Saint Louis' Harmonie King earned C-USA Player of the Week honors after helping the Billikens clinch the No. 6 seed in the C-USA Tournament with wins over Louisville and Cincinnati last weekend; With an 86-80 victory over Tulane on Sunday, the Charlotte 49ers captured their first Conference USA regular season championship; Gear up for another exciting C-USA Women's Basketball Tournament by reading this week's notebook.

PLAYER OF THE WEEK

HARMONIE KING, Saint Louis
Sr., G, Mt. Sterling, Ky. (Montgomery Cty.)

Saint Louis' HARMONIE KING helped the Billikens clinch the No. 6 seed in the C-USA Tournament with wins over Louisville and Cincinnati last weekend. She sank four three-pointers and dished out a career-high six assists against Louisville. King also paced the Billikens against UC by shooting 4-of-6 from behind the arc to end UC's six-game winning streak against SLU. King finished the week, hitting 11-of-24 from the field, including an 8-of-13 effort from the three-point line, while adding 33 points and 11 assists. With a 17-12 record, the Billikens have set a new mark for wins during head coach Jill Pizzotti's era. The eight league wins are also the most that SLU has ever tallied in conference play.


CHARLOTTE CAPTURES FIRST-EVER CONFERENCE-USA CHAMPIONSHIP

With an 86-80 victory over Tulane on Sunday, the Charlotte 49ers captured their first Conference USA regular season championship. Charlotte solidified sole possession of the title, after Cincinnati, who was tied with the 49ers with an 11-2 conference mark heading into Sunday's games, was upset by Saint Louis, 69-63.

This season, Charlotte recorded its best record ever in C-USA play with a 12-2 mark and have also notched the most wins in a season since 1992, when the Niners went 20-8. Charlotte has now won three straight and nine of their last 11 games overall. The regular season championship is the first for the 49ers since sharing the 1990 Sun Belt title.

Charlotte is the No. 1 seed and will have a first round bye at the C-USA Women's Basketball Tournament in Memphis, March 6-9. Other teams receiving first round byes include No. 2 Cincinnati, No. 3 DePaul and Tulane. Thursday's first round matchups include: No. 10 Houston vs. No. 7 Southern Miss at 1 p.m., No. 11 Louisville vs. No. 6 Saint Louis at 3 p.m., No. 9 Marquette vs. No. 8 Memphis at 6 p.m., and No. 12 East Carolina vs. No. 5 TCU at 8 p.m.

In Friday's quarterfinal round, No. 2 Cincinnati will take on the winner of the Houston/Southern Miss game at 1 p.m., No. 3 DePaul will meet the winner of the Louisville/Saint Louis matchup at 3 p.m., No. 1 Charlotte will take on the winner of the Marquette/Memphis game at 6 p.m., and No. 4 Tulane will face the winner of the East Carolina/TCU matchup beginning at 8 p.m.

All games will be played at The Pyramid and games are central. Saturday's semifinal games will be televised on the C-USA TV Network. Please check your local listings. The C-USA Championship game on Sunday, March 9, will be broadcasted on ESPN2, beginning at 1 p.m. (CST). For ticket information, please contact your local Conference USA school's ticket office.

BALANCED POWER
Charlotte becomes the eighth different school to win at least a share of the regular season championship in the first eight seasons of Conference USA. Here's a look at each regular season champion, along with their final conference and overall record:

2002-03 Charlotte 12-2 20-7*
2001-02 TCU 12-2 24-7
2000-01 Louisville 14-2 19-10
1999-00 Marquette 14-2 22-7
1998-99 Cincinnati 12-4 22-9
Louisville 12-4 21-11
Marquette 12-4 21-8
Tulane 12-4 24-6
1997-98 Memphis 14-2 22-8
1996-97 Louisville 12-2 20-9
Memphis 12-2 22-7
Tulane 12-2 27-5
1995-96 DePaul 13-1 21-10

*through games of March 2

THE 20-WIN CLUB
Charlotte's win over Tulane on Sunday gave the 49ers their first 20-win season since 1991-92. Charlotte becomes the 11th Conference USA school to post 20 or wins in season since the league's inception in 1995. The 49ers are joined by Cincinnati, DePaul, Houston, Louisville, Marquette, Memphis, Southern Miss, TCU, Tulane and UAB in accomplishing this feat.

20-WIN CLUB, PART II
Charlotte, Cincinnati and DePaul each enter the Conference USA Tournament with 20 or more wins. The only conferences that have produced more 20 win teams than C-USA are the Big 12 and Southeastern Conferences, with four each.

