Women’s College Basketball Players Rankings – Class by Class! Week 2

rennia davis of Tennessee
~ Aneela Khan ~ Leave a comment

It has been an interesting week from the previous week. It’s still very early in the women’s college basketball season to see which teams will be good or bad this season. The rankings have changed from Week 1 because certain players have stepped up for their respective teams and in these rankings, winning matters. Some teams had a great week and some teams were upset this week. It definitely makes things interesting moving forward.

Listed below are the top 36 seniors, the top 27 juniors, the top 18 sophomores and the top 9 freshmen for the week of Nov. 11th to Nov. 17th. If this is your first time looking at these rankings and you have some questions, please read the Frequently Asked Questions page. Click here for last week’s rankings.

SENIORS

  1. Sabrina Ionescu – Oregon
  2. Ruthy Hebard – Oregon
  3. Beatrice Mompremier – Miami
  4. Mikayla Pivec – Oregon State
  5. Ciara Duffy – South Dakota
  6. Te’a Cooper – Baylor
  7. Alexa Willard – Missouri State
  8. Ae’Rianna Harris – Purdue
  9. Mikiah Herbert Harrigan – South Carolina
  10. Nausia Woolfolk – Florida State
  11. Taiye Bello – Minnesota
  12. Jazmine Jones – Louisville
  13. Tyasha Harris – South Carolina
  14. Kianna Ray – TCU
  15. Dee Givens – Western Kentucky
  16. Taryn McCutcheon – Michigan State
  17. Jade Philips – Charlotte
  18. Kamiah Smalls – James Madison
  19. Kristen Spolyar – Butler
  20. Theresa Onwuka – Buffalo
  21. Rebekah Hand – Marist
  22. Mariella Fasoula – Vanderbilt
  23. Rachel Thompson – Colgate
  24. Nicea Eliely – Nebraska
  25. Stella Johnson – Rider
  26. Mariane De Carvalho – Kansas
  27. Aliyah Jeune – USC
  28. Quinessa Caylao-Do – Colorado
  29. Grace Hunter – NC State
  30. Braydey Hodgins – Boise State
  31. Jaide Hinds-Clarke – Richmond
  32. Jasmine LeBlanc – Troy
  33. Katarina Zec – UTEP
  34. Kai Moon – Binghamton
  35. Marie Benson – UT Arlington
  36. Breanna Wright – Abilene Christian

JUNIORS

  1. Rennia Davis – Tennessee
  2. Aari McDonald – Arizona
  3. Chennedy Carter – Texas A&M
  4. Chelsea Dungee – Arkansas
  5. Megan Walker – Connecticut
  6. Destiny Slocum – Oregon State
  7. Ciera Johnson – Texas A&M
  8. Janelle Bailey – North Carolina
  