Survived it? That's precisely the point.

Top five teams -- even just two weeks into the season -- aren't supposed to be surviving games.

But that's the beauty (read: parity) of women's college basketball this season. Winners are losing, losers are winning and everyone's getting a chance to prove they're legit.

Giving thanks
In the spirit of Thanksgiving, we figure women's college basketball fans have many reasons to be thankful this season. Rutgers and Tennessee are undoubtedly happy they each have at least another 25 games after their season-opening losses. Connecticut fans are probably happy that Tennessee already lost one game. And the whole country is probably happy that Chamique Holdsclaw no longer lives in Knoxville, Tenn.

But above all else, we figured Stanford had something to be thankful for, namely that it's Tennessee's third opponent of the season instead of second. After all, after the Lady Vols suffered an upset in their season-opener, they crushed their next opponent, Tennessee-Martin, 133-60. The Vols' 133 points were a single-game record, bettering a 130-38 win over Hawaii Pacific on Dec. 20, 1985.

As Tennessee coach Pat Summitt put it, "(Tennessee-Martin's) timing may not have been very good because they caught a very inspired team." Stanford hosts the Vols on Friday.

Douglas does it
After Purdue's top two leading scorers graduated from last season's team, Boilermaker fans knew Katie Douglas would be the one to carry the team this season. After all, you can't lose Stephanie White-McCarty and Ukari Figgs, who combined to averaged 36 points last season, and not have someone step up in their place.

However, Douglas nearly made up for the loss all by herself in Purdue's season opener. Against Dayton last Friday, the 6-foot-1 junior guard-forward scored 31 points, including the game-winner in the last second, to lead the Boilermakers to a 60-58 win. Against Vanderbilt on Sunday, Douglas poured in another 24 points to lead Purdue to a 63-51 victory and a 2-0 start.

Douglas and Purdue put their 34-game winning streak, which dates back to a loss against Stanford in November 1998, on the line Tuesday against Valparaiso.

Douglas, the 1999-2000 Big Ten Preseason Player of the Year, is Purdue's top returning scorer (14.1 ppg), rebounder (6.2 rpg) and playmaker (3.5 apg). She shot 46.5 percent from the field and 81.8 percent from the free throw line as a sophomore. Douglas has scored in double figures in 26 consecutive games.

	Tawana McDonald
	Georgia Bulldogs Sunday: 22 points | 11-14 FG Monday: 14 pts | 14 rebounds

The fine line
Pick a game, any game. Georgia's Tawana McDonald put in two solid performances this week as the Lady Bulldogs wrapped up the WNIT title.

On Sunday, McDonald scored 22 points on 11-for-14 shooting, adding five rebounds, two assists and one steal in 31 minutes in a 78-70 semifinal victory over Boston College. Then on Monday, McDonald notched a double-double with 14 points and 14 rebounds. She shot 7-for-12 from the field and also had four blocks in 29 minutes as Georgia beat UC Santa Barbara 85-64 in the WNIT championship game.

"I was just concentrating on my shots, this year I have to step up more," said McDonald after Monday's win. She was voted as the WNIT tournament MVP.

Parting shot
Summitt, after the Vols' win over Tennessee-Martin, a game that didn't begin until 9:30 p.m. ET: "I don't usually stay up this late. ... I tell people not to call me after 10. I think the players are more alert than the coaches at this hour."

The game was postponed from a 7 p.m. ET tipoff because Tennessee was hosting the SEC volleyball tournament.

Melanie Jackson, the College Sports Editor at ESPN.com, will take a weekly look at women's college basketball throughout the season.