INDIANAPOLIS (USBWA) – Four upsets, including the downfall of the defending NCAA champions, and a coaching record that will take decades, if ever, to be broken.
The newest set of U.S. Basketball Writers Association women’s honorees reflect all of that and a few other performances from a week that also saw veteran Utah coach Lynne Roberts leave to fill the vacancy on the WNBA Los Angeles Sparks.
First, a brief pause to wish all a happy Thanksgiving, whose holiday is already underway with a feast of multiple team events that will be available for daily TV viewing through the coming weekend.
The USBWA women’s awards, organized under Mel Greenberg, the USBWA Vice President for women’s basketball, are drawn from weekly conference honors as well as at-large additions. Nominations are welcome as each seven-day period rolls along to make sure no one is inadvertently overlooked.
There is no restriction within a week on the number of national honors received within a conference, especially the way realignment has affected membership size.
For the period through Sunday, Nov. 24, the five Ann Meyers Drysdale national women’s honorees of the week are Notre Dame guard Hannah Hidalgo, Creighton guard Lauren Jensen, Northern Iowa guard Maya McDermott, Virginia Tech forward Rose Micheaux, and Connecticut guard Sarah Strong.
The Tamika Catchings National Freshman of the Week is Duke forward Toby Fournier and the National Team of the Week is UCLA.
Hidalgo, a 5-6 sophomore guard from Merchantville, N.J., outside Philadelphia, who is a past USBWA freshman honoree from last season, helped lead the Irish (5-0) to a 74-61 road upset of No. 3 USC in Los Angeles with 24 points and eight assists in a game that also had the Trojans’ JuJu Watkins, last season’s USBWA national freshman of the year.
“I’m just excited to play the game of basketball,” said Hidalgo, named ACC Player of the Week on Monday. “It is a privilege to play the game and do it at at this high level. I don’t want to take the game for granted, so I’m just having fun.”
The win caused a change of positions in the latest poll released Monday – Notre Dame shot up to third and USC dropped to sixth after the Trojans’ first loss.
Jensen, a 5-10 senior guard for Creighton from Lakeville, Minn., helped the Bluejays (2-2), a preseason pick for second in the Big East, upset then-No. 21 Nebraska (5-1) at home in Omaha, scoring 31 points – her second 30-point game of the season – shooting 10-19 from the field, including 4-9 on 3-point attempts, a perfect 7-7 on the line and adding three boards and three assists. On Monday she was named Big East Player of the Week.
McDermott, a 5-6 senior guard from Johnston, Iowa, had a career-high 37 points, making a personal best 14 shots to lead UNI to an 87-75 upset of then-No. 8 Iowa State, the first-ever Top 10 win by the Panthers. The Missouri Valley Player of the Week, she is just the third in the conference and one of four since 2002-03 to score 35-plus against a Top 25 foe and the only player to achieve it in a win. She also had five boards, four assists, and three steals while committing just one turnover in 35 minutes. The win was also the first by any MVC member against a Top 10 opponent since the 2000-01 season.
Micheaux, a 6-2 senior forward from Wayne, Mich., led the Hokies (5-1) to a 91-80 win over Rutgers, scoring 16 points with 17 rebounds. She then became the second player in school history to register a triple-double, achieving it against visiting Elon with 19 points, 14 rebounds, and a career-high 10 assists. She reached the signature statistic in the first minute of the fourth quarter, the fastest to do it in a game. The Hokies this season are under former Notre Dame star and Marquette coach Megan Duffy, succeeding Kenny Brooks, who left for Kentucky.
