INDIANAPOLIS (USBWA) – While the bulk of teams in the Associated Press women’s poll are affiliated with the Power 5 conferences meaning a lot of movement will be occurring once league races get under way with the arrival of the 2024 portion of the season schedule, quiet as it is now due to finals and less games, it still was not difficult to find standout performances from which to select the five USBWA Ann Meyers Drysdale National Players of the Week, the Tamika Catchings freshman award and the National Team of the Week for the period ending Sunday, Dec. 17.
Three national honorees came out of the Big East, one from the Sun Belt, the team of the week is affiliated with the Atlantic 10, and the SEC is represented with one national winner and the freshman honor.
The USBWA women’s awards, organized under Mel Greenberg, the USBWA Vice President for women’s basketball, are drawn from weekly conference honors as well as at-large additions.
For their performances in the past seven days, this week’s five Ann Meyers Drysdale honorees are Seton Hall guard Azana Baines, Marshall guard Breanna Campbell, Mississippi State center Jessika Carter, UConn guard Aubrey Griffin, and Marquette forward Liza Karlen.
The Tamika Catchings freshman award goes to LSU's Mikaylah Williams, while VCU is the National Team of the Week.
Before noting the accomplishments, a quick congratulations to a past USBWA national coach of the year, Notre Dame’s Muffet McGraw, now retired, who had a statue unveiled in front of the Purcell Center prior to Sunday’s game between the Irish and Purdue.
Baines, a 6-1 graduate guard-forward out of Blackwood, N.J., who has previously played at Duke and Virginia Tech, led Seton Hall to a stunning upset at home in Walsh Gym of then-No. 23 UNLV, knocking the Rebels (then 9-0) out of the unbeaten column and on Monday out of the poll after a one-week stay. Barnes scored 23 points and grabbed 11 rebounds in a lopsided 84-54 victory. She currently leads her team with a 15.7 average and 6.5 rebounds.
Campbell, a 5-5 senior guard out of Largo, Fla., in a 3-0 week for Marshall (including two wins on the road), averaged 19 points, 4.6 rebounds, 3.6 assists, and 3.6 steals. Against Jacksonville, she scored 29 points. She leads to Thundering Herd in shooting from the field, 40-for-73 for .541 percent as well as shooting from deep 11-for-22 at .500, while she is third in scoring with a 14.9 average.
Carter, a 6-5 graduate center out of Waverly Hall, Ga., factored in a three-win week for Mississippi State averaging 21.6 points, 14.6 rebounds, and 3.6 steals. Her 15.2 average is second on the Bulldogs, while her 9.6 rebounding mark is tops.
Griffin, a 6-1 senior guard, had her best outing, coming off the bench on Saturday in a win over then-No. 18 Louisville at the Huskies’ second home in Hartford, scoring 25 points, shooting 9-for-11 from the field, with five rebounds and two assists. The Huskies, who have been riddled with injuries, won their third straight. The performance was above her average, 9.9 points, which is fourth, though technically third with Azzi Fudd, just above her, lost for the season with a knee injury. She is second in rebounding at 6.4 while also having 19 steals, which is second on the Huskies.
Karlen, a 6-2 forward out of St. Paul, Minn., in a game between two ranked Big East teams in a league opener kept Marquette unbeaten by beating then-No. 20 Creighton, 76-70, at home, scoring 25 points and grabbing 12 rebounds for her second double-double on the season. She helped the team break away from a 64-64 tie late in the game with two of the three straight baskets. The Golden Eagles are off to their best start in program history at 11-0, extended with a 99-91-win Sunday over App State as she shot 7-for-14 to score 24 points behind teammate Jordan King’s 29. On Monday, she was named the Big East player of the week.
In two games, Williams, a 6-0 freshman guard from Bossier City, La., had 26 points, shooting 11-for-15, and dealt six assists in a program record-setting 133-44 win over McNeese and on Sunday followed with 14 points and and five rebounds in an 81-36 rout of Northwestern State. The SEC Freshman of the Week is third in scoring on the team behind Angel Reese and DePaul transfer Aneesah Morrow with an 18.2 average with 4.6 rebounds.
Earning the team award, VCU completed a 2-0 week Sunday for the Rams’ seventh straight win (10-1), in the process at home in Richmond, taking down nearby Old Dominion (8-1) from the list of unbeaten teams in the nation. It’s the best start since 2013-14 and the 64-50 victory over the Lady Monarchs saw VCU overwhelm the nation’s leading defense from ODU, which had been allowing 46.1 points per game. Sarah Te-Biasu scored 13 points with three shots from deep, while Timaya Lewis-Eutsey. Earlier in the week, VCU beat Delaware 64-55 at home in the Siegel Center as Mary-Anna Asare scored 19 points, Te-Biasu scored 16, while Mykel Parham and Jennifer Ezeh each grabbed 10 rebounds, Ezeh completing a double-double with 10 points.
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 2024 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 2024 NCAA Women's Final Four in Cleveland.
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.
2023-24 USBWA Women's Weekly Honors
• Week ending Nov. 12: Caitlin Clark, Iowa; Kamilla Cardoso, South Carolina; Saniya Rivers, NC State; Kiki Iriafen, Stanford; Liza Karlen, Marquette (National); JuJu Watkins, Southern Cal (Freshman); Colorado (Team).
• Week ending Nov. 19: Cameron Brink, Stanford; Taylor Jones, Texas; Ayoka Lee, Kansas State; Lucy Olsen, Villanova; Harmoni Turner, Harvard (National); Hannah Hidalgo, Notre Dame (Freshman); Baylor (Team).
• Week ending Nov. 26: River Baldwin, NC State; Caitlin Clark, Iowa; Maggie Doogan, Richmond; Aneesah Morrow, LSU; KiKi Rice, UCLA (National); Zanai Barnett-Gay, Navy (Freshman); Princeton (Team).
• Week ending Dec. 3: Kamilla Cardoso, South Carolina; Yvonne Ejim, Gonzaga; Rori Harmon, Texas; Cottie McMahon, Ohio State; Anne Simon, Maine (National); Madison Booker, Texas (Freshman); Southern Miss (Team).
• Week ending Dec. 10: Lauren Betts, UCLA; Paige Bueckers, UConn; Jalynn Gregory, MTSU; Quinesha Lockett, Toledo; Alssa Pili, Utah (National); Zoe Brooks, NC State (Freshman); Washington (Team).
• Week ending Dec. 17: Azana Baines, Seton Hall; Breanna Campbell, Marshall; Jessika Carter, Mississippi State; Aubrey Griffin, UConn; Liz Karlen, Marquette (National); Mikaylah Williams, LSU (Freshman); VCU (Team).