The bracket is set for this weekend's C-USA Women's Basketball Tournament, beginning Friday, March 1 through Monday, March 4 at the DePaul Athletic Center in Chicago; TCU captured its first-ever C-USA regular season title, while also clinching the No. 1 seed with a 12-2 conference record; The No. 25 Horned Frogs, along with the No. 23 Bearcats are ranked in the Associated Press poll, marking only the third time in league history that C-USA has had two teams ranked in the Top 25; Gear up for another exciting C-USA Tournament by reading this week's notebook.

PLAYER OF THE WEEK

TEANA MCKIVER, Tulane
Jr., C, Beulaville, N.C./E. Duplin

TEANA MCKIVER earns Conference USA Player of the Week for the period ending Feb. 24. McKiver led the Green Wave to a pair of wins over Charlotte, 65-57 and East Carolina, 68-51 last weekend. She recorded back-to-back double-double performances, tallying a total of 12 in her career. She shot over 50 percent from the field (14-of-26), including an 8-of-13 from the free throw line. Against Charlotte, she registered 18 points, 14 rebounds and eight blocks, narrowly missing her first career triple-double. She averaged 18 points, 12 rebounds, seven blocks and 2 assists for the week. With her 71 blocked shots this season, she now has the third best single-season total in school history.

AMONG THE RANKED
For the second time this season and only the third time in league history, Conference USA has two teams nationally ranked. Cincinnati is No. 23 in the Associated Press Top 25, while TCU is ranked No. 25 in the Associated Press rankings. The last time Conference USA had two schools in the Top 25 was Dec. 31, 2001, when Tulane (22 AP/22 ESPN/USA Today) and Cincinnati (25 AP/23 ESPN/USA Today) were ranked in both national polls. The last time C-USA had two teams ranked in the Top 25 heading into the C-USA Tournament was Feb. 21, 2000 with Tulane (18 AP/20 ESPN/USA Today) and Marquette (19 AP/23 ESPN/USA Today).

TCU CLAIMS C-USA TITLE
With a 72-57 victory over Marquette on Sunday, the TCU Horned Frogs have captured their first Conference USA regular season championship. TCU, which is a first-year member of C-USA, closed out the home slate with a school-best 15-2 home record, bettering last year's 13-3 mark in Fort Worth. The Frogs have now won four straight and eight of their last nine games overall.

The Horned Frogs are the No. 1 seed and will have a first round bye at the C-USA Women's Basketball Tournament in Chicago at the DePaul Athletic Center, March 1-4. Other teams receiving first round byes include No. 2 Houston, No. 3 Cincinnati and No. 4 DePaul. Friday's first round matchups are: No. 10 vs. No. 7 Charlotte at 1 p.m., No. 11 Southern Miss vs. No. 6 Louisville at 3 p.m., No. 12 UAB vs. No. 5 Tulane and No. 9 Saint Louis vs. No. 8 Marquette at 8 p.m. All game times are central. For ticket information, please contact your local Conference USA school's ticket office.

WEEKLY HONOR ROLL
Here are some of Conference USA's top individual performances from games of Feb. 18-24.

VALERIE KING, CINCINNATI: Recorded her 1,000 career point against Kentucky on Feb. 19 to become the third fastest in C-USA history to reach that mark .

LENAE WILLIAMS, DEPAUL: Moved up to third on the NCAA's all-time three-pointer list with 323 career treys.

VALERIE MUONEKE, HOUSTON: Pulled down a career-high 19 rebounds, including 13 of which were defensive boards against DePaul ... her 19 rebounds are the second-highest single-game total in school history.

HARMONIE KING, SAINT LOUIS: Helped the Billikens clinch a spot in the C-USA tournament with road wins over South Florida and UAB ... tallied a career-high with 19 points and nine rebounds against the Bulls.

SONIA COTTON, SOUTH FLORIDA: Averaged 24 points and 6.5 rebounds last weekend ... set a career-high with 25 points against Memphis.

TIFFANY EVANS, TCU: Averaged 13 points, six rebounds and 2.5 assists per game last weekend ... has recorded five straight double-figure scoring games.

