INDIANAPOLIS – Eight returning All-Americans including the nation’s leading scorer and assists leaders and six conference players of the year headline the 2022-23 U.S. Basketball Writers Association Women's All-America Team. There are 13 different schools represented on the 15-player team that for the second consecutive season has top-ranked and overall No. 1 NCAA Tournament seed South Carolina and Stanford each earning claiming two selections.
Six different conferences are represented on a team the USBWA composed into three units for a fifth consecutive season. Two of the members are their school’s first USBWA All-Americans and two others are now two-time All-Americans who last year were the first in their programs’ history.
The USBWA has named a women's All-America Team since the 1987-88 season. Since the 2017-18 season, the USBWA has expanded the team to honor 15 players on three teams, regardless of position. The All-America Team is selected by the USBWA board after voting from the entire membership and the honor is based on performance during the regular season and conference tournaments.
At the head of the list are four-time All-America forward Aliyah Boston of top-ranked South Carolina, and now three-time All-American Caitlin Clark of third-ranked Iowa. Both have been on the USBWA’s first team for three consecutive seasons. Joining them on the first team are forwards Angel Reese of LSU, Mackenzie Holmes of Indiana and Maddy Siegrist of Villanova.
Boston, a defensive standout, is the reigning Ann Meyers Drysdale Award winner. The two-time Southeastern Conference Player of the Year joins Clark, the two-time Big Ten Player of the Year, who is second in the nation in points and third in average (27.0). For Siegrist, it's her second All-America honor as she moves to the first team following her third-team selection last year. This is the first USBWA All-America honor for Holmes and Reese.
Boston is one of two South Carolina players on the team along with guard Zia Cooke, who made the third team. Boston’s forte is defense – she’s the four-time SEC Defensive Player of the Year – but she is also sixth in the nation with 20 double-doubles despite playing just 26 minutes per game. Boston is second in the SEC in rebounding average (9.7) and her 2.0 blocks per game are fourth in the league. South Carolina has now had two All-Americans in three of the past four seasons.
Clark is another player who lights up both ends of the floor. The junior is the only player in the nation with more than 860 points, 235 rebounds, 265 assists, and 45 steals. She has posted totals of 25 points, five rebounds and five assists 38 times in her career, the most in NCAA women's basketball history. Most recently Clark became the first player to score a triple-double in the Big Ten Tournament – her fourth of the season – finishing with 30 points, 10 rebounds and 17 assists in the title game win over Ohio State.
Siegrist was Villanova’s first All-American last year and returns to this team on the first unit. The two-time Big East Player of the Year and the conference's Scholar-Athlete of the Year leads the nation in scoring at 28.9 points per game, almost two points better than the second spot. She enters the NCAA Tournament just 16 points shy of 1,000 points for the season and is the all-time scoring leader in Big East history for men or women, in regular-season conference games.
Also from the SEC is Reese, who transferred to LSU following two seasons at Maryland. She is a dynamic inside player, listing second nationally in rebounding at 15.5 per game and the NCAA leader in offensive rebounds with 191. Her put-backs help her lead the SEC in scoring at 23.7 – four points more than the runner-up. She posted a double-double in the first 23 games of the season, the longest streak in LSU history, and has 28 in LSU’s 30 games and five games with at least 20/20 to lead the country.
Holmes is the other half of the Big Ten’s first-team duo as Indiana’s first USBWA All-American and a key to its ascension to a regional No. 1 seed. The Big Ten’s Defensive Player of the Year is also one of its best shooters hitting 68.8 percent from the field. Holmes scores a team-high 22.3 points per game and averages 7.3 rebounds and 1.9 blocks as well. She has scored in double figures in all 30 Indiana games, scoring 20 or more points 17 times.
Three multiple-honor players mark the second team. Foremost for this season is Iowa State guard Ashley Joens, who returns to the second team after a third-team spot in 2020-21. The Big 12 Player of the Year has been first-team all-conference four times. Joens has charged into the postseason as the nation’s ninth-best scorer (21.5) and was unanimously named the Big 12 Championship's Most Outstanding Player after averaging a double-double (26.7 ppg and 11.0 rpg) over three games at the Big 12 Tournament.
Elizabeth Kitley of Virginia Tech is now a two-time All-American following another honor as the two-time Atlantic Coast Conference’s Player of the Year. Kitley guided the Hokies to their best regular season in ACC history and a No. 1 NCAA Tournament seed with 19 double-doubles and 18.6 points, 10.5 rebounds and 2.3 blocks per game while shooting 56 percent from the floor. She owns Virginia Tech’s career records for field goals and points.
