USBWA Tamika Catchings Award News

High-scoring first-year Vanderbilt guard Mikayla Blakes rewrote the Southeastern Conference's freshman record book, leading the Commodores to a second straight NCAA Tournament with 23.3 points per game to earn her the 2024-25 Tamika Catchings National Freshman Player of the Year Award from the U.S. Basketball Writers Association.

DePaul forward Aneesah Morrow, who leads the nation in three separate rebounding categories and recorded 27 double-doubles as a second-team USBWA All-American, has won the 2021-22 Tamika Catchings Award as the U.S. Basketball Writers Association's National Freshman Player of the Year.

The U.S. Basketball Writers Association has named its annual recognition of its women's national freshman of the year the Tamika Catchings Award. Catchings, vice president of basketball operations for the Indiana Fever of the WNBA, was the consensus national freshman of the year during the 1997-98 season, when she averaged 18.2 points per game to lead the Tennessee Lady Volunteers to a national championship in a 39-0 season.

The U.S. Basketball Writers Association is proud to announce the winners of its three major individual women's awards. The honorees include the NCAA's all-time triple-doubles leader, the coach of the top-ranked team and a freshman sensation off the All-Southeastern Conference team. Sabrina Ionescu of Oregon is the winner of the Ann Meyers Drysdale Award as the National Player of the Year, Dawn Staley of South Carolina earned the National Coach of the Year Award and Aliyah Boston of South Carolina is the Tamika Catchings Award winner as the National Freshman Player of the Year, based on voting by the USBWA membership. Longtime USBWA representative Mel Greenberg coordinated the voting and selection process.

For the season's third U.S. Basketball Writers Association Ann Meyers Drysdale Women's National Player of the Week and the organization's Tamika Catchings women's freshman player honor, Louisville guard Dana Evans is national player while South Carolina forward Aliyah Boston has been tabbed for the freshman citation after each helped their team win games ending the week of Sunday, Dec. 1.