INDIANAPOLIS (USBWA) – In many ways as the regular season schedules glide through February to March Madness, the run of games has transformed into showcasing wins leading up to the conference and NCAA tournaments, especially with the dominating number of Power Four teams in the Associated Press women’s poll fighting each other for seeding positions.
A program such as Duke, which started off in the Top 10 and suffered early upsets to quickly slide out of the rankings and earn the major disappointment label in December, has been roaring along with an overall 15-game win streak, its longest mark since former WNBA and Tennessee star Kara Lawson became coach of the Blue Devils. Her team reached No. 11 in this week’s AP poll that continues to celebrate its 50th season.
As for Lawson’s alma mater, the Lady Vols have suffered historic blowout losses on successive Sundays to No. 1 Connecticut and No. 3 South Carolina, causing second-year coach Kim Caldwell to describe her group in postgame press conferences in terms that the late and legendary Pat Summitt never stated when her Top Five teams suffered upsets.
Ultimately, the players make the results that appear on the scoreboards, and even at the mid-major level many are reaching season, career, and program highs that continue to drive healthy attendance numbers and TV viewership ratings three seasons after Iowa sensation Caitlin Clark graduated from the collegiate level.
A shoutout, by the way, to NYU, which Sunday set the Division III win streak record at 82 as the two-time defending national champion Violets roll through their schedule.
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, Feb. 8, the five Ann Meyers Drysdale national women’s honorees of the week are Ohio State guard Jaloni Cambridge; South Carolina forward Joyce Edwards; Marshall guard Timaya Lewis-Eutsey; California guard Gisella Maul; and UCLA guard Kiki Rice. The Tamika Catchings Co-National Freshmen of the Week are Kansas forward Jaliya Davis and Siena guard Francesca Schiro, and the National Team of the Week is North Carolina.
Cambridge, a 5-7 sophomore guard out of Nashville, Tenn., averaged 22.5 points, 6.5 rebounds, and 5.5 assists in a pair of Buckeye conference victories. Ohio State (22-3) moved up a spot to No. 8 in this week’s poll and is getting a rest until Sunday’s visit from No. 20 Maryland. Cambridge, a previous USBWA honoree this season, had 26 points at then-No. 24 Washington in a 70-60 victory, which gave coach Kevin McGuff a 500th career win and a victory over one of his two former teams, Xavier being the other Xavier. That was Cambridge's fourth straight game with a minimal 25 points. On Sunday in an 80-64 win at Oregon, she scored 19 and passed her 1,000th career point.
Edwards, a 6-3 sophomore forward from Camden, S.C., and a past USBWA honoree this season, averaged 23 points, 6.6 rebounds, and 4.6 assists in three Southeastern Conference victories by Dawn Staley’s No. 3 Gamecocks (24-2). In a 71-56 win at Texas A&M, she scored 28 points, followed by 21 points in an 88-45 home win over Mississippi State, shooting 8-for-11 from the field. She added a career-matching six assists as she became the third sophomore in program history to reach 1,000 points, joining Sheila Foster and WNBA superstar A’ja Wilson. On Sunday at home, the SEC Co-Player of the Week scored 20 points in a 93-50 win over then-No. 19 Tennessee on ABC, a worst-ever loss by the Lady Vols, who were held 28 points below their average, and the widest margin of victory ever for South Carolina against a ranked opponent. It was the ninth straight win in the series and 15th since Staley came from Temple to guide the Gamecocks.
Timaya Lewis-Eutsey, a 5-8 senior guard out of Trenton, N.J., and a transfer from VCU, scored a co-leading 17 points in a 69-60 Marshall (20-6, 10-3) win at South Alabama, including 7-of-7 from the line. Then on Saturday in a second-half 88-81 comeback win at Central Michigan, part of the Sun Belt's challenge series with Mid-American Conference teams, Lewis-Eutsey scored a career-high 36 points, shooting 14-of-25 from the field with eight steals. Averaging 18.8 points this season, Lewis-Eutsey and Notre Dame’s Hannah Hidalgo are the only two players this season with 35 points and eight steals in a game, and she’s one of six players with five 30-point games in NCAA Division I. This is Marshall’s second USBWA award. Today, she also picked up another Sun Belt Player of the Week award.
Maul, a 5-11 junior guard from Cedar Park, Texas, and a transfer from Texas, averaged 18.5 points and 12 rebounds with four assists in two ACC road wins by California (15-10, 6-6). In a 63-56 win at Georgia Tech, she hit key shots down the stretch, scoring 10 points in the final period and finishing with 17 points with a career-tying 13 rebounds for her fourth double-double of the season. At Pittsburgh on Sunday in a 95-80 win, Maul picked up one more double-double with a career-high 20 points and 11 rebounds while also matching a personal best with five made 3-pointers.