DID YOU KNOW?
Conference USA is one of five conferences with three or more schools that has 20-plus win seasons this year. Currently, the SEC leads the nation with six teams with 20-plus win records. C-USA is tied with the Big 12, Big East, Big 12 and Pac-10. C-USA is the only league in the nation with 12 teams that have won 10 or more games.

HOME SWEET HOME
Both DePaul and Charlotte finished the regular season with a perfect home record. The Blue Demons notched a 14-0 record, while the Niners finished the season with a 13-0 mark.

This year, C-USA saw two home win streaks come to a end. Louisville suffered a 73-66 double-overtime loss to Cincinnati on Feb. 16, ending U of L's 19 conference home streak. Louisville's last loss at Freedom Hall had been on March 3, 2000, a 75-62 upset to Charlotte in the C-USA Tournament. Cincinnati notched a C-USA and school record home win streak of 20, before falling to Tulane, 62-53 on Feb. 2. At the time, it ranked as the second longest in the nation.

KEEPING UP WITH THE JONES
Houston's CHANDI JONES has moved into the top 10 on C-USA's all-time scoring list. She currently ranks fifth with 1,938 points. Jones made history last season, when she became the fastest player in C-USA history to reach the 1,000-point plateau. She earned her 1,000th point in 46 games, bypassing UAB's Deanna Jackson (1998-02), who recorded her 1,000th point in 57 games. She is now well on her way to making history again.
Jones only needs 62 more points to move into the top 3 of the nation's fastest to reach the 2,000 point plateau.

THE CENTURY MARK
This season a total of seven players have reached the 1,000 point plateau this season. Charlotte's ALICIA ABERNATHY, Cincinnati's K.B. SHARP, TCU's TRICIA PAYNE, Tulane's TEANA MCKIVER and GWEN SLAUGHTER, and UAB's NATASHA THOMAS and MICHELLE SMITH have all captured 1,000 points this season. UC's DEBBIE MERRILL could be the next player to hit 1,000 points. She is only 33 points away from breaking into this elite group.

FRESHMEN LEADERS
Several of the top newcomers have made their presence noticed this season. Currently, DePaul's KHARA SMITH, who was redshirted last season, leads the freshmen class in scoring (13.3 pg) and rebounding (8.1 pg). Marquette's CAROLYN KIEGER leads the newcomers with 4.31 assists per game, and ranks second behind Smith in scoring (11.2 pg).

NO SOPHOMORE JINX
This season, two of the top five scorers in C-USA are sophomores. Currently, Cincinnati's DEBBIE MERRILL ranks second with 18.4 points per game, while East Carolina's JENNIFER JACKSON nabbed third place with 17.6 points per game. SANDORA IRVIN of TCU leads the second-year class with 9.3 rebounds per game to rank fifth overall, while Merrill follows in sixth (8.3 rpg).



AROUND C-USA...

CHARLOTTE (20-7, 12-2 C-USA)
Charlotte captured its first Conference USA regular-season championship on Sunday with an 86-80 win over Tulane. It is the team's first conference regular-season title since 1990, when it shared the league crown as a member of the Sun Belt Conference. The team's 20 wins are the most for the program since it won 23 in in 1990-91. Sunday's win snaps what had grown to a 12-game skid against Tulane. Friday's win over Southern Miss was Charlotte's first in 18 tries. PEACHES HARRIS led Charlotte with 18 points against Tulane. She hit one three-pointer to become the school's career leader in treys. No. 1 Charlotte has a bye for the first round and will face the winner of the Memphis/Marquette winner on Friday at 6 p.m. (CST).

CINCINNATI (21-6, 11-3 C-USA)
Cincinnati lost to Saint Louis for just the third time in 27 games and gave up a chance at the Conference USA title in a 69-63 defeat in the season-finale on Sunday. The Bearcats had not lost to the Billikens since 1993. UC was led by DEBBIE MERRILL, who notched her eighth double-double of the season with 19 points and 11 rebounds. Three other Bearcats scored in double figures, including K.B. SHARP's 16 points and VALERIE KING's 14. Sharp surpassed the 600 career assist mark, the second player in C-USA history to do so. She is now one of fewer than 15 players in NCAA history with 1,000 points, 600 assists and 450 rebounds. Cincinnati is now 21-6, matching the fifth-highest win total in school history. The No. 2 seeded Bearcats will have a first round bye and face the winner of the No. 7 Southern Miss-No. 10 Houston game on Friday at 1 p.m.

