INDIANAPOLIS (USBWA) – When the season hits the conference phase of the schedule, the element of surprise minimizes, though the arrival of a new coach changing systems or, in the case of new teams through realignment that may not have been seen regularly, being unfamiliar can still be an asset.
Otherwise, except where talent level is far apart, or injuries affect rosters, action goes down to the wire and more upsets begin to occur and sure bets transform into stunning results.
For a long time, this trait was more prevalent on the men’s side versus the women’s game, where the better team not showing up and the underdog suddenly clicking only meant the size of the outcome might narrow, but the outcome itself would still hold.
However, the growth of talent and arrival of the transfer portal has changed that with Exhibit A available a few days ago when four games were decided on the last play and several stunner results occurred.
Ahead of Sunday, for example, what were the odds in the Big Ten that Penn State, on a seven-game losing streak, and then-No. 9 Ohio State, one of the last three Division I teams with perfect records, would not produce the predicted outcome?
Besides the standings, the impact on the pool of candidates for the newest set of USBWA weekly women’s awards produced an enlarged list to place under consideration.
The USBWA women’s awards, organized under Mel Greenberg, the USBWA Vice President for women’s basketball, are chosen 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, Jan. 19, the five Ann Meyers Drysdale national women’s honorees of the week are UConn guard Paige Bueckers; Gonzaga forward Yvonne Ejim; NC State guard Aziaha James; Richmond guard Rachel Ullstrom; LSU guard Mikaylah Williams; the Tamika Catchings National Freshmen of the Week are Vanderbilt guard Makayla Blakes and Nebraska guard Britt Prince; and for the second straight week the National Team of the Week is South Carolina.
Bueckers, a 6-0 redshirt senior guard from Hopkins, Minn., who in 2001 became the only freshman to date to win the Ann Meyers Drysdale USBWA National Player of the Year, averaged 15.3 points with 3.5 rebounds and 3.5 assists in two No. 6 Huskies victories. She passed former USBWA national honoree Maya Moore by six games (102) as the fastest in program history to 2,000 career points, the 12th to reach the milestone, while Geno Auriemma’s NCAA men’s/women’s combined record win total extends to 1,230. On Monday, Bueckers picked up her fourth Big East weekly award of the season. “It’s been a tough journey but a beautiful journey,” she said, alluding to the season and a half of being sidelined by injuries along the way. “Everyone sees the 2,000 points; nobody sees the 2,000 days of hard work. It’s a testament to everyone who has invested in me.”
Ejim, a 6-1 fifth-year forward from Calgary, Alberta, and member of the Canadian national team as well as past recipient of USBWA weekly honors, averaged 27.0 points and 10.5 rebounds, in Zags wins over Portland and LMU to earn her third West Coast Conference weekly award, besides being the 2024 Becky Hammon Mid-Major Player of the Year. Against Portland, she shot 12-16 from the field for a career-high 35 points with two steals and two blocks and her putback with nine seconds left was the game-winner. She had 19 points, eight rebounds, and five assists against LMU, becoming the program leader in rebounds with 985, eighth in WCC history, and her 2,074 career points moves her into second in the program and fifth in the WCC past WNBA All-Star Courtney Vandersloot of the champion New York Liberty.
James, a 5-10 senior guard out of Virginia Beach, Va., and 2024 All-ACC first team honoree, was the No. 20 Wolfpack leader in an 83-67 win over Pitt and 73-67 win over Virginia in Raleigh. Against the Panthers, she connected on six makes from deep and scored 22 points while, against the Cavaliers, she scored 20 points helping to bring NC State to 14-4 overall and 6-1 in the conference. She leads the team with a 17.2 average. At halftime of the Pitt game, USBWA member and national broadcaster Debbie Antonelli, who played under Hall of Famer Kay Yow, was inducted in the Wolfpack’s ring ceremony.
Ullstrom, a 6-1 junior guard out of Auburn, Mass., honored as the Atlantic 10 Sixth Player of the Year on the regular season and tournament champion Spiders, starred in two home wins in the Robins Center. In a 98-60 win over St. Bonaventure, she scored 30 points, the third time this year she has reached 30 points. In a 75-42 win by Richmond (15-5, 6-1) over crosstown rival VCU, she scored 14. The differential is the largest rivalry win since December 2001.
Williams, a 6-0 sophomore guard out of Bossier City, La., who was SEC Freshman of the Year and a USA Basketball national honoree in high school and No. 1 prospect in her class by several scouting groups, in an 83-77 home win in Baton Rouge over Vanderbilt, scored 20 points with five rebounds and five assists, for the No. 5 Tigers (20-0, 5-0), one of two last unbeaten teams along with No. 1 UCLA. In an 80-63 win at Florida, she scored 22 points to average 21 for the week. LSU, 5-0 in single-digit games, has a conference showdown Thursday night at No. 2 South Carolina.
