INDIANAPOLIS (USBWA) – Lots of activity marked the past week with the annual two-night ACC/SEC Challenge that landed in a 13-3 lopsided result in the direction of the SEC.
Among the highlights, Tennessee’s slim win at Stanford to factored into the SEC total and kept the Lady Vols in the Associated Press women’s poll, and on Monday, the 891st week in the 50th anniversary season, they became the first to reach 800 appearances. Top-ranked UConn, the defending NCAA champion, hosted a pregame ceremony prior to its taking on Big East rival DePaul at its Gampel Pavilion to honor its storied past by retiring the jersey of all-time great Sue Bird.
In the Philadelphia region, Villanova captured the championship of the Big 5 Classic beating archrival Saint Joseph’s after Penn beat La Salle for fifth place and Drexel topped Temple for third. In a classic high-scoring game to remember, No. 7 Maryland scored 10 points in the final minute of play to rally and win its Big Ten opener at Minnesota, 100-99, in double overtime. The new AP Women's Poll for the week had nine Big Ten teams as the conference tied its own record set in the fifth week of last season.
There are a handful of spotlight games the next two weeks as the country comes to a near dead stop as athletes trade in their court skills to show their prowess in the classroom during finals period. It’s the more challenging stretch naming weekly award winners because there will be fewer multiple games for players to differentiate themselves, and many teams won’t return to action until after this weekend.
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, Dec. 7, the five Ann Meyers Drysdale national women’s honorees of the week are UCLA center Lauren Betts; Fairfield guard Kaety L’Amoreaux; North Texas forward Megan Nestor; South Carolina center Madina Okot; Michigan guard Olivia Olson.
The Tamika Catchings freshman of the week is Oklahoma guard Aaliyah Chavez, and the team of the week is Villanova.
Betts, a 6-7 senior center out of Centennial, Colo., and reigning USBWA All-American, had a season high 24 points with 14 rebounds and five blocks in No. 4 UCLA’s Big Ten opener at home, an 80-59 romp over previously unbeaten Oregon. Betts is currently 13th in the nation in both rebounding (7.8) and blocked shots (2.3). An earlier USBWA weekly honoree this season, on Monday she was named the Big Ten's Player of the Week.
L’Amoreux, a 5-6 junior guard out of Endwell, Maine, averaged 27 points with 6.5 rebounds with three assists and 4.5 steals in a 1-1 week for the two-time Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference defending champions. Fairfield, the MAAC preseason favorites, had a dominant win at Atlantic 10 favorite Richmond. L'Amoreux is currently 25th in the nation with a 19.9 scoring average. She was named MAAC Player of the Week.
Nestor, a 6-4 senior forward out of Canaries, St. Lucia, collected 34 points and grabbed 31 rebounds in North Texas’ game against Texas Southern. It’s the first 30-30 game nationally since 2019 and only the third since 1981. The rebounds set the American Conference single-game record that made her an easy choice for the conference's Player of the Week. Her two-game average was 20 points and 19 boards. In her record-setter, 15 of the 31 rebounds were on the offensive glass. Nestor is currently fifth in the nation with a 12.1 rebounding average.
Okot, a 6-6 senior center out of Mumias, Kenya, produced another SEC triumph over an ACC squad scoring 23 points and grabbing 12 rebounds in No. 3 South Carolina's win at No. 22 Louisville. The SEC Player of the Week also had 10 points and nine rebounds in the 106-42 home triumph Sunday over N.C. Central before leaving in the first half with an injury. Afterwards, head coach Dawn Staley said her star center was filling ill. Okot is 11th in the nation with an 11.2 rebounding average.
Olson, a 6-1 sophomore guard for the No. 6 Wolverines, picked up her second weekly USBWA award of the season. In a home win over Central Michigan Olson posted season-highs of 21 points and 11 boards and then came right back in Michigan’s 104-56 Big Ten opening home win over Purdue scoring 26 points with seven rebounds and five assists.
Chavez, a 5-10 freshman guard out of Lubbock, Texas, gave the SEC another win over the ACC group scoring a season-high 33 points in Oklahoma’s 103-98 home overtime win over N.C. State. The 33 points bested the 29 she scored in a previous 109-91 win over Florida State in a tournament. In this past Sunday’s 90-37 home win over Maryland-Eastern Shore, she added 14 points with four makes from deep, grabbed five rebounds and dealt four assists. Today, she was named the SEC Freshman of the Week.
Villanova had one of its best weeks in three seasons since scoring sensation Maddy Siegrist graduated and moved on to the WNBA as the third overall pick of the Dallas Wings. The Wildcats pulled a stunning 81-59 upset at then-No. 25 West Virginia, opened Big East play by winning 76-69 at Georgetown, and then won the championship of the Big 5 Classic at home beating nearby Saint Joseph’s, 76-70. Brynn McCurry had a career-high 21 points in the first game, scored 20 on the Hoyas and then came back with 21 more on the Hawks to win the title game's MVP honors. She earned the Big East's Player of the Week nod on Monday. Jasmine Bascoe averaged 21 points across the three games.
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).
• Week ending Nov. 23: Maggie Doogan, Richmond; Azzi Fudd, UConn; Ava Heiden, Iowa; Ta’Niya Latson, South Carolina; Clara Strack, Kentucky (National); Lara Somfai, Stanford (Freshman); Rhode Island (Team).
• Week ending Nov. 30: Mikayla Blakes, Vanderbilt; Audi Crooks, Iowa State; Sharnecce Currie-Jelks, Murray State; Gabriela Jaquez, UCLA; Indya Nivar, North Carolina (National). Madison Francis, Mississippi State (Freshman); Texas (Team).
• Week ending Dec. 7: Lauren Betts, UCLA; Kaety L’Amoreaux, Fairfield; Megan Nestor, North Texas; Medina Okot, South Carolina; Olivia Olson, Michigan (National); Aaliyah Chavez, Oklahoma (Freshman); Villanova (Team).