CHRIS CODUTO/Arizona Daily Wildcat Junior guard Aimee Grzyb and the Wildcats are beginning to make a name for themselves, but the road only gets tougher as Arizona heads into a demanding winter break road schedule.

Like many students, the women's basketball team will be spending most of its winter break away from Tucson. However, the Wildcats won't be taking a trip home ÷ they will be out on the road trying to lengthen their four-game win streak.

Over the one-month stretch between the last day of the fall semester and the first day of spring semester, the No. 19 Wildcats (4-1) will make four different trips. Arizona's first trip will be this weekend, when it goes to Columbus, Ohio to play Ohio State on Sunday at Value City Arena in the first road test for the young team.

"We need to play better than we have been to beat Ohio State on the road," head coach Joan Bonvicini said.

The Buckeyes (3-2) come into the game following a 74-64 loss to the University of Wisconsin at Green Bay last Saturday. OSU out-shot and out rebounded the Phoenix, but because of 24 turnovers was unable to pull out the win. Sophomore guard Caity Matters led Ohio State with 24 points in the losing effort.

The Wildcats, on the other hand, will enter the game against the Buckeyes coming off one of the most impressive starts in the program's history.

"Now, teams are out to get us," sophomore guard Dee-Dee Wheeler said. "They have something to prove. We just need to play the same way we did against Georgia and LSU."

After a heartbreaking overtime loss to No. 3 Louisiana State to start the season, Arizona has reeled off four straight wins, including last weekend's Fiesta Bowl Women's Basketball Classic, a blowout win over No. 8 Georgia, and against Pepperdine the weekend prior.

Behind the play of freshman center Shawntinice Polk, the Wildcats have looked dominant in the team's four wins. Polk is averaging 19.2 points and just fewer than 14 rebounds through the team's first five games. In last weekend's win over Illinois, Polk became the first player in Arizona women's basketball history to have five straight double-doubles.

"(Polk) is a special player," Bonvicini said. "We could put her into better situations to score more, but I think that is coming with time."

Following the team's trip to Columbus, the Wildcats will return home to take on New Mexico in McKale Center on Dec. 18. Arizona will then close out its non-conference schedule when it travels to Las Vegas to take on UNLV on December 22.

On Dec. 27, the Wildcats will open Pacific 10 Conference play when they travel to Northern California to take on Cal and will then play defending Pac-10 Champion Stanford in Palo Alto, Calif. on Dec. 29.

The Cardinal (4-0) are currently ranked No. 4 and beat previously No. 2-ranked Kansas State 63-57 in the Stanford Tournament last weekend. Stanford has been the Pac-10 Champion the last two seasons and was undefeated in conference play last year.

Led by All-American Nicole Powell, Stanford has a legitimate chance of a deep tournament run.

If the Wildcats want to establish themselves as a contender for the Pac-10 title, this will be a good, early benchmark to see where they stand in the conference.

The Wildcats will then come back to Tucson to play Oregon and Oregon State on Jan. 2 and Jan. 4, respectively. Arizona will finish out its winter break schedule in Washington against Washington and Washington State. It plays the Cougars on Jan. 9 and the Huskies Jan. 11.

When students return back to class on Jan. 15, the Wildcats will take on Southern California the next day at 7 p.m. in McKale Center.