SOUTH DAKOTA’S LARKINS HEADLINES USBWA WOMEN’S WEEKLY HONORS

SOUTH DAKOTA’S LARKINS HEADLINES USBWA WOMEN’S WEEKLY HONORS

INDIANAPOLIS (USBWA) – If there were a team of the day award, not counting the one-game weeks during finals and the year-end holidays, Pitt (9-9, 1-4) would easily be the winner off Sunday’s NCAA record-tying 32-point comeback at home in the Steel City to beat new ACC member SMU 72-59 on 22 points from Mikayla Johnson and 21 from Khadija Faye. “It’s not me,” Panthers coach Tory Verdi told The Associated Press. “Our kids did this. They deserve this.”

Though the focus in the race for the national title is centering on eight teams in the Power Four and Connecticut in the Big East, performances among the mid-majors continue to attract their share of attention also and there was a fair share in the past seven days.

The USBWA women’s awards, organized under Mel Greenberg, the USBWA Vice President for women’s basketball, are chosen 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, Jan. 12, the five Ann Meyers Drysdale national women’s honorees of the week are Navy guard Zanai Barnett-Gay; Oklahoma State guard Stailee Heard; Notre Dame forward Liatu King; South Dakota guard Grace Larkins; USC guard JuJu Watkins; the Tamika Catchings National Freshman of the Week is Quinnipiac guard Gal Raviv; and the National Team of the Week is South Carolina.

Barnett-Gay, a 5-8 sophomore guard out of Glenn Dale, Md., who was also a USBWA weekly winner last season, averaged 20.5 points in two wins at home, continuing to help the Midshipmen (12-3, 4-0) off to a great overall start as well in the Patriot League, which she leads with a 19.7 average. In a 67-56 upset of defending league champion Holy Cross she scored 13 points, with 11 boards and three assists. On the weekend in a comeback on Loyola, Md., featuring a 13-0 finish, she shot 9-17 from the field, including three makes from deep, 7-8 from the line for 28 points with six steals.

Heard, a 5-11 sophomore guard from Salpulpa, Okla., scored 21 points with 13 rebounds and five steals in a 64-48 win at Cincinnati and helped the Cowgirls (14-2, 4-1) complete a two-game Big 12 sweep with a 64-57 upset of then-No. 17 West Virginia at home in Gallagher-Iba Arena by scoring 18 points. She leads the team with a 14.9 average with 23 steals and on Monday Oklahoma State re-entered The Associated Press women’s poll for the first time since 2018.

Third-ranked Notre Dame makes some USBWA history with the selection of King, a 6-0 graduate forward and transfer from Pitt out of Washington, D.C. Following earlier awards this season to Olive Miles, Sonia Citron, freshman Kate Koval, and Hannah Hidalgo, it’s the first time five members overall, four on the national list, from the same team have been honored the same season. With sophomore Hidalgo missing her first career game after rolling an ankle in the previous 100-64 win at Wake Forest, King took over the lions’ share of the offense for the Irish in Sunday’s 67-58 win at Clemson, scoring 23 points with 11 boards, 11 points in the fourth quarter, shooting 10-14 from the field. Coach Niele Ivey also praised King’s defense: “I had her guarding guards at times because they play four guards, and she was tremendous.” At Wake Forest, King was 8-13 from the field for 17 points with six rebounds, four assists, two steals and three blocks.

Larkins, a 5-9 senior guard from Altoona, Iowa, after tying her career-high with 34 points in a win at St. Thomas (Minn.), she shattered three South Dakota scoring records in a home win over Omaha collecting 45 points, shooting 19-32 with six assists, and 13 rebounds at Sanford Coyote Sports Center in Vermillion, S.D. “Grace is probably one of the most unselfish kids I’ve ever coached,” said Coyotes coach Carrie Eighmey. “We told her to keep attacking and that’s what she did.” On Monday, Larkins received her second straight Summit League player of the week. She’s currently fourth in the nation with a 24.7 average.

Watkins, a 6-2 sophomore guard from Los Angeles who is third in the nation in scoring (25.5), and who was the USBWA Tamika Catchings National Freshman of the Year, setting the rookie scoring record with 920 points, gets her third Ann Meyers Drysdale weekly honor this season after scoring 21 points and getting nine boards at No. 8 Maryland followed by Sunday’s 35 points, shooting a career-high 13-15 as No. 4 USC (16-1, 6-0 Big Ten) beat Penn State 95-73 at home in the Galen Center for its best start since 1993-94. The game was one of the first sporting events after the wildfires started Tuesday in Los Angeles. “Vibes are kind of down here in L.A., so our goal was to put on a show and entertain people for a couple of hours,” Watkins said.

