Lake Fong, Post-Gazette Chatham College basketball coach Mark Katarski inherited a program that once lost 81 consecutive games and included winless seasons from 1998-2000.

When Mark Katarski learned there was an opening to coach the basketball team at Chatham College two years ago, he told his friends about the opportunity.

They looked at him as if he were crazy.

"They asked me, 'Why do you want to take it?' " he recalled. "I figured we can't do any worse [with me as the coach]. It's a challenge."

Katarski, now 29, took the job at Chatham after five years as the assistant coach for the Pitt-Greensburg women's team that participated in two NCAA Division III tournaments.

Chatham has won 12 games midway through its second season under Katarski, which is one more than the total number of victories in the previous 16-year history of the program. He inherited a program that once lost 81 consecutive games and included winless seasons from 1998-2000.

The Cougars ended the winless streak with a 66-20 victory Dec. 2, 2000, against Trinity University, which is in Washington, D.C..

Chatham lost its first 15 games last season in Katarski's debut but finished 5-20 to set a school record for victories in a season. The Cougars, whose roster is composed of two sophomores and six freshmen, are 7-12 and in first place (5-1) in the Atlantic Women's Colleges Conference.

	Last week revisited Highlights from individual and team performances in district colleges last week: Pitt junior Mike Wray set a school record with a time of 7.72 seconds in the indoor 60-meter hurdles at the Penn State National Invitational, surpassing Roger Kingdom's record of 7.74 set in 1983. Wray, the defending Big East champion in the 60 hurdles, has the fastest time in the league this season. California (33-18) is tied for third, Slippery Rock (34-22) is sixth, Seton Hill (45-20) ninth and Pitt-Johnstown (33-18) 10th in the preseason NCAA Division II North Atlantic Region baseball poll voted on by the National Collegiate Baseball Writers Association. Allegheny sophomore Joe McMahon (Baldwin) broke his school record and set a conference record with a leap of 46-73/4 in the triple jump at the North Coast Athletic Conference meet. California's Bill Brown and IUP's Joe Lombardi will coach teams in the 2007 Collegiate Basketball Invitational, which will showcase players from NCAA Division II and III and the NAIA April 19-21 in Wadsworth, Ohio. Thiel senior Corey Murphy is the Presidents' Athletic Conference wrestler of the week for the second time this season.

"They don't know any better, that's a good thing," Katarski said of his youthful squad. "Jump on board, that's what I tell recruits. It's not a popular thing to go to a women's college to play hoops. Particularly a women's college that hasn't done much winning."

Chatham, which moved atop the standings with a 64-54 victory Jan. 27 against the College of Notre Dame (Md.), plays host Saturday to Trinity University. Chatham is coming off a 76-46 loss in a non-league game at Saint Vincent that ended a five-game winning streak.

"I was thinking it's nice to play for first place," Katarski said of the showdown against Notre Dame (10-5, 4-1). "But I really was thinking, let's just keep it close. I've become a believer."

Katarski also is a dreamer.

The winner of the league tournament, which Chatham will host, receives an automatic bid to the NCAA Division III tournament

"If we get on a roll and we're playing at home, who knows?" said Katarski, a graduate of Mount Pleasant High School and California University.

Chatham's leading scorer is Erica Bilski, a 5-foot-8 sophomore from Seton-LaSalle who averages 14.6 points and 2.9 3-pointers per game. She recently tied a school record with five 3-pointers in a 73-43 victory against Penn State New Kensington. Allason Holt (8.4 ppg, 8.4 rpg, 2.6 blocks), a 6-1 sophomore from Shaler; 5-10 freshman Brittany Brown (9.5 ppg, 6.7 rpg) and 5-10 freshman Libby Soeder (9.7 ppg) of Shaler are consistent contributors.

Soeder joined the team in midseason after transferring from Duquesne, where she didn't play basketball.

"She gives us another scoring threat," Katarski said. "All of the players are playing with a lot of confidence right now."

PSAC West

California's 10-game winning streak ended last night in a 49-48 loss to Edinboro. Going into the game, California (16-4, 5-1 PSAC West) was ranked 19th in the National Association of Basketball Coaches Division II poll and second in the NCAA East Region rankings. California's win streak was the longest since the Vulcans won 15 in a row in 1995-96 on its way to the Division II Final Four under Jim Boone. They've won 10 in a row four times in Bill Brown's 11 years as head coach.

The loss trimmed California's lead in the West Division race to just a game over Edinboro (14-7, 4-2) and Shippensburg (13-11, 4-2). Edinboro and Shippensburg play Saturday in Shippensburg.