INDIANAPOLIS (USBWA) For the season's fourteenth and final season weekly honorees for games ending Sunday, March 6, the U.S. Basketball Writers Association Ann Meyers Drysdale Women's National Player of the Week goes to Kentucky forward Dre'Una Edwards, the organization's Tamika Catchings women's rookie player honor goes to Princeton guard Kaitlyn Chen, and the USBWA women's team citation goes to Kentucky.
Edwards, a 6-2 redshirt junior forward from Compton Calif., and Pac-12 freshman of the year at Utah before transferring to Kentucky, led the Wildcats in scoring with 27 points, including the three-point game-winner with seconds remaining to stun top-ranked South Carolina in the Southeastern Conference title game. She also added nine rebounds in the title contest. She scored eight points and added seven rebounds in the upset of Tennessee, recorded 13 points and 10 rebounds in the upset of LSU, and 18 points and 14 rebounds in the win over Mississippi State for a four-game average of 16.5 points and 10.0 rebounds for the tournament.
Chen, a 5-9 sophomore guard by class from San Marino, Calif., but a rookie by eligibility, helped Princeton finish with a second straight unbeaten 14-0 regular season Ivy League title while earning her third straight rookie award from the league. She averaged 11.5 points in two games, scoring 11 points, collecting five rebounds, and dealing five assists at home in Jadwin Gym to beat local rival Penn and claim a third straight outright crown. Up at Harvard, she scored 12 points, grabbed seven rebounds, and dealt four assists to help former UConn star Carla Berube's squad make Ivy history by finishing the league season perfect at 14-0 for a second straight time. The Tigers (22-4), who claimed the 24th spot in Monday's Associated Press poll, return to Harvard's Lavietes Pavilion on Friday to the four-team Ivy Madness playoffs in a semifinal match with the host Crimson squad. The championship against Columbia or Yale will be Saturday evening for an automatic bid to the NCAA tournament.
Kentucky (19-11), coached by former Tennessee star Kyra Elzy, finished the regular season on a 10-game winning streak, causing as a No. 7 seed several upsets in the Southeastern Conference tournament in Nashville, including upending second-seeded and then-sixth-ranked LSU. 78-63; third-seeded and No. 18 ranked Tennessee, 83-74, and top-seeded and top-ranked South Carolina, 64-62, on Edwards' three-pointer just before time expired. The Wildcats, unranked prior to the SEC Tournament, jump back into the AP Poll at a tie for 15th.
Each week awards have gone to the Ann Meyers Drysdale Women's national player, the organization's Tamika Catchings freshman player, and the USBWA's women's national team of the week. The pool of candidates have been drawn from the weekly conference citations as well as at-large additions involving an expanded governing panel focusing on women's basketball, headed by vice-president Mel Greenberg.
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 this is the first season the national and weekly freshman award is being given in the name of former Tennessee all-American Tamika Catchings.
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 2022 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 2022 NCAA Women's Final Four in Minneapolis.
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.
2021-22 USBWA Women's Weekly Honors
Week ending Dec. 5: Teisha Hyman, Syracuse (National); Shayeann Day-Wilson, Duke
(Freshman); Duke (Team)
· Week ending Dec.
12: Maddy Siegrist, Villanova (National); Aneesah Morrow, DePaul (Freshman); Georgia
Tech (Team)
· Week ending Dec. 19: Haley Jones,
Stanford (National); Laila Phelia, Michigan (Freshman); Michigan (Team)
·
Week ending Dec. 26: Destanni Henderson, South Carolina
(National); Rori Harmon, Texas (Freshman); South Carolina (Team)
·
Week ending Jan. 2: Ayoka Lee, Kansas State (National);
Kelbie Washington, Oklahoma (Freshman); Missouri (Team)
·
Week ending Jan. 9: Jaylyn Sherrod, Colorado (National);
Alexis Markowski, Nebraska (Freshman); Colorado (Team)
·
Week ending Jan. 16: Caitlin Clark, Iowa (National);
Aaliyah Collins, Chicago State (Freshman); Oklahoma and Oregon (Team)
·
Week ending Jan. 23: Ayoka Lee, Kansas State (National);
Alberte Rimdal, Florida (Freshman); Ole Miss (Team)
·
Week ending Jan. 30: Naz Hillmon, Michigan (National);
Aneesah Morrow, DePaul (Freshman); Drexel (Team)
·
Week ending Feb. 6: Jasmine Dickey, Delaware (National);
Azzi Fudd, UConn (Freshman); Michigan (Team)
·
Week ending Feb. 13: Maddy Siegrist, Villanova (National);
Aneesah Morrow, DePaul (Freshman); Villanova (Team)
·
Week ending Feb. 20: Aliyah Boston, South Carolina (National);
Aneesah Morrow, DePaul (Freshman); North Carolina (Team)
·
Week ending Feb. 27: Caitlin Clark, Iowa (National);
Aneesah Morrow, DePaul (Freshman); Stanford (Team)
·
Week ending March 6: Dre'Una Edwards, Kentucky (National);
Kaitlyn Chen, Princeton (Freshman); Kentucky (Team)
All-time USBWA Women's
National Weekly Honors (Since 2011-12)