Raviv, a 5-9 guard from Kadima, Israel, for Quinnipiac (14-1, 6-0 MAAC) has the Bobcats revitalized with earlier non-conference wins over Ivy powers Princeton and Harvard and soon heading Jan. 30 for the first of two MAAC home-and-home showdowns, this one at defending champion Fairfield. In a 66-58 win at Siena, she had 13 points and then Saturday at home in a 66-58 late rally home win over Iona at M&T Bank Arena in Hamden, Conn., she had 17 points and shot 53.3 from the floor. She leads the team with a 15.5 scoring average. “She wants that responsibility,” veteran Quinnipiac coach Trish Fabbri said Saturday. “She really took over when a bucket was needed. She picked them apart, I’m happy for her.” On Monday she received her fifth MAAC freshman weekly award.

No. 2 South Carolina (16-1, 4-0) has been rolling since the defending NCAA champions early non-conference loss at UCLA that enabled the Bruins to leap over the Gamecocks to No.1. Early last week, the first game since losing Ashlyn Watkins to a season-ending injury, Dawn Staley’s bunch beat Texas A&M 90-49 as freshman Joyce Edwards scored 19 points with 10 boards, MiLaysia Fulwiley scored 17 points with six rebounds, and Te-Hina Paopao dealt six assists. Then at home in Columbia at Colonial Life Arena at the start of five straight ranked SEC opponents, a sellout crowd of 18,000 watched as S.C. brought down then-No. 5 Texas 67-50, as Chloe Kitts and Edwards each scored 10 points. Raven Johnson had eight points and ten boards. The Gamecocks are the only team with 13 wins against Division I Teams with winning records. The next four opponents are at Alabama, hosting Oklahoma, which came to the SEC with Texas from the Big 12, hosting LSU, and at Tennessee.

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 2025 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 NCAA Women’s Final Four in Tampa.

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.

2024-25 USBWA Women’s Weekly Honors
• Week ending Nov. 10: Destiny Adams, Rutgers; Raegan Beers, Oklahoma; Lauren Betts, UCLA; Diamond Johnson, Norfolk State; Olivia Miles, Notre Dame; (National); Syla Swords, Michigan (Freshman); Oregon (Team).
• Week ending Nov. 17: Paige Bueckers, Connecticut; Hayley Cavinder, Miami; Talaysia Cooper, Tennessee; Jordyn Jenkins, UTSA; Harmoni Turner, Harvard (National); Kate Koval, Notre Dame (Freshman); TCU (Team).
• Week ending Nov. 24: Hannah Hidalgo, Notre Dame; Lauren Jensen, Creighton; Maya McDermott, Northern Iowa; Rose Micheaux, Virginia Tech; Sarah Strong, Connecticut (National); Toby Fournier, Duke (Freshman); UCLA (Team).
• Week ending Dec. 1: Ta’Niya Latson, Florida State; Aneesah Morrow, LSU; Hailey Van Lith (TCU), Sedona Prince (TCU); Clara Strack, Kentucky (National); Justice Carlton, Texas (Freshman); Duke (Team).
• Week ending Dec. 8: Sonia Citron, Notre Dame; Tiarra East, Temple; Emma Ronsiek, Colorado State; JuJu Watkins, Southern Cal; Mikaylah Williams, LSU (National); Sarah Miller, Penn (Freshman); South Carolina, Tennessee (Team).
• Week ending Dec. 15: Hannah Hidalgo, Notre Dame; S’Mya Nichols, Kansas; Khamil Pierre, Vanderbilt; Marta Suarez, California; Serah Williams, Wisconsin (National); Kiyomi McMiller, Rutgers (Freshman); Georgia Tech (Team).
• Week ending Dec. 22: Madison Conner, TCU; Frida Formann, Colorado; Sammie Puisis, South Florida; JuJu Watkins, USC; Laura Ziegler, Saint Joseph’s (National); Lanie Grant, North Carolina (Freshman); Alabama (Team).
• Week ending Dec. 29: Kara Dunn, Georgia Tech; Elle Ladine, Washington; Olivia Miles, Notre Dame; Kaylene Smikle, Maryland; JuJu Watkins, USC (National); Tori McKinney, Minnesota (Freshman); Norfolk State (Team).
• Week ending Jan. 5: Georgia Amoore, Kentucky; Lauren Betts, UCLA; Katie Dinnebier, Drake; Ta’Niya Latson, Florida State; Faith Masonius, Seton Hall (National); Jordan Lee, Texas (Freshman); Clemson (Team).
• Week ending Jan. 12: Zanai Barnett-Gay, Navy; Stailee Heard, Oklahoma State; Liatu King, Notre Dame; Grace Larkins, South Dakota; JuJu Watkins, USC (National); Gal Raviv, Quinnipiac (Freshman); South Carolina (Team).