Blakes, a 5-8 freshman guard out of Somerset, N.J., in a 71-70 upset at home of No. 15 Tennessee (15-5, 3-3), finished with 23 points for the Commodores (15-4, 2-3) in the game in Memorial Gym against the in-state rival. The Lady Vols had gone ahead with four seconds left. Khamil Pierre, a past USBWA weekly honoree, drove for the basket, missed the layup, but Blakes hit the putback with 0.8 left for Vandy’s 900th program win. Pierre had 21, after scoring 28 at LSU, where Blakes had 12 points and six boards. The Commodores have only won 11 of the last 90 in the series, last winning in 2019 in Knoxville and last winning in 2014 at home.
Prince, a 5–11-point guard out of nearby Omaha, in the one game qualifying this week, an 87-84 overtime win at Iowa, had 22 points with a career-high five connects from beyond the arc. It was Nebraska’s first win at Iowa since 2018. She also had a career-high six steals with seven rebounds and five assists and tied the game with 50 seconds left in regulation. No other freshman has reached those stats since 2009, according to Herhoopstats. She’s averaging 13.5 points, 4.4 rebounds, 3.2 assists and 1.9 steals. On Monday, she was named Big Ten Freshman of the Week and a few hours later in a 91-60 win by the Cornhuskers (15-4, 6-2) at Wisconsin, she had 14 points, was 6-6 at the line and grabbed seven boards.
No. 2 South Carolina (18-1, 6-0), the NCAA defending champions, becomes the first to be named USBWA National Team of the Week in successive weeks. It comes off a seven-day period in which Hall of Fame coach Dawn Staley received a contract extension worth $25 million making her the highest-paid women’s basketball coach of all time, her annual $4 million salary topping UConn’s Geno Auriemma and LSU’s Kim Mulkey. She was also named to the FIBA Hall of Fame, having won gold medals for the USA as a player and a coach. On the court in the middle of a five-game stretch against ranked teams after the Gamecocks’ rout of then-No. 5 Texas the previous week, they beat then-No. 13 Oklahoma 101-60 at home and 76-58 at No. 19 Alabama, averaging 25.3 differential points in the three games. Staley’s program has 53 straight regular-season SEC wins and 68 at straight home in Colonial Life Arena.
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).
• Week ending Dec. 1: Ta’Niya Latson, Florida State; Aneesah Morrow, LSU; Hailey Van Lith (TCU), Sedona Prince (TCU); Clara Strack, Kentucky (National); Justice Carlton, Texas (Freshman); Duke (Team).
• Week ending Dec. 8: Sonia Citron, Notre Dame; Tiarra East, Temple; Emma Ronsiek, Colorado State; JuJu Watkins, Southern Cal; Mikaylah Williams, LSU (National); Sarah Miller, Penn (Freshman); South Carolina, Tennessee (Team).
• Week ending Dec. 15: Hannah Hidalgo, Notre Dame; S’Mya Nichols, Kansas; Khamil Pierre, Vanderbilt; Marta Suarez, California; Serah Williams, Wisconsin (National); Kiyomi McMiller, Rutgers (Freshman); Georgia Tech (Team).
• Week ending Dec. 22: Madison Conner, TCU; Frida Formann, Colorado; Sammie Puisis, South Florida; JuJu Watkins, USC; Laura Ziegler, Saint Joseph’s (National); Lanie Grant, North Carolina (Freshman); Alabama (Team).
• Week ending Dec. 29: Kara Dunn, Georgia Tech; Elle Ladine, Washington; Olivia Miles, Notre Dame; Kaylene Smikle, Maryland; JuJu Watkins, USC (National); Tori McKinney, Minnesota (Freshman); Norfolk State (Team).
• Week ending Jan. 5: Georgia Amoore, Kentucky; Lauren Betts, UCLA; Katie Dinnebier, Drake; Ta’Niya Latson, Florida State; Faith Masonius, Seton Hall (National); Jordan Lee, Texas (Freshman); Clemson (Team).
• Week ending Jan. 12: Zanai Barnett-Gay, Navy; Stailee Heard, Oklahoma State; Liatu King, Notre Dame; Grace Larkins, South Dakota; JuJu Watkins, USC (National); Gal Raviv, Quinnipiac (Freshman); South Carolina (Team).
• Week ending Jan. 19: Paige Bueckers, UConn; Yvonne Ejim, Gonzaga; Aziaha James, NC State; Rachel Ullstrom, Richmond; Mikaylah Williams, LSU (National); Mikayla Blakes, Vanderbilt; Britt Prince, Nebraska (Freshmen); South Carolina (Team).