INDIANAPOLIS (USBWA) – When 12 ranked teams take a loss the same week – some due to head-to-head matchups – it means we're in the heart of the season and near to the stretch drive to March Madness.
Though the race for the NCAA title in Tampa is settling on seven teams – which in itself is growth – there's a lot of happenings among the mid-majors as shown by three of this week's national honorees coming from such programs.
And this past week's example of sure bets not living up is back at Penn State where a week after upsetting then-No. 9 Ohio State in the Big Ten for the team's sole conference win, the Lady Lions blew a 17-point lead and were outscored 25-9 in the fourth quarter to Rutgers, which was on an eight-game losing streak and winless in the league.
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. 26, the five Ann Meyers Drysdale national women's honorees of the week are Drexel guard Amaris Baker; UCLA center Lauren Betts; Florida State guard Ta'Niya Latson; Bucknell forward Ashley Sofilkanich; Murray State forward Katelyn Young; the Tamika Catchings National Freshman of the Week is Vanderbilt guard Makayla Blakes and the National Team of the Week is Texas.
Baker, a 5-8 senior guard from Philadelphia who helped lead Drexel (9-8, 5-2) as a seventh seed to the Coastal Athletic Association title last season after transferring from Kennesaw State, averaged 21.5 points and 4.0 rebounds in a weekend sweep of two upper-tier teams in the conference. In a 58-56 win over Charleston, in which the Dragons rallied from a 10-point deficit in the fourth quarter, she scored 19 points, including the go-ahead shot from deep with 1:06 left in regulation and four more points in the final 21 seconds. Two days later, in a lopsided 64-37 win over Elon, she shot 10-18 from the field for 24 points. On the season she is averaging 18.7 points, shooting 42.6 percent from the field with 4.1 rebounds a game. On Monday, she was named the CAA Player of the Week.
Betts, a 6-7 junior center from Centennial, Colo., who transferred from Stanford to UCLA prior to last season, picks up another 2024-25 honor after a monster week in which the No. 1 Bruins (20-0, 8-0) remained the last unbeaten Division I team while sweeping their eastern swing with a win over then-No. 25 Baylor in the inaugural Coretta Scott King Classic and two Big Ten wins at Rutgers and then-No. 8 Maryland. Against the Bears, the preseason All-American had 24 points, nine rebounds, and a school-record nine blocks before three nights later collecting 25 points, grabbing 13 rebounds, and putting up five blocks against the Scarlet Knights. On Sunday against the Terrapins, she scored a career-high 33 points, with four blocks, and set a school record shooting 14-15 from the field for 93.3 percent when taking a minimal 15 attempts.
Latson, a 5-8 junior guard from Miami, a past Tamika Catchings National Freshman of the Year and prior USBWA weekly honoree this season who leads the nation in scoring with a 26.5 average, scored the winning basket at the buzzer in an 88-86 upset at then-No. 13 North Carolina Sunday and collected 25 points, including 17 in the second half for the Seminoles' third straight win over the Tar Heels. She leads the ACC with 17 games of 20 or more points. On Monday, she was named ACC Player of the Week and FSU (16-4, 6-2) at No. 25 returned to the AP Poll for the first time since early in the season.
Sofilkanich, a 6-3 sophomore forward from South Amboy, N.J., led Bucknell (10-9, 5-3) to a pair of Patriot League wins, the first a 71-67 overtime triumph against Colgate in which she tied a 22-year-old program record with 44 points, shooting 16-27 from the field and 12-16 from the line with 11 rebounds and five assists. It's the first time since Molly Creamer set the record in 2003 that someone reached 40 points. Her total came within five of the Patriot League mark of 49 set by Army's Kelsey Minato against Holy Cross in 2014. “I don't even know where some of (the shots) came from. I'm just glad they went in,” she said after playing 43 minutes of the 45-minute game. She followed in the Bison's 74-59 win over Boston U. with 22 points, shooting 7-10, with seven rebounds and tying a career-high with six assists. On Monday, she picked up her fourth conference player of the week award.
Young, a 6-1 graduate forward, from Oakwood, Ill., in a 97-71 win over Indiana State by the Racers (14-4, 8-1), tied with Belmont for the Missouri Valley Conference lead, scored 33 points – her 10th career game scoring 30 or more points – with nine rebounds, and four assists. The all-time leading scorer for the school who picked up the conference weekly player honor on Monday in a 104-66 win over Evansville, the team's sixth straight, scored 25 points with seven rebounds and on the week averaged 29.0 points, eight boards, shooting 22-30 for 73 percent, besides a perfect 13-13 from the line in just 26 minutes per game.
Blakes, a 5-8 freshman guard out of Somerset, N.J., picking up her second straight USBWA honor with the Commodores (17-4, 4-3), in a 101-60 win at home in Memorial Gym in Nashville, scored 24 points, shooting 8-13 from the field, including 4-6 makes from deep. A few days later in a second upset of a ranked team in two weeks, this one 66-64 at then-No. 19 Alabama, she scored 33 in what was the first time since the 2015-16 season that Vanderbilt has gained two top 25 wins the same season. She and Khamil Pierre have made a powerful tandem, Pierre leading the team in scoring at 21.7 and Blakes right behind at 21.0. On Monday, the Commodores at No. 23 returned to the AP Poll for the first time since since the 2013-14 season and coach Shea Ralph joined for Hartford/George Washington coach Jen Rizzotti and Princeton's Carla Berube as three former UConn stars to play on and coach AP ranked women's teams.
Texas (20-2, 6-1) had three major wins propelling the Longhorns from seventh to fifth in Monday's AP Poll and a three-way tie for second in the SEC after beating then-No. 8 Maryland, 89-51, in the other game in the Coretta Scott King Classic in which preseason All-American Madison Booker scored 28; followed at home in Austin with a closing seconds 80-78 win over then-No. 17 Tennessee in which Booker scored 26 points, including the go-ahead bucket with 27 seconds left; and then 71-68 at former ranked team Ole Miss., rallying from an eight-point deficit with five minutes left. Taylor Jones on the week for the Longhorns averaged 22.5 with 10 rebounds and shot 70 percent from the field.
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).
• Week ending Jan. 26: Amaris Baker, Drexel; Lauren Betts, UCLA; Ta'Niya Latson, Florida State; Ashley Sofilkanich, Bucknell; Katelyn Young, Murray State (National); Mikayla Blakes, Vanderbilt (Freshman); Texas (Team).