DE PAUL (21-8, 10-4 C-USA)
DePaul defeated Marquette, 86-53, on Sunday afternoon at the DePaul Athletic Center. The win improved DePaul's record at home to a league-high 14-0 mark. JENNI DANT led four players in double-figures with 23 points while CHARLENE SMITH added 19 points off the bench. KHARA SMITH and ASHLEY LUKE chipped in 15 points apiece while Smith also grabbed a team-high eight rebounds. The win for the Blue Demons secured just the third undefeated home season in DePaul's 29-year history. The 14-0 home record this joined the 1978-79 club at 16-0 and the 1994-95 team that posted a 14-0 home mark. In the 14 home wins this season, the average margin of victory was 22.2 points per game. DePaul's 21 wins is the most victories since a 21-10 season in the 1995-96. The Blue Demons move on to next weekend's C-USA Tourney. DePaul will be the No. 3 seed and play the winner of the Saint Louis/Louisville game on Friday at 3 p.m.

EAST CAROLINA (12-15, 4-10 C-USA)
East Carolina is headed to Memphis despite dropping an exciting overtime match-up to Southern Miss, 62-61, on Sunday. COURTNEY WILLIS led the Pirates with 19 points, while adding eight rebounds and three assists. Despite the loss, the Pirates gained their first-ever berth into the C-USA Tournament due to UAB's 84-47 loss to Houston. ECU and UAB tied for the 12th and final spot in the tournament, but East Carolina gained the bid by virtue of its win over the Blazers earlier this season. The Pirates will face No. 5 TCU on Thursday at 8 p.m.

HOUSTON (15-12, 6-8 C-USA)
CHANDI JONES posted 31 points and 10 rebounds as Houston defeated UAB, 84-47, on Sunday. It was the Cougars' third consecutive victory, its longest streak since January 4. Jones, the nation's leading scorer for the 2002-03 season, (27.5 ppg) posted her 12th double-double of the season and added four assists in the win. She is only 20 points away from becoming Houston's all-time leading female scorer (1,957 points). Sophomore center KIKI HARRIS broke her career-high in scoring with 14 points (previous high was 13) on 7-of-10 shooting and added six rebounds and three steals. Houston, as the 10th seed, will face No. 7 Southern Miss on Friday at the C-USA Tournament, beginning at 1 p.m. (CST).

LOUISVILLE (14-13, 5-9 C-USA)
Louisville fell to Memphis, 87-72, on Sunday afternoon in the Pyramid. SARA NORD led the Cardinals with 19 points, while LORI NERO added 15. Louisville advances to the C-USA Tournament as the No. 11 seed. The Cards will face No. 6 Saint Louis at 3 p.m.

MARQUETTE (14-12, 6-8 C-USA)
Marquette fell to DePaul, 86-53, on Sunday. RACHEL KLUG and KELLY SCHWERMAN led the Golden Eagles with 12 points apiece. Freshman CAROLYN KIEGER and Schwerman are on pace to become the no. 1 and no. 2 ranked single-season three point shooters in Marquette history. Heading into the league tournament, Kieger is hitting 41.5 percent (22-53) of her attempts and Schwerman is making 41.2 percent (42-102). Marquette owns the league's best three-point shooting percentage, heading into the league tournament. MU finished the regular season at 37.7 percent, and is on pace to be the best three-point shooting team in school history. The No. 9 Golden Eagles will play No. 8 Memphis in the first round of the C-USA Tourney.

MEMPHIS (13-14, 6-8 C-USA)
A career-high 26 points from sophomore guard VICTORIA CRAWFORD helped Memphis to an 87-72 win over Louisville in both teams' regular season finales on Sunday. The Tigers will next face No. 9 Marquette in the first round of the C-USA Tournament. This will be the third time that Memphis will face Marquette in the conference tournament. In 1997, Memphis entered the tournament as the No. 1 seed and lost to Marquette, 83-77, in the semifinals. And, in 1999 Memphis was the No. 5 seed and lost to the Golden Eagles, 74-69, in the quarterfinals. The Tigers are 9-5 in C-USA Tournament games, dating back to 1996. The only league teams to hold an advantage over the Tigers in the tournament are Marquette (2-0) and Charlotte (2-0), their quarterfinal opponent should they defeat MU.

SAINT LOUIS (17-12, 8-6 C-USA)
Saint Louis upset Cincinnati, 69-63, to earn the No. 6 seed in the C-USA Tournament on Sunday. Saint Louis' HARMONIE KING led the Billikens, shooting 4-of-6 from the three-point line to finish with 16 points. The Billikens have set a new mark for wins during the JILL PIZZOTTI era with 17. The eight league wins are also the most Saint Louis has ever tallied in conference play. JANA HAYWOOD had her first career double-double with 11 points and 10 rebounds against Cincinnati. Saint Louis has already set school records for most points (1,917), rebounds (1,092) and assists (417) this season. The Billikens will face No. 11 Louisville at 3 p.m. in Friday's first round of the C-USA Tournament.