Rice, a 5-11 senior guard from Bethesda, Md., averaged 18.5 points, 5.5 rebounds, and a pair of assists for No. 2 UCLA (23-1, 13-0) in a pair of Big Ten wins. In an 86-46 blowout of Rutgers, the Big Ten Co-Player of the Week scored 17 points with seven rebounds and went on to score 20 points on the road Sunday in a narrow 69-66 victory at then-No. 8 Michigan, snapping the Wolverines’ record nine-game Big Ten win streak. The Bruins’ only loss has been to No. 4 Texas in November in Las Vegas.
Davis, a 6-2 forward from Overland Park, Kan., who on Monday tied former Kansas State star Ayoka Lee with her sixth straight Big 12 Freshman of the Week honor, twice scored 28 points in a pair of Kansas (15-10, 5-8) home wins. The first came by 81-60 over BYU where Davis also had a career-high 12 boards for her first double-double in the season. She shot 11-of-14 from the field and 6-of-9 on the line against the Cougars. She reached the point total again Saturday night as the Jayhawks won 80-71 over Cincinnati. She has had 11 games with 20+ performances, including five in the last six contests.
Schiro, a 5-7 guard out of Hillsborough, N.J., averaged 22.5 points, 7.5 rebounds, and 6.5 assists in a pair of wins by Siena (11-12, 9-5) in the Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference (MAAC) to earn conference Freshman of the Week honors. In a 75-62 road win over Saint Peter’s, she shot 7-for-15 from the field scoring 21 points, grabbing nine boards, and dishing out four assists. On Sunday, in a 91-72 win at Manhattan she was 6-for-13 from the field a perfect 3-for-3 from deep scoring 24 against the Jaspers with six rebounds and nine assists.
North Carolina (20-5, 9-3), our team of the week, has also gotten hot in the ACC, winning three more games, two on the road, to make it seven straight and moving up four spots to No. 21 in Monday’s AP Poll. At rival NC State, the Tar Heels edged the Wolfpack 61-59 as Lanie Grant scored 10 of her 18 points in the third quarter and Indya Grant rebounded her missed foul shot in the closing seconds. Next came a 53-44 home win over Clemson as Nyla Harris shot 7-of-13 from the field and finished with 17 points, 10 rebounds and a pair of steals. That marked UNC's 10th straight win in the series. Coach Courtney Banghart finished the week guiding the team Sunday to a lopsided 84-56 win at Wake Forest as Nyla Brooks scored 21 points, Harris scored 19 and UNC broke from an early 9-6 deficit on a 16-0 run with a pair of shots from deep from Brooks and Grant to take control the rest of the way.
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, Southern Cal (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, Connecticut; 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 Jacquez, 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).
• Week ending Dec. 14: Raegan Beers, Oklahoma; Madison Booker, Texas; Audi Crooks, Iowa State; Cassandre Prosper, Notre Dame; Fadima Tall, Princeton (National). Kamryn McLaurin, Houston Christian; Mia Pauldo, Tennessee (Freshman); Arizona State (Team).
• Week ending Dec. 21: Audi Crooks, Iowa State; Joyce Edwards, South Carolina; Hannah Hidalgo, Notre Dame; Olivia Miles, TCU, Sarah Strong, UConn (National); Lauren Whittaker, Gonzaga (Freshman); Texas Tech (Team).
• Week ending Jan. 4: Mikayla Blakes, Vermont; Avery Howell, Washington; Tonie Morgan, Kentucky; Nikola Priede, Vermont; Taliah Scott, Baylor (National); Uche Izoje, Syracuse (Freshman); Duke (Team).
• Week ending Jan. 11: Jaloni Cambridge, Ohio State; Maggie Doogan, Richmond; Bailey Maupin, Texas Tech; Cassandre Prosper, Notre Dame; Kadida Toure, Long Island U (National); Mia Pauldo, Tennessee (Freshman); Vanderbilt (Team).
• Week ending Jan. 18: Dani Carnegi, Georgia; Dominique Darius, Syracuse; Stailee Heard, Oklahoma State; Nasi Simmons, Columbua; Hannah Stuelke, Iowa (National); Zahara Bishop, Seton Hall (Freshman); Louisville (Team).
• Week ending Jan. 25: Zoe Brooks, NC State; Cotie McMahon, Ole Miss; Kennedie Shuler, Oregon State; Tristen Taylor, Temple; Riley Weiss, Columbia (National); Aaliyah Chavez, Oklahoma (Freshman); Iowa (Team).
• Week ending Feb. 1: Taylee Chirrick, Montana State; Audi Crooks, Iowa State; Sayvia Sellers, Washington; Clara Strack, Kentucky; Sarah Strong, UConn (National); Jazzy Davidson, USC (Freshman); George Mason (Team).
• Week ending Feb. 8: Jaloni Cambridge, Ohio State; Joyce Edwards, South Carolina; Timaya Lewis-Eutsey, Marshall; Gisella Maul, California; Kiki Rice, UCLA (National); Jaliya Davis, Kansas; Francesca Schiro, Siena (Freshmen); North Carolina (Team).