USC’S WATKINS HEADLINES USBWA WOMEN’S WEEKLY HONORS

INDIANAPOLIS (USBWA) – It’s that rare time on the calendar where the close of the front end of the season occurs just short of Christmas Eve and the ensuing holiday with no games scheduled moving forward until the weekend when conference play begins to get under way.

The final activity in the last several days provided plenty to choose for the latest several awards including one dynamite attraction that had all the elements of a Women’s Final Four sneak preview.

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. 22, the five Ann Meyers Drysdale national women’s honorees of the week are TCU guard Madison Conner; Colorado Guard Frida Formann; South Florida guard Sammie Puisis; USC guard JuJu Watkins; and Saint Joseph’s forward Laura Ziegler. The Tamika Catchings Freshman of the Week is North Carolina guard Lanie Grant and the National Team of the Week is Alabama.

Connor, a 5-11 senior guard from Chandler, Ariz., averaged 28.5 points with 5.5 rebounds and 4.5 assists in two wins by No. 11 TCU (12-1), the first at home, 103-64 over Samford and then a Big 12 opener, 92-52, at UCF. In each game she got 20 of her points in the first half while shooting 50 percent from deep. She finished with 33 points and eight makes beyond the arc in the first game and, in the second, she had 24 points and four from deep in what was TCU’s largest victory margin in a Big 12 road game. On Monday, the Horned Frogs moved up a spot in the AP women’s poll and Connor, who leads the nation with 53 three-pointers, was named Big 12 Player of the Week.

Formann, a past USBWA recipient with Colorado (10-2) and a 5-11 graduate guard from Bagsvaerd, Denmark, one of two Danes being honored this week, keyed a Big 12 opening upset of West Virginia 65-60 at home in Boulder, shooting 8-14 from the field, 4-8 from deep, scoring 22 points.

Puisis, a 6-1 graduate guard from Mason, Ohio, who previously played at Florida State, leads the Bulls (7-6) and came up huge in a 65-56 upset of then- No. 9 Duke with a game-high 23 points at home in the Yuengling Center in Tampa. She was a perfect 8-8 from the line. Earlier in the week in a 71-36 win over Northwestern State she scored 12 points. “If we don’t play the schedule we’ve played, we don’t win this game,” USF coach Jose Fernandez said of the upset. On Monday, Puisis was named the American Athletic Conference Player of the Week.

Watkins, last season’s USBWA Tamika Catchings Freshman of the Year and a 6-2 sophomore guard from Los Angeles, in USC’s first-ever win (72-70) over then-No. 4 Connecticut, scored 25 points extending her double-digit scoring totals to 12 games, shooting 9-16 against the host Huskies, including 3-4 on attempts from deep, with six boards, five assists, a steal and three blocks. Her 24.8 scoring average is third in the nation. On Monday the Trojans (11-1) jumped from seventh to fourth in the AP women’s poll, and Watkins was named Big Ten Player of the Week.

Ziegler, a 6-2 junior forward at Saint Joseph’s (9-2) from Herlev, Denmark, was the most outstanding player at her team’s Hawk Classic as the Hawks beat Howard 69-53 and Charleston 59-54 to claim the title. In the win over the Bison, she claimed her second triple double in less than a month with 10 points, 11 rebounds, and 10 assists. In the title game, she scored 23 points with 13 rebounds.

Grant, a 5-9 freshman guard from Midlothian, Virginia, averaged 14 points and four rebounds in a 77-57 win by the Tar Heels (12-2) over Florida in the Jumpman Invitational in Charlotte, N.C., and over Norfolk State 90-47 at home Saturday in Chapel Hill. On Monday, UNC moved up two spots to 17th in the AP women’s poll.

Alabama (12-1) won two games in the West Palm Beach Classic in Florida, upsetting then-No. 15 Michigan State, 82-67, and then beat Atlantic 10 defending champion Richmond, 75-68. The double triumphs enabled the Crimson Tide to surge back into the AP Poll at No. 20. In the win over the Spartans, Aaliyah Nye scored 18 points,  Zaay Green scored 17, and Essence Cody scored 16 points.  Sarah Ashlee Barker was 7-15 from the field, and 8-9 on the line for 23 points against the Spiders, while Nye was 5-9, include 4-7 from deep, for 14 points, Cody matched those total points, while Green and Karly Weathers each scored 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 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).