SOUTH FLORIDA (7-20, 2-12 C-USA)
South Florida closed out its 2002-03 season with a 74-57 loss to TCU on Sunday. Sophomore ALANA TANKSLEY led USF with 14 points, while senior AIYA SHEPARD finished out her career at USF with 12 points for the game. Junior SARAH LOCHMANN also chipped in 10 points for the Bulls to round out the teams' double-digit scoring. Shepard finishes her four-year career, ranked second on C-USA's all-time career theft list with a total of 306.

SOUTHERN MISS (13-14, 6-8 C-USA)
Southern Miss snapped a four-game losing streak with a 62-61 overtime win against East Carolina on Sunday. The overtime game was the second of the season. TIERRA LASSITER notched a three pointer with 4.8 seconds remaining in the game to secure the USM win. ALLISON STORY averaged 10 points per game last weekend. SONJA BROWN recorded seven blocks against East Carolina and four against Charlotte for 11 total for the weekend. Southern Miss will face No. 10 Houston to open the first round of the C-USA Tournament on Thursday at 1 p.m.

TCU (15-13, 8-6 C-USA)
TCU completed its regular season on Sunday afternoon with a 74-57 win over South Florida. Junior EBONY SHAW led all scorers with 16 points and three steals in 19 minutes of play. SANDORA IRVIN had 15 points and added 12 rebounds for her 20th career double-double and 11th of the season. The senior trio of CANDACE BALDWIN, GRACE GANTT and TRICIA PAYNE scored seven, seven and six, respectively, in their final home contest. The Horned Frogs finished the regular season with a five-game home winning streak. Head coach JEFF MITTIE became the all-time winningest coach in TCU's women's basketball history with his 79th win on Friday. He currently has a record of 80-41 at TCU. No. 5 TCU will face No. 12 East Carolina at 8 p.m. on Thursday in the first round of the C-USA Tournament.

TULANE (19-8, 10-4 C-USA)
Tulane suffered a 86-80 loss to Charlotte on Sunday. TEANA MCKIVER notched 20 points and nine rebounds to lead the Green Wave, while DELACEY JOSEPH added 13 points. KELLY NADEAU needs just three more three pointers to reach 100 for her career and become only the seventh player in Tulane history to notch this mark. A total of 13 rebounds for the weekend has moved GWEN SLAUGHTER into second place on the school's all-time rebound leaders. Keisha Johnson (1990-94) holds the record with 1,048. No. 4 seeded Tulane will have a first round bye before taking on the winner of the East Carolina/TCU matchup on Friday at 8 p.m. (CST).

UAB (8-19, 4-10 C-USA)
UAB ended the 2002-03 season with a 84-47 loss to Houston on Sunday. NATASHA THOMAS led UAB with 12 points and MICHELLE SMITH added 11 points and nine rebounds. Thomas led C-USA with 13 double-double performances this season, while Smith finished second with 11.

LEADER OF THE PACK
Houston's CHANDI JONES will lead the conference scoring title for the second year in a row with a current average of 27.5 points per game. It marks only the second time in C-USA history that a player will lead the league in back-to-back seasons. Memphis's TAMIKA WHITMORE (1996-99) ranked first among C-USA scorers during the 1997-98 and 1998-99 seasons. Jones also leads the nation in scoring and could possibly become the first C-USA player to finish first among the national scoring leaders.

DID YOU KNOW?
CHARLOTTE'S KATIE MEIER became the first C-USA head coach to claim a C-USA regular season title in only her second season at the helm. Marquette's TERRI MITCHELL held the record, leading the Golden Eagles to a share of the 1998-99 team title, in her third year at the Marquette helm.

BLOCK PARTY
C-USA has three players ranked in the top 10 of the NCAA's top blockers. TCU's SANDORA IRVIN currently leads the league and ranks second in the nation with 4.11 per game, while Southern Miss' SONJA BROWN (3.31) and Tulane's TEANA MCKIVER (2.85) follows in sixth and seventh, respectively, on the NCAA's block list. As a team, TCU is ranked third nationally with 6.8 blocks per game.

