The Arizona women's basketball team will begin its first real road test of the season today when it ventures to Southern Cal and UCLA.

Since many of the Wildcat players come from Southern California, they will be looking for a good showing in front of the hometown crowds.

"We've split with the two teams in the past, but this year we're not looking for a split, we're looking to sweep," sophomore forward Adia Barnes said. "Most of us are from that part of California and we're going to have a lot of family members there. I think it is important for us to have a good showing."

The Wildcats (11-1 overall, 3-1 in the Pacific 10 Conference) enter the game with the best start in school history, and are 3-0 on the road. Yet their road wins have been against sub-par Providence, Harvard and an Arizona State team that hasn't won a Pac-10 game in almost a year.

Now come two, tough conference games against Southern Cal (6-7, 1-3) and UCLA (7-6, 2-2). The Trojans hold a commanding 31-2 all-time lead over the Wildcats, and Arizona hasn't defeated them since a 58-53 victory in Tucson in 1990.

The Trojans are loaded with inside talent and are led by a pair of forward/centers. Junior Tina Thompson is averaging 22.2 points and 9.2 rebounds per game and fellow frontcourt force Adrian Williams is putting up 9.5 points and six rebounds. Freshman Erica Mashia is adding a steady presence in the backcourt with her 10.3 points and 2.6 rebounds per game.

"USC is a power team," Arizona head coach Joan Bonvicini said. "They've got a lot of inside people. I think you've got to make Tina Thompson work. She's not your typical post player. She can shoot the three, she can penetrate and go to the basket. She's pretty strong."

The Wildcats' great start has left a mark not only on the record books but on the stat sheets as well. Arizona point guard Brenda Pantoja broke Regina Grennan's mark for assists with eight against ASU and now stands third on the all-time Pac-10 list with 530. She is currently first in the nation with 10 assists per game.

The Wildcats as a team lead the conference in eight different categories: scoring offense (81.8 points-per-game), scoring defense (57.8 points), field goal percentage (49.3), 3-point field goal percentage (38.8), turnover margin (6.1), scoring margin (24.0), assists average (21.7) and steals (15.8).

Sophomore Adia Barnes leads Arizona in both points (16.3) and rebounds (8.5). Sophomore Andrea Constand has come alive in her senior season to put up 14.3 points.

"The spot that we're in now, playing these teams, it could put us in a great position maybe to get a ranking and just for our self confidence," sophomore center Mikko Giordano said. "We really want to go down there and take care of business."