INDIANAPOLIS (USBWA) – The guards had it, almost unanimously, when it came to deciding the U.S. Basketball Writers Association’s weekly women’s awards, though deliberations are not done by positions and the one individual position that was from the post made it two straight appearances onto the Ann Meyers Drysdale group of five national player list of honorees while a second was a contributor in helping her school earn the weekly team honor.
Unlike many conferences which announce honor rolls with their awards, that is not the case here, and though early in the week a player may seem like a lock heading for the next set of announcements, a full resume that includes an ensuing game or several games might result in the final sign off to go in a different direction.
That said, a special salute goes to AP preseason All-American and past USBWA multi-winner Hannah Hidalgo for setting the Notre Dame scoring record with 44 points and NCAA steals record at 16 in the Irish win over Akron, who just missed a triple-double with nine boards and is now the only player in the history of the WNBA, NBA, and the NCAA – both genders and all divisions – to have a game of at least 40 points and 15 steals.
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. 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, Nov. 16, the five Ann Meyers Drysdale national women’s honorees of the week are Navy guard Zanai Barnett-Gay, Iowa State center Audi Crooks; Michigan guard Olivia Olson, Washington guard Sayvia Sellers, and West Virginia guard Sydney Shaw.
The Tamika Catchings freshman of the week is Maryland guard Addi Mack, and the National Team of the Week is UCLA.
Barnett-Gay, a 5-8 junior guard from Glenn Dale, Md., and a past USBWA honoree, scored 22 points – 17 in the second half – with eight rebounds as Patriot League favorite Navy at home upset Florida, Sunday, the 69-54 result making it the first win over an opponent from the Southeastern Conference since 1998. On Wednesday, the league’s preseason player of the year had 25 points and 13 boards in a 74-66 win over Longwood. On Monday, she was named the Patriot League’s player of the week.
Crooks, a 6-3 junior center from Algona, Iowa, is being honored for the second straight week in which Iowa State went 2-0 with a 97-50 victory over Valparaiso and a 98-52 triumph over Norfolk State, both in Ames, to move to 5-0 and climb four spots to No. 12 in Monday’s newest Associated Press women’s poll. Against Valparaiso, Crooks set a Cyclones record, scoring a career-high 43 points with seven rebounds, in just 20 minutes playing while ill, shooting 19-23 from the field. She came back against Norfolk State to score a double-double, 19 points and 10 boards, with a perfect 8-for-8 from the field, while teammate Addy Brown had the program’s fourth triple-double with 11 points, 10 boards and 10 assists. On Monday, Crooks picked up another Big 12 Player of the Week award.
Olson, a 6-1 sophomore guard from New Hope, Minn., who leads the team with an 18.7 scoring average over three games, helped ruin then-No. 18 Notre Dame’s appearance in the Shamrock Classic in Detroit on NBC with a lopsided 93-54 victory leading all the way as she scored 20 points with six rebounds and three assists. The outcome enabled the Wolverines to bolt from No. 14 to No. 6 in the new AP Poll, Michigan’s second-highest ranking in the poll’s 50-year history, while Notre Dame plunged to 24th. Michigan on Tuesday hosts Binghamton in the Crisler Center in Ann Arbor Tuesday at 7 p.m. before heading East for a Top 10 showdown in the Basketball Hall of Fame Women’s Showcase against No. 1 UConn at 8 p.m. ET on FOX at the Mohegan Sun, home of the WNBA's Connecticut Sun.
Sellers, a 5-7 junior guard from Anchorage, Alaska, in No. 25 Washington wins 87-56 over Montana at home in Seattle, and 72-61 at Utah in Salt Lake City, had 19 points against the Grizzlies, shooting 8-13 from the field with five assists, and then scored 30 points with four rebounds, two steals and two blocks against the Utes, her second 30-point game on Utah in successive seasons. She’s second on the team in scoring with a 15.3 average. On Monday, Sellers earned her first Big Ten Player of the Week award while Michigan’s Olson was on the weekly honor roll.
Shaw, a 5-9 senior guard from Miami, Fla., who was at Auburn through her enrollment as a sophomore, helped the Mountaineers jump into the AP poll at No. 23 for the first time this season after a 57-49 upset of then-No. 15 Duke at the Greenbrier Tipoff in a game in which only five West Virginia players were able to play the second half, the others, including four starters, were ejected following a melee on the court as the first half closed. Shaw had a game-high 16 points with seven rebounds and on Monday was named to the Big 12’s new weekly starting five. In an 89-61 home win in Morgantown against Temple, a past rival when both were members of the Atlantic 10, Shaw had a double-double with 16 points and 10 rebounds.
Mack, a 5-9 freshman guard from Minneapolis, in an 88-70 victory at home over nearby Towson was 7-for-13, leading to a team-high 15 points, with six assists and three rebounds for the No. 9 Terrapins, who held their ranking this week, and then scored a followup 84-68 home victory over Ivy favorite Princeton in a game in which Mack scored 15 points with six boards, four assists and grabbed two steals in her first career start. On Monday, she was named the Big Ten’s Freshman of the Week to go with her Tamika Catchings National Freshman Player of the Week.
No. 3 UCLA went 3-0 with two ranked wins to earn our USWBA women’s National Team of the Week honor, beating then-No. 6 Oklahoma 73-59 in Sacramento, Calif., then in the WBCA Challenge in Las Vegas, handled then-No. 11 North Carolina 78-60, and American Conference favorite South Florida, 94-61.
In the win over Oklahoma, Angela Dugalic scored 14 points on 5-for-10 from the field, Utah transfer Gianna Kneepkins scored 20, and center Lauren Betts, projected as a potential No. 1 pick next April in the WNBA draft, had nine points, ten boards and four blocks. Against the Tar Heels in the first game in Las Vegas, after trailing 17-12 at the end of the first quarter, Betts was named the most outstanding player with 20 points, 10 rebounds, seven assists, two blocks and a steal. Two days later in beating South Florida, whose coach Jose Fernandez recently left to coach Dallas in the WNBA, Washington State transfer Charlisse Leger-Walker was named the Most Outstanding Player, scoring 16 points on 6-10 from the field, while dealing seven assists, with a block and a steal.
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 2026 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 2025-26 NCAA Women's Final Four in Phoenix.
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.
2025-26 USBWA Women's Weekly Honors
• Week ending Nov. 9: Meghan Andersen, Fairfield; Audi Crooks, Iowa State; Liv McGill, Florida; Taliah Scott, Baylor; Fadima Tall, Princeton (National); Jazzy Davidson, USC (Freshman); UConn (Team).
• Week ending Nov. 16: Zanai Barnett-Gay, Navy; Audi Crooks Iowa State; Olivia Olson, Michigan; Sayvia Sellers, Washington; Sydney Shaw, West Virginia (National); Addi Mack, Maryland (Freshman); UCLA (Team).