Freshman all around the country are making their presence felt. At Louisiana State, Seimone Augustus leads the No. 4 Lady Tigers in scoring. At Arizona, Shawntinice Polk already has set a new single-season school record with 16 double-doubles while ranking fourth in the country in field-goal percentage and 12th in rebounding. And at UConn, Ann Strother ranks second only to Diana Taurasi on the scoring charts for the top-ranked and unbeaten Huskies. But who's the leading candidate for national freshman of the year honors? At this point, Augustus, Polk, Strother, Miami's Tamara James and Texas Tech's Erin Grant seem the five strongest candidates. A look at their stats: THE ROOKIES NAME/SCHOOL G FG REB PTS NOTE Seimone Augustus 6-1, G, LSU 21 57.4 5.3 15.2 Has scored at least 20 points in six games; had 19 rebounds vs. Georgia. Erin Grant 5-8, G, Tex Tech 22 52.8 3.5 6.7 6.8 apg ranks 10th in nation; 2.2 assist-to-TO ratio; six games with 10-plus asts. Tamara James 5-9, G/F, Miami 21 54.3 8.5 21.8 Nation's highest-scoring freshman; three 30-point games; 2.0 spg. Shawntinice Polk 6-5, C, Arizona 22 62.6 11.0 17.9 2.3 bpg; 2.8 apg; single-season school record 16 double-doubles. Ann Strother 6-2, G, UConn 23 42.9 4.9 10.7 Averages 2.8 assists; had 17 points, 11 rebounds vs. then-No. 1 Duke. Note: Players listed alphabetically. Stats through Feb. 12. Although she's the nation's highest scoring freshman (21.8 ppg), Miami's James appears to be the underdog (the same can be said for Xavier's Tara Boothe, an eight-time Atlantic 10 rookie of the week this season). The Hurricanes are 14-7 overall, unranked and receive little national attention. And while the five-time Big East rookie of the week is having a tremendous season, the other four freshmen on our list are having a bigger impact on their team's success. Grant, for example, has helped turn Texas Tech into an NCAA title contender. The Lady Raiders are 20-2, ranked eighth and vying for the Big 12 title. Grant, a true point guard, has allowed teammate Jia Perkins to move back to the 2, which has really benefited the Lady Raiders' offense. Grant, who ranks 10th in the country in assists, already has set a new single-season freshman record with 149 assists. After a loss to Tech in November, Washington coach June Daugherty said Grant "might have eyes in the back of her head or something, because she really found her teammates. A lot of the time it was across the grain against the zone. She's just amazing." The same can be said for Arizona's Polk, who probably boasts the most impressive individual stats of our candidates. Polk, a redshirt freshman after failing to qualify academically for 2001-02, can score, rebound, block and dish it off. As Arizona swept the Washington schools last week in Pac-10 play, Polk averaged 21 points, eight rebounds, three blocks, 1.5 assists and 1.5 steals in just 21.5 minutes, and shot 73.1 percent (19-for-26) from the field. By season's end, she'll no doubt possess the single-season blocks record, in addition to her new mark for double-doubles. Augustus comes up big, too, and the bigger the game, the better she seems to be. In her first college game, she netted 27 points on 12-for-17 shooting, including six points and the final go-ahead basket in overtime. Against No. 18 Georgia on Feb. 2, she scored a game-high 24 points and grabbed a career-best 19 rebounds. Ten of the 19 -- the most by any LSU player since 1994 -- were offensive boards. Augustus has six games of at least 20 points this season, and only four single-digit scoring performances. Her numbers are even better in league play. Augustus averages 17 points in the SEC, the toughest conference in the nation, and also ranks 11th in scoring, sixth in field-goal percentage and third in free-throw percentage (83.9). Perhaps the biggest compliment anyone can give Strother -- the one freshman the nation has probably seen the most because of UConn's ranking, high-profile games and 62-game winning streak -- is that she's a big reason the Huskies haven't lost this season. She came into UConn and has been the perfect complement to Taurasi, yet can step up when needed. Her double-double against then-unbeaten Duke was one of the best performances by a freshman this season. Another compliment? Tennessee coach Pat Summitt, who recruited Strother, said she's "not at all surprised by (Strother's) early contribution to UConn. She brings intensity and a competitive drive in every possession. She's just an all-around special player." Indeed. Harding hits starting lineup Following Duke's loss to UConn on Feb. 1, women's basketball fans and analysts couldn't stop talking about Lindsey Harding. The Blue Devils' 5-8 freshman guard came off the bench to tally nine points, five rebounds and four assists, and proved that Duke's talented freshman class has yet another star in the making. Apparently, Harding impressed the Blue Devil coaching staff, too. Harding has started the past two games as Duke optioned for a three-guard lineup. In her first