INDIANAPOLIS (USBWA) – For the season’s first weekly women’s awards from the U.S. Basketball Writers Association, for games ending Sunday, Dec. 11, DePaul sophomore forward Aneesah Morrow is the Ann Meyers Drysdale National Player of the Week, Florida State guard Ta’Niyah Latson is the Tamika Catchings National Freshman Player of the Week, while Kansas is the National Team of the Week.
The awards, organized under Mel Greenberg, the USBWA Vice President for women’s basketball, are drawn from the weekly conference citations as well as at-large additions.
Morrow, a 6-1 sophomore forward from Chicago who was the Tamika Catchings Award winner a season ago, scored 45 points to shatter the Blue Demons’ single-game scoring record in an 81-63 victory last weekend at local rival Northwestern.
A record-setting Big East freshman last season, she scored 18 points in the first 20 minutes and followed up with 27 on 72-percent shooting in the second half to record her second 40-plus point performance this season while collecting 13 rebounds for her eighth double-double in 10 games.
Late in the game, the Big East Player of the Week scored her 1,000th career point, becoming the 13th woman in NCAA Division I history to accomplish the career milestone in 43 games or less.
Latson, a 5-8 guard from Miami, scored 34 points in a 108-51 win over Texas Southern, tying her career high with her third 30-point game of the season. She has already collected all five Atlantic Coast Conference weekly rookie awards and twice also claimed the weekly player honor.
With 25.5 points per game, Latson is easily the top scoring freshman in the nation, while fifth overall behind Morrow, the current front runner.
Kansas, the team of the week, remained unbeaten at 9-0 and pulled a big upset winning convincingly 77-50 at then-No. 12 Arizona last Thursday. The triumph moved the Jayhawks into this week’s Associated Press poll at No. 22, the first ranking for the program since 2013.
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 2023 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 2023 NCAA Women's Final Four in Dallas.
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.