NATASHA THOMAS, UAB: Recorded her C-USA-leading 20th double-double of the season with 16 points and 12 rebounds against Saint Louis ... averaged 18.5 points and 11 .5 rebounds per game last weekend ... has shot 50 percent or better from the field 11 times this season.

AROUND C-USA...

CHARLOTTE (15-12, 7-7 C-USA)
Charlotte suffered a 50-47 decision to Southern Miss on Feb. 24. JEN WILLIAMS led the 49ers with 14 points, while PEACHES HARRIS also topped double-figures with 10 points. The No. 7 seed 49ers will take on Memphis on Friday in the first round of the C-USA Tournament. The Tigers won the regular-season meeting, 91-56 on Feb. 3.

CINCINNATI (23-4, 11-3 C-USA)
VALERIE KING scored 26 points to lead No. 23 Cincinnati over Louisville, 85-71 on Feb. 24. The Bearcats played their final game of the season in front of 7,246 people, the largest crowd in Cincinnati history for women's basketball. King hit five three pointers and was 7-of-14 from the field. She finished the regular season with 519 points and set a school record 85 three pointers. LAURA WILDER added 13 points, while BRITTANI YOUNG and K.B. SHARP recorded 12 points apiece. Cincinnati, as the No. 3 seed, will have a first round bye before taking on the winner of the Southern Miss/Louisville game on Saturday.

DE PAUL (15-12, 8-6 C-USA)
DePaul played one of its best halves of the season, followed by one of its worst to fall 80-72 to Houston on Feb. 24. The Blue Demons scored a season-high 57 points in the first half and led by 19 points at halftime, only to see Houston outscore them in the second stanza. LENAE WILLIAMS scored 16 of her 23 points in the first half, while JENNI DANT finished with 17 points. JAMIE SMITH recorded her first career double-double with 15 points and 11 rebounds. With the first round bye, the Blue Demons will face the winner of the Tulane -UAB game on Saturday at 6 p.m. DePaul beat both of those teams in regular season play this year.

EAST CAROLINA (6-21, 3-11 C-USA)
East Carolina ended the 2001-02 season with a 68-51 loss to Tulane on Feb. 24. The Pirates finished with a 6-21 record and 3-11 conference mark. COURTNEY WILLIS led East Carolina with 15 points and a game-high five steals, while freshman KIM ENOCH finished with 12 points. AYANA MCWILLIAMS chipped in seven assists.

HOUSTON (21-6, 11-3 C-USA)
The Cougars rallied from a 19-point deficit at halftime to defeat DePaul, 80-73 on Feb. 24. Down 57-38 at halftime, Houston opened the second half with an 18-4 scoring drive. They would slowly erase the Blue Demons' lead and stage the largest comeback of the season. VALERIE MUONEKE completed her third double-double of the season with 16 points and a career-high 19 rebounds. CHANDI JONES extended her consecutive double figure scoring streak to 47 games after registering a game-high 27 points in the contest. The Cougars have now won a season-high seven straight games, their longest win streak since the 1991-92 season, when they notched nine consecutive wins. As the No. 2 seed, Houston earned their highest seed in school history and will have a first round bye before taking on the winner of the Memphis/Charlotte game.

LOUISVILLE (16-11, 8-6 C-USA)
Louisville suffered an 85-71 loss at Cincinnati on Feb. 24. SARA NORD scored 16 points to lead the Cardinals, while AMANDA WOLKE and LAKISHA HOFFMAN each scored 13 points. Nord added five assists. She is now four assists away from tying her own school and C-USA record of 222. She currently has 440 in her two-year career. Louisville will take on Southern Miss in the first round on Friday at the C-USA Tournament beginning at 3 p.m.