In the past, freshmen have been moved into this category for given reasons, notably Iowa’s Caitlin Clark and UConn’s Paige Bueckers. On Wednesday, Sarah Strong, a 6-2 freshman forward from Durham, N.C., the nation’s top recruit, had 20 points on 8-13 from the field, including 4-7 from deep, with eight rebounds and six assists for an 85-41 victory by UConn over Fairleigh Dickinson in the campus Gampel Pavilion arena in Storrs. That earned her Big East Freshman of the Week, but it got her Hall of Fame coach Geno Auriemma his 1,217th victory – improved to 1,218 Monday night beating Oregon State in a tourney in the Bahamas. That snapped a five-day tie with former Stanford coach Tara VanDerveer, who retired in April, making him the winningest college coach in all divisions over men or women.
The evening began with a salute to the 70-year-old coach and his longtime aide Chris Dailey for their 40 years with the program that has produced a record 11 NCAA titles. Almost all the best of the WNBA were in the house, 63 former players to celebrate the achievement. Monday, the No. 2 Huskies who have been ranked first 250 times, appeared in their 588th consecutive poll dating to the 1993-94 preseason vote.
Fournier, a 6-2 substitute forward from Toronto, Ont., who is also the ACC Freshman of the Week, in addition to being our Tamika Catchings honoree, had 25 points, shooting 10-15 from the field, with three blocks, and six rebounds, in a 79-47 win at home against Belmont in Cameron Indoor Stadum in Durham, N.C.
As for UCLA, just 24 hours after the Notre Dame upset 15 miles away, the then-No. 5 Bruins at home in a packed Pauley Pavilion surged to a 77-62 win over No. 1 South Carolina, their first win over an AP No. 1 in 21 tries. The Gamecocks had won 43 straight, also 33 straight on the road. Londynn Jones scored 15 points for UCLA off a perfect 5-for-5 from deep while freshman reserve Eliana Aarnisalo out of Finland scored 13, and three other Bruins were also in double figures, Lauren Betts had a double-double with 11 points and 14 boards, Kiki Rice also scored 11, and Gabriela Jaquez off the bench was the third player collecting 11 points. Thus, on Monday in the 49th season of AP women’s rankings, the 868th week, UCLA became the 26th team to reach No.1, the Bruins’ first ranking at the top.
Since the 1987-88 season, the USBWA has named a women’s National Player of the Year. For the 2012-13 season, the national and weekly player award became named for Hall of Famer and former UCLA All-American Ann Meyers Drysdale while the national and weekly freshman award is being given in the name of former Tennessee all-American Tamika Catchings, which was applied at the start of the 2019-20 season.
At the conclusion of the regular season, the USBWA will name finalists for both individual awards, which is voted on by the entire membership of the USBWA.
The winners of the 2025 Ann Meyers Drysdale National Player of the Year and Tamika Catchings National Freshman of the Year will be announced and presented at the USBWA’s annual awards event on site at the NCAA Women's Final Four in Tampa.
The U.S. Basketball Writers Association was formed in 1956 at the urging of then-NCAA Executive Director Walter Byers. With some 900 members worldwide, it is one of the most influential organizations in college basketball. It has selected a women's All-America team since the 1996-97 season. For more information on the USBWA and its award programs, contact executive director Malcolm Moran at 814-574-1485.
2024-25 USBWA Women's Weekly Honors
• Week ending Nov. 10: Destiny Adams, Rutgers; Raegan Beers, Oklahoma; Lauren Betts, UCLA; Diamond Johnson, Norfolk State; Olivia Miles, Notre Dame; (National); Syla Swords, Michigan (Freshman); Oregon (Team).
• Week ending Nov. 17: Paige Bueckers, Connecticut; Hayley Cavinder, Miami; Talaysia Cooper, Tennessee; Jordyn Jenkins, UTSA; Harmoni Turner, Harvard (National); Kate Koval, Notre Dame (Freshman); TCU (Team).
• Week ending Nov. 24: Hannah Hidalgo, Notre Dame; Lauren Jensen, Creighton; Maya McDermott, Northern Iowa; Rose Micheaux, Virginia Tech; Sarah Strong, Connecticut (National); Toby Fournier, Duke (Freshman); UCLA (Team).