If there was any question to the national prominence of Kelly Mazzante, they were answered last week when ESPN.com's Page 2 proclaimed her the "hot women's college hoops" player in its What's Hot, What's Not poll for the New Year.

Replacing NCAA women's scoring record holder Jackie Stiles was no easy task but then again, neither were the other things she has accomplished in the last month.

Mazzante was twice named the Big Ten the player of the week, making it the third time she received the award this season.

The Penn State guard also leads the nation in scoring, averaging 26 points per game, in the face of defenses that have learned that the Lady Lions offense flows through her and hold her more often than bad offensive linemen.

"I knew teams were going to be more aware of me and I just had to find more creative ways to score," Mazzante said.

That creativity was on display Dec. 28, when she hung 49 points on Minnesota at Williams Arena in Penn State's 88-83 victory. This set the school record for points in a game by men or women and broke the record for Big Ten games. It also set the Penn State record for most three pointers with eight and most career 30-point games with seven. As a sophomore, she needs only eight more points to reach the 1,000-point milestone.

What might be most impressive about her effort against the Golden Gophers is that Mazzante said she did not feel comfortable before the game. Might be something like how Michel Jordan felt sick before game five of the 1998 NBA finals in Utah.

Carr Out of the Shop

Guard Katrena Carr returned to the court Dec. 6 against Old Dominion.

She left her mark in Lorretto, Pa., Jan. 2 when she led the Lions in scoring with 21 points in the team's 79-40 victory over St. Francis, setting her career high. She is averaging 5.9 points per game.

Portland enjoyed having Carr back around, calling her experience and leadership as necessary.

"It's her senior year and she wants to leave her mark," Portland said. "If anybody knows the Big Ten it's her and Rashana (Barnes)."

Playing in Pain

While senior Rashana Barnes might not be the most graceful runner, due to a pair of bad knees, she has been putting up strong numbers and recently returned to practicing every day.

"She's running better, but on a scale of one to 10 she's probably a six," Portland said. "She felt she was missing too much preparation for games."

That extra time in the gym is paying off as she turned in a valiant effort in a 70-65 loss to Ohio State and again in Saturday's defeat to Vanderbilt.

Caught in the Strom

Coming into the season, Penn State knew it would have to rely on its freshman. But even coach Rene Portland would be surprised by the output of her new point guard, Jess Strom.

Strom has managed the offense excellently, averaging 9.5 assists in conference play, with an overall 2.6 assist to turnover ratio.