MARQUETTE (14-13, 7-7 C-USA)
Marquette fell 72-57 on Feb. 24. RACHEL KLUG had 14 points, while KRISTIN SEFFERN and RASHIDA GALES each had 16 points. The Golden Eagles were cold in the second half, hitting just seven field goals. Marquette will next take on Saint Louis in the first round of the C-USA Tournament on Friday at 8 p.m.
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MEMPHIS (11-16, 5-9 C-USA)
Memphis dropped an 80-61 decision to South Florida on Feb. 24. PRINCESS SWLLEY led the Tigers in scoring with 15 points off a 7-of-8 effort from the field. MELISSA ABRAHAM recorded her 13th career double-double after scoring 12 points and hauling in a team-high 11 rebounds. SHANNON HAMP also scored in double-figures with 11 points. Memphis will enter the C-USA Tournament as the No. 10 seed and will face Charlotte at 6 p.m. on Friday.

SAINT LOUIS (13-14, 6-8 C-USA)
For the second straight game, STAR JACKSON hit two free throws in the final seconds to seal a Saint Louis victory this time over UAB, 51-47 on Feb. 24. ANGIE LEWIS led the Billikens with 14 points, hitting 7-of-8 shots from the field. HARMONIE KING added 12 points and tied for rebounding honors with six boards. As the No. 9 seed, the Billikens will take on No. 8 Marquette on Friday at 8 p.m.

SOUTH FLORIDA (14-13, 4-10 C-USA)
South Florida ended the 2001-02 season with a win over Memphis, 80-61 on Feb. 24. However, USF's quest for a C-USA Tournament berth ended when Southern Miss defeated Charlotte to gain the No. 11 seed. South Florida enjoyed a 10-game improvement from a year ago, placing it fourth on C-USA all-time best turnaround list. DIONE SMITH ends her career as C-USA's all-time steals leader with 360.

SOUTHERN MISS (11-16, 4-10 C-USA)
SONJA BROWN knocked down a pair of free throws with five seconds left in the game to give Southern Miss a 50-47 win over Charlotte on Feb. 24. The win gave Southern Miss the No. 11 seed in the tournament and snapped a five-game losing streak. VICTORIA MASON led the Golden Eagles with nine points, while Brown chipped in seven points. The Eagles outrebounded the 49ers, 49-39 and held Charlotte to a 23.1 shooting percentage. Brown reached a milestone, recording her 100th block on Friday against East Carolina. She currently has 101 blocks on the season. No. 11 Southern Miss will next take on No. 6 Louisville at the C-USA Tournament on Friday at 3 p.m.

TCU (22-5, 12-2 C-USA)
In its first year in the league, TCU captured the C-USA regular season crown with a 72-57 victory over Marquette on Feb. 24. TIFFANY EVANS led the Frogs in scoring with 16. KATI SAFARITOVA added 12 points and EBONY SHAW notched 11. SANDORA IRVIN had a game-high 11 rebounds. TCU closed out the home slate with a school-best 15-2 home record, bettering last year's 13-3 mark. The Frogs have now won four straight and eight of their last nine games overall. With the No. 1 seed, TCU will take on the winner of the Marquette/Saint Louis game on Saturday at 8 p.m.

TULANE (20-9, 8-6 C-USA)
GWEN SLAUGHTER and TEANA MCKIVER combined for 37 points, 25 rebounds and eight blocked shots to lead Tulane to a 68-51 win over East Carolina on Feb. 24. The win was Tulane's fourth straight and fifth in its last six games. The Wave also reached the 20-win plateau for the seventh consecutive year. Slaughter (19 points, 15 rebounds) and McKiver (18 points, 10 rebounds) each posted double-double performances against the Pirates. SARAH GOREE chipped in 12 points and two assists, while TIFFANY WILSON pulled down nine rebounds. Goree only needs five more assists to become the first player in school history to have 1,000 career points and 400 career assists. The three-time defending C-USA Tournament champions, Tulane will face No. 12 UAB in the first round of the C-USA Tournment on Friday.

UAB (12-15, 4-10 C-USA)
UAB dropped a 51-47 decision to visiting Saint Louis on Feb. 24. NATASHA THOMAS recorded her C-USA-leading 20th double-double of the season with 16 points and 12 rebounds. She shot 53.3 percent from the field (8-of-15), while MICHELLE SMITH added her seventh double-double of the season with 15 points and 13 rebounds. As a team, the Blazers have recorded 41 double-doubles through 27 games this season. UAB received the 12th seed in the tournament and will face fifth-seeded Tulane on Friday at 6 p.m.