LUCKY NO. 8
For the first time since 1996, C-USA teams have upset two Top-10 ranked opponents. On. Dec. 28, TCU defeated No. 8 Vanderbilt, 70-53. It marked the program's first-ever win over a Top-10 team. Earlier in the season, DePaul posted a 75-69 victory over No. 8 Notre Dame at the DePaul Athletic Center on Dec. 11. The Blue Demons' last win over a Top 10 opponent was Dec. 14, 1996, when they toppled No. 3 Louisiana Tech, 70-67 at Alumni Hall.

FROM THE FREE THROW LINE
Cincinnati's VALERIE KING tied the single-game record for free throw percentage. On Jan. 26, King went 11-of-11 from the free throw line against UAB.

SINGLE SEASON RECORDS
Heading into the C-USA Tournament, Cincinnati has already broken the C-USA single season record for free throws with 332 this season. The old mark of 298 was set by Memphis in 1997-98.

In league games, Houston ranks first in steals with 13.57 per game this season. The Cougars are only 10 thefts away from breaking the C-USA regular season record of 200, held by the Memphis Tigers (1999-00).


WEEKLY HONOR ROLL
Here are some of Conference USA's top individual performances from games of Feb. 24-March 2.

PEACHES HARRIS, CHARLOTTE: Led Charlotte with 16.5 points last weekend ... helped the 49ers to their first win over Southern Miss and beat Tulane for the first time since 1993-94.

DEBBIE MERRILL, CINCINNATI: Averaged 18 points and 12 rebounds in two games last week ... scored 17 points and 13 rebounds, four steals against three assists against Memphis ... posted double-doubles in eight of her last 12 games.

JENNI DANT, DE PAUL: played just 22 minutes against Marquette, while matching a season-high in scoring with 23 points ... also added two assists and two steals.

COURTNEY WILLIS, EAST CAROLINA: Averaged 18 points per game last weekend ... went 14-of-35 from the field, including an 8-of-10 effort from the free throw line.

CHANDI JONES, HOUSTON: Averaged 28.5 points, 11.5 rebounds and 3.5 assists per game ... earned her 12th double-double of the season against UAB with 31 points and 10 rebounds.

KATIE ALSDURF, MARQUETTE: Notched two 20 point games,
setting career highs in both, against Louisville and Cincinnati.

AIYA SHEPARD, SOUTH FLORIDA: Notched a season-high 29 points against Houston ... averaged 20.5 points and 5.5 rebounds a game last weekend ... notched six steals and dished out four assists without committing a turnover.

DANA JONES, SOUTHERN MISS: Finished the week averaging 15 points and five rebounds per game ... shot 66.7 percent from the field and has now scored in double-figures 18 times this season.

SANDORA IRVIN, TCU: Tallied her 11th double-double of the season against South Florida with 15 points and 12 rebounds.

TELEVISION SCHEDULE
Conference USA Television Network will next televise the semifinal rounds at the C-USA Tournament on Saturday, March 8. ESPN2 will also broadcast the championship game on Sunday, beginning at 1 p.m. (CST).

RECORD ATTENDANCE
This season, four schools have already broken their single-game attendance records. In front of the largest crowd in the history of USF women's basketball, South Florida lost a tough 72-56 decision to the defending National Champions, the University of Connecticut Huskies on Dec. 28. The Bulls shattered the record with a total of 3,072 paid attendance against No. 2 Connecticut. The previous record stood at 837 on Jan. 14, 1992. On Dec. 31, Marquette fell to No. 12 Notre Dame, 75-68. The attendance was 3,686, the largest home crowd for a regular-season game in Marquette history. Saint Louis defeated DePaul on Jan. 24 in front of the largest crowd of 1,796. Most recently, Charlotte defeated Saint Louis, 70-58, in front of a crowd of 2,786, which was the largest ever for a women's game at Halton Arena (Feb. 2).

TCU'S RECORD-SETTING WIN
With a 76-16 win over Texas Southern on Dec. 28, TCU shattered the NCAA mark for fewest points allowed in a game. The previous record was 19 allowed by Jackson State against Prairie View A&M on March 3, 1983. The victory also established a new C-USA record for fewest points in a half, as the Frogs held Texas Southern to five points at halftime. The former record was 11 by Charlotte against Memphis (29) on Feb. 23, 1997.

COACHING MILESTONES
- DePaul's head coach DOUG BRUNO could become the first C-USA coach to reach the 300-victory plateau at one school. Bruno currently has a 298-196 record in 17 seasons at DePaul.

- Saint Louis head coach JILL PIZZOTTI captured her 100th win on Friday against Louisville. She currently has a record of 101-123 at the Billiken helm.

- Head coach JEFF MITTIE became the winningest coach in TCU's women's basketball history with his 79th win on Friday. He currently has a record of 80-41 in four seasons at the Horned Frog helm.