These women’s basketball players posted big-time performances and were named to the NCAA.com starting five this week.
Caitlin Clark, Iowa
National Player of the Year candidate, Caitlin Clark led Iowa to a pair of road wins at Northwestern and Maryland last week, averaging 36.5 points, 11.0 assists and 6.0 rebounds per game. She also became the Big Ten Conference’s all-time leading scorer and moved to No. 2 all-time on the NCAA’s all-time scoring list.
On Saturday, Iowa snapped its seven-game losing streak at the Xfinity Center with a 93-85 victory over Maryland as Clark recorded 38 points, a season-high 12 assists, and six rebounds. She now has 16 career games with 30-plus points and 10-plus assists. No one in college women’s basketball in the past 25 seasons has had more than two such games. The win improved Iowa to 21-2 on the season, matching the start of the 1995-96 season. The Hawkeyes are now 7-1 against the Associated Press Top 25 and teams receiving votes this season.
Against Northwestern on Jan. 31, Iowa rolled to a 110-74 road victory as Clark had a game-high 35 points, 10 assists and six rebounds and became the Big Ten Conference’s all-time leading scorer and moved up to No. 2 on the NCAA’s all-time scoring list surpassing Jackie Stiles (Missouri State) and Kelsey Mitchell (Ohio State).
Clark has now scored 25-plus points, dished out five-plus assists, and added five-plus rebounds in 11 out of the last 12 games. The All-American is the first Division-I player in men’s or women’s college basketball to record 3,300-plus points, 950-plus assists, and 850-plus rebounds in a career. Clark is now second on the NCAA’s all-time scoring list, 66 points shy of Kelsey Plum (3,527 points). Clark is averaging a Division I-best 32.4 points per game while shooting 40.1 percent from 3-point range.
The second-ranked Hawkeyes, 10-1 in Big Ten play, will next host Penn State on Thursday, Feb. 8, before traveling to play at Nebraska on Sunday, Feb. 11.
Aaliyah Edwards, UConn
UConn senior forward Aaliyah Edwards averaged 27.5 points and 10.0 rebounds per game while shooting 63.6% from the field in two Big East Conference wins last week.
Big day for Big Li‼️
– career-high 33 points
– 60 FG%
– 13 rebounds
– 4 steals
– 10th double-double of the season pic.twitter.com/pVmnHe88XS— UConn Women’s Basketball (@UConnWBB) February 5, 2024
At Villanova on Jan. 31, Edwards led the way with 22 points and seven rebounds, connecting on 9 of 13 shots from the field as the Huskies ran away for an 81-60 win.
Edwards had a career-high 33 points and a season-high 13 rebounds while tying her career-high with four steals in a 68-53 win over St. John’s on Sunday. It was her Big East-leading 10th double-double of the season.
The 11th-ranked Huskies, 19-4 overall and 11-0 in Big East play, have a big week ahead. Head coach Geno Auriemma will seek a win over Seton Hall on Wednesday, Feb. 7, before UConn travels to No. 1 South Carolina (21-0) on Sunday, Feb. 11.
Summah Evans, Mercer
Summah Evans of Mercer scored a career-high 35 points and Mercer exploded for a season-high 87 points as the Bears defeated Samford, 87-59 on Saturday.
A senior forward from Cairns, Australia, Evans scored inside and out against Samford, going 14-for-20 (70.0%) from the field and 5-for-8 (62.5%) from the three-point range, while also pulling down a team-best six rebounds, two blocks and a pair of assists. Evans scored 21 points on 8-for-10 shooting in the first half alone of that contest and then added 14 more points in 15 minutes of action in the second half. The 35-point night surpassed her previous career-high of 26 points which she set earlier this season against Kennesaw State.
A career high 35 point performance on 70% shooting 😮💨
Shots were falling for Summah against Samford!#Unity pic.twitter.com/2w8gZsyUrX
— Mercer Women’s Basketball (@Mercer_WBB) February 5, 2024
Evans leads Mercer in scoring this season at 13.9 points per game, playing in 10 games for the Bears.
Mercer, 9-14 overall and 3-4 in Southern Conference play, returns to action on Thursday, Feb. 8 at home against East Tennessee State.
Taiyanna Jackson, Kansas
Kansas super-senior center Taiyanna Jackson averaged 22.5 points, 15.5 rebounds and 4.0 blocks per game in two games, connecting on 18-of-27 field goal attempts as the Jayhawks scored wins over BYU and TCU.
A native of East Chicago, Indiana, Jackson started the week with 25 points and 20 rebounds on Jan. 31 in a 67-53 home win over BYU. It was the first 20-point, 20-rebound game by a Kansas player since 2015 and the eighth in Division I women’s basketball this season. It was Jackson’s ninth double-double of the season and 36th of her career, which matches Vickie Adkins for third-most in Kansas women’s basketball history.
Jackson followed that performance by going for 20 points and nine rebounds at TCU on Saturday night as the Jayhawks claimed their first conference road win of the season, 81-74 at TCU. She shot 8-of-11 from the field and finished one rebound shy of a second double-double for the week while adding three blocked shots in 27 minutes of play.
Kansas, 12-10 overall and 5-6 in Big 12 Conference play, will return to action on Thursday, Feb. 8 at home versus Houston.
JuJu Watkins, USC
USC freshman sensation JuJu Watkins tallied 80 points as the Trojans swept a pair of road games at Stanford and California.
JUJUUUUU 🔥 https://t.co/NA9LsTHOAY
— USC Women’s Basketball (@USCWBB) February 5, 2024
Watkins scored a USC-record 51 points at No. 4 Stanford which was the most by any player in the nation this season, almost outscoring the Cardinal by herself in the 67-58 victory on Feb. 2. Watkins’ 51 points were the most-ever surrendered by the Cardinal and marked the first win for USC at Stanford’s Maples Pavilion since the 2000-01 season. The win snapped Stanford’s 27-game Pac-12 Conference home win streak. Watkins added 11 rebounds, for her fourth double-double of the season.
Two days later, Watkins scored 29 points, dished out five assists and was credited with four steals as USC rallied from 13 points down to defeat California, 79-69. The win marked the first time this season that the Trojans have come back to win after trailing entering the fourth period.
Watkins, who averages 27.3 points per game, has now tallied seven games this season with 30-or-more points — the most such outings by a Trojan since Cherie Nelson had eight as a senior in 1988-89.
Watkins and the Women of Troy, 16-4 overall and 6-4 in the Pac-12, are back at Galen Center this week to host the Arizona schools. USC first faces Arizona State on Friday, Feb. 9 before a Monday, Feb. 12 meeting with Arizona.