
all-tournament team.

UAB (2-5, 0-0 C-USA)
UAB suffered a 73-66 setback to Jacksonville State on Saturday. Freshman CRYSTAL
MCFADDEN led UAB with a career-high 27 points in the game while junior GENNIFER
BRIDGES recorded the first double-double of her UAB career with 12 points and 11
rebounds. Senior Natasha Thomas added 13 points. The Blazers host Tennessee Tech
on Wednesday.


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