Time to catch up on area women's basketball, and despite the slow holiday season, there's enough news and plenty more to come in the near future.

Playing catchup, we didn't post Gonzaga's easy win over Fullerton - it was Janelle Bekkering's day, she was featuredon the game ticket and then scored a career high, and Idaho's loss at Saint Mary's last Thursday.  (That's Bekkering, No. 11, above in action against BYU before Christmas, shot by Colin Mulvany.)

Big game this week is Gonzaga facing No. 16 Notre Dame Wednesday night in Seattle. The next big games involve the opening of the Pac-10. Washington State is home against USC on Friday and No. 8 UCLA on Sunday.

This week's notebook  touches base with Portland State seniors Kelli Valentine (Mead) and Lexi Bishop (Shadle Park), who made their last visit to Cheney next weekend for the Big Sky Conference opener. The notebook also has info on another member of the GSL Class of 2007, Lyndi Seidensticker (Lewis and Clark), honored by the Big Sky and one of '06, Heidi Heintz (Central Valley) honored by the Big West, plus another award for Hofstra frosh Kate Loper (Post Falls).

Did you know: The three  teams Gonzaga played in the NCAA Tournament last year are all in the top 10. No. 4, Xavier, which eliminated the Zags in the Sweet 16, is getting thundered (89-52 final) right this moment at No. 9 Stanford (which escaped with a tight win in Spokane last month), No. 7 Texas A&M, the second-round opponent) and No. 10 North Carolina, the loser to GU in the first round.

Speaking of the Top 25, here's the vote I submitted on Sunday.

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