Cameron Brink, now a two-time All-American, is one of two selections for Stanford along with guard Haley Jones, also a two-time honoree. Brink, the Pac-12’s two-time Defensive Player of the Year is third in the nation in blocks at 3.36 per game and second in total blocks with 111. Stanford's two selections matches South Carolina prior to playing in its 35th consecutive NCAA Tournament.
Alissa Pili is Utah’s first All-America selection and the Pac-12 Player of the Year. The junior forward leads the Pac-12 in scoring at 20.3 point per game with a 59.9-percent shooting average that is second in the conference.
Diamond Miller of Maryland was a unanimous First-Team All-Big Ten player and leads the Terrapins with 19.7 points and 6.5 rebounds per game, putting her third in the Big Ten scoring. Miller extends Maryland’s run of having a USBWA All-America selection in 10 of the last 12 seasons.
The third team includes two two-timers, Stanford’s Jones, one of just 16 Stanford players to be named to the All-Pac-12 Team three different times, and DePaul forward Aneesah Morrow, last season's Tamika Catchings Award winner as the USBWA's National Freshman Player of the Year. Jones is just behind Brink on the Cardinal’s scoring and rebounding lists, and Morrow is fourth in the nation in scoring (25.7) and seventh in offensive rebounds (116). Notre Dame’s Olivia Miles is the Irish’s first All-American in four seasons and her 6.9 assists per game are sixth nationally. Miles is one of just two Division I players averaging at least 14 points, 7 rebounds and 6 assists.
UConn’s Aaliyah Edwards becomes the school's 41st USBWA All-America selection and was most recently named the Big East Tournament’s Most Outstanding Player with three straight double-doubles averaging 19.3 points and 13.3 rebounds. Cooke at South Carolina is a two-time All-SEC player with a team-best 15.3 points per game keyed from shooting a career-best 40.8 percent from the field. This is Cooke’s first All-America selection.
Five other standout players earned honorable mention from the USBWA: Indiana's Grace Berger, Tennessee's Rickea Jackson, Florida State's Ta’Niya Latson, Louisville's Hailey Van Lith and Drexel's Keishana Washington.
Overall on the three teams, the Big East, Big Ten, Pac-12 and SEC each had three selections with the ACC having two and the Big 12 one.
Following is the complete 2022-23 USBWA Women's All-America Team:
FIRST TEAM
Aliyah Boston, South Carolina (F, 6-5, Sr., St. Thomas, U.S.V.I.)
Caitlin Clark, Iowa (G, 6-0, Jr., West Des Moines, Iowa)
Mackenzie Holmes, Indiana (F, 6-3, Sr., Gorham, Maine)
Angel Reese, LSU (F, 6-3, So., Baltimore, Md.)
Maddy Siegrist, Villanova (F, 6-2, Sr., Poughkeepsie, N.Y.)
SECOND TEAM
Cameron Brink, Stanford (F, 6-4, Jr., Beaverton, Ore.)
Ashley Joens, Iowa State (G/F, 6-1, Sr., Iowa City, Iowa)
Elizabeth Kitley, Virginia Tech (C, 6-6, Sr., Summerfield, N.C.)
Diamond Miller, Maryland (G, 6-3, Sr., Somerset, N.J.)
Alissa Pili, Utah (F, 6-2, Jr., Anchorage, Alaska)
THIRD TEAM
Zia Cooke, South Carolina (G, 5-0, Sr., Toledo, Ohio)
Aaliyah Edwards, UConn (F, 6-3, Jr., Kingston, Ont.)
Haley Jones, Stanford (G, 6-1, Sr., Santa Cruz, Calif.)
Olivia Miles, Notre Dame (G, 5-10, So., Phillipsburg, N.J.)
Aneesah Morrow, DePaul (F, 6-1, So., Chicago, Ill.)
Honorable mention: Grace Berger, Indiana (G, 6-0, Gr., Louisville, Ky.); Rickea Jackson, Tennessee (F, 6-2, Sr., Detroit, Mich.); Ta’Niya Latson, Florida State (G, 5-8, Fr., Miami, Fla.); Hailey Van Lith, Louisville (G, 5-7, Jr., Wenatchee, Wash.); Keishana Washington, Drexel (G, 5-7, Gr., Pickering, Ont.)
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 an All-America team since the 1956-57 season. For more information on the USBWA and its award programs, contact executive director Malcolm Moran at 814-574-1485.