INDIANAPOLIS (USBWA) – As another season of weekly women's awards from the U.S. Basketball Writers Association gets under way, the Atlantic Coast Conference dominates the first selections organized under Mel Greenberg, the USBWA coordinator for women's basketball.
The pool of candidates is drawn from the weekly conference citations as well as at-large additions involving an expanded governing panel focusing on women's matters that will soon be in place.
Each week the focus will be on the Ann Meyers Drysdale Women's national player, the organization's Tamika Catchings freshman player, and the USBWA's women's national team of the week.
For the season's first honorees for games ending Sunday, Dec. 5, the U.S. Basketball Writers Association Ann Meyers Drysdale Women's National Player of the Week goes to Syracuse redshirt sophomore Teisha Hyman, the organization's Tamika Catchings women's freshman player honor goes to Duke guard Shayeann Day-Wilson and the USBWA women's team citation goes to the entire Duke Blue Devils themselves for performances in the voting period.
Hyman, a 5-8 guard from White Plains, N.Y., led the Orange through a pair of career performances including a 97-91 upset at home of then-No. 18 Ohio State in the Big Ten/ACC Challenge in which she had a career-high 30 points, shot 12-of-18 including 4-of-5 from deep · and dealt six assists. She followed with a near first-ever quadruple-double · men's or women's · from a power school, leading to ACC Player of the Week honors for scoring 27 points, dealing 15 assists, swiping a program-record 11 steals and grabbing eight rebounds against Central Connecticut for the fifth triple-double in program history. The assists are tied for second in program history.
Day-Wilson, a 5-6 guard from Toronto, Ont., Canada, had 19 points, 4 assists, and was 3-4 from the line in the home upset of then-No. 9 Iowa in the Big Ten/ACC Challenge and followed up by scoring 14 in the win at Penn in The Palestra in Philadelphia.
The Duke squad earned USBWA women's team honors for running their record to 8-0 and returning to the Associated Press poll for the first time since the preseason vote of the 2018-19 season.
Duke Coach Kara Lawson in her second season became the 47th person to coach and play (Tennessee) on an AP-ranked team.
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 this is the first season the national and weekly freshman award is being given in the name of former Tennessee all-American Tamika Catchings.
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 2022 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 2022 NCAA Women's Final Four in Minneapolis.
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.
2021-22 USBWA Women's Weekly Honors
Week ending Dec. 5: Teisha Hyman, Syracuse (National); Shayeann Day-Wilson, Duke
(Freshman); Duke (Team)
· Week ending Dec.
12: Maddy Siegrist, Villanova (National); Aneesah Morrow, DePaul (Freshman); Georgia
Tech (Team)
· Week ending Dec. 19: Haley Jones,
Stanford (National); Laila Phelia, Michigan (Freshman); Michigan (Team)
·
Week ending Dec. 26: Destanni Henderson, South Carolina
(National); Rori Harmon, Texas (Freshman); South Carolina (Team)
·
Week ending Jan. 2: Ayoka Lee, Kansas State (National);
Kelbie Washington, Oklahoma (Freshman); Missouri (Team)
·
Week ending Jan. 9: Jaylyn Sherrod, Colorado (National);
Alexis Markowski, Nebraska (Freshman); Colorado (Team)
·
Week ending Jan. 16: Caitlin Clark, Iowa (National);
Aaliyah Collins, Chicago State (Freshman); Oklahoma and Oregon (Team)
·
Week ending Jan. 23: Ayoka Lee, Kansas State (National);
Alberte Rimdal, Florida (Freshman); Ole Miss (Team)
·
Week ending Jan. 30: Naz Hillmon, Michigan (National);
Aneesah Morrow, DePaul (Freshman); Drexel (Team)
·
Week ending Feb. 6: Jasmine Dickey, Delaware (National);
Azzi Fudd, UConn (Freshman); Michigan (Team)
·
Week ending Feb. 13: Maddy Siegrist, Villanova (National);
Aneesah Morrow, DePaul (Freshman); Villanova (Team)
·
Week ending Feb. 20: Aliyah Boston, South Carolina (National);
Aneesah Morrow, DePaul (Freshman); North Carolina (Team)
·
Week ending Feb. 27: Caitlin Clark, Iowa (National);
Aneesah Morrow, DePaul (Freshman); Stanford (Team)
·
Week ending March 6: Dre'Una Edwards, Kentucky (National);
Kaitlyn Chen, Princeton (Freshman); Kentucky (Team)
All-time USBWA Women's
National Weekly Honors (Since 2011-12)