CALIFORNIA, Pa. — Earning attention isn't all it's cracked up to be. Just ask Kim Nowakowski.

The Butler graduate, now a 6-foot-2 junior post player for the California (Pa.) University women's basketball team, is gaining plenty of attention from opposing defenses in the Pennsylvania State Athletic Conference these days.

"I'm a lot more sore after games than I used to be,"Nowakowski admitted. "My body doesn't bounce back as quickly as it used to. I guess I'm just getting older."

Actually, she's getting better.

Nowakowski ranks third in the PSACwith 19.4 points per game and first with 11.4 rebounds per contest this year. She's a third-year starter playing with freshman and sophomore guards.

"Kim is a physical force now, a dominant force,"California coach Darcie Vincent said. "That's the biggest difference in her game this year. Mentally, she can't be stopped.

"She's become the best player in the conference. No question,"Vincent added.

Nowakowski has recorded 10 double-doubles — double figures in points and rebounds — in 13 games this season. She has 27 double-doubles in 77 career games with the Vulcans.

But winning is what it's about at Cal. The women's basketball program has won five consecutive PSACWest titles and five PSACchampionships in the past six years.

Nowakowski joined the Vulcans the year after they won the Division IInational championship in 2004. The team has won 61 of 76 games since then and is 9-4 so far this year.

California is coming off a 69-58 loss at Clarion, however, which snapped a 23-game winning streak against PSACWest opponents.

"I can identify with Kim's situation right now because I was there," associate head coach Heather Kearney said. "It's not a position we want her to be in."

Kearney was a record-setting post player at Slippery Rock University her junior season, struggling to carry the team on her back while a group of young guards adjusted to the college game.

Kearney sees Nowakowski going through the same experience.

"The intensity and competitiveness are certainly there with her,"Kearney said. "She's assumed so much responsibility because she wants the team to win, but no matter what she does on the court, she doesn't feel like it's enough. Believe me, I've lived that."

Majoring in business administration, Nowakowski will graduate inMay. She plans to return to California for graduate school and will play her final season of eligibility next year.

Nowakowski entered Saturday's game at Bloomsburg 17th on the Vulcans' career scoring list and ninth on the school's rebounding list. She will likely finish her career among the top five in both categories.

"I look at that stuff only because I'm curious,"Nowakowski said. "It's fun trying to figure out where I'll end up.

"But I don't draw motivation from it. That's not what drives me."

What drives Nowakowski is winning — the way California did just before she got there.

"Kim is one of our captains and she leads by example,"Kearney said. "She has a tremendous basketball mind and she handles her own business on the court well.

"Her next step is to convey that knowledge across to her teammates, to make them accountable to play at the level which she plays."

Nowakowski admits to that flaw and she's trying to rectify it.

"I've talked to some of the girls privately, one-on-one, trying not to hurt anybody's feelings, but they're just not getting it,"she said. "It's kind of frustrating, actually.

"I guess I have to be more direct, do more yelling on the floor. We're playing OK, but that's not good enough. I want to lead this program back to where it was three years ago."