career start, she notched five points, four rebounds, four assists and five steals in last Thursday's win over Clemson. On Monday, Harding matched her career high with nine rebounds, but also committed five turnovers in a win over Virginia. On the season, Harding has appeared in 23 games, and is averaging 23 minutes, 4.8 points, 3.9 rebounds, and shooting almost 40 percent from the field. "We were getting off to some real slow starts and we were getting beat in transition defense with our bigger lineup ... so I thought with Lindsey she could really get us started defensively and kind of set the tone for us and maybe we could get some quick easy baskets and get our offensive going at the same time," Duke coach Gail Goestenkors said Tuesday. "I think she's doing a great job. In the last couple of games we've gotten off to a better start than we have in the past." COUGARS CLOSING IN A look at the longest losing streaks in women's Division I history: 1. Long Island, 58 1986-89 2. Washington State, 45 2001-present 3. Sacramento State, 44 2000-2002 4. Chicago State, 39 1993-96 5. Louisiana-Lafayette, 37 1990-1992 -- Associated Press Woeful Washington State As all good rivalries go, we University of Washington grads usually take pleasure in seeing Washington State on the losing end. But not like this. The Cougars are 0-21 this season and riding a 45-game losing streak -- the second-longest streak in NCAA Division I women's history. WSU hasn't won a game since beating Gonzaga 80-72 on Nov. 29, 2001. While the Cougars have suffered a few 30-point losses, they have been competitive in a handful of games, losing by less than five points to Oregon and Oregon State late last month. And they're trying to add a smile or two in between the games. According to the Associated Press, coach Sherri Murrell informed her team that "all sharp objects had been removed from the room" when she sat them down to watch game tape of Washington State's 93-51 loss to UCLA in early January. But Murrell also told the AP that she "never wanted to win so bad in my life." Long Island holds the NCAA record for longest losing streak, dropping 58 straight games from 1986 to 1989. What you might have missed Thought the double-overtime All-Star game was long? That was nothing compared to Sunday's Atlantic 10 marathon. George Washington suffered its first league loss of the season on Sunday, falling 94-92 in four overtimes. Xavier freshman Tara Boothe scored 31 points -- including 13 in the overtimes -- and had 19 rebounds. Xavier's Amy Waugh, Reeta Piipari and Boothe each played all 60 minutes. According to a story in the Athens Banner-Herald, Georgia coach Andy Landers suspended sophomore Kara Braxton for the second time this season. The 6-foot-6 forward was suspended for the Auburn game after she arrived late for practice, violating team policy. "She came in late and I just told her to go on and leave. ... I am really disappointed that she has an apparent disregard for the correct things to do," Landers told the Banner-Herald. Braxton also was suspended for the Dec. 30 Middle Tennessee State game after she violated team policy. Northwestern has won only two Big Ten games this season, but the Wildcats made a big statement with their most recent win. Northwestern scored 31 unanswered points over a 13-minute, eight-second stretch in the first half en route to beating Michigan 67-38 on Sunday. In holding Michigan to its lowest-scoring game since 1994, the 'Cats set a school record for fewest points allowed in a Big Ten game. GET TO KNOW THE NAME Who's leading the nation in scoring? That's Bucknell senior Molly Creamer, who tops the D-I stats with 27.5 ppg (through Feb. 10 games). Creamer, who boasted some of the most impressive stats of any player in the '02 NCAA Tournament, is a 5-10 guard who already has broken the Patriot League and Bucknell career scoring marks this season. She had a season-high 41 points on Jan. 11, and has been held to just eight single-digit scoring performances in her career (100-plus games). TEAM OF THE WEEK Virginia Commonwealth scored one of the biggest upsets of the season Thursday with a 67-56 win over Old Dominion that snapped the Lady Monarchs' 35-game CAA win streak. ODU has lost just eight conference games in the last 12 years, and had won 148 of its past 149 CAA games. The Lady Monarchs' last league loss was on Feb. 18, 2001. VCU hadn't beaten ODU since December 1992. Honorable mention: Virginia Tech, which notched its first win over Notre Dame. NOTABLE NUMBER 22 Jacksonville State's Shanika Freeman set a women's NCAA record by sinking 22 consecutive free throws in a game Thursday. The 6-foot-1 sophomore center went 22-for-22 from the line against Florida Atlantic to break the previous single-game mark (20). Freeman finished the game with a career-high 42 points on 10-for-17 shooting, and had 13 rebounds, three blocks and two steals. Melanie Jackson coordinates ESPN.com's women's college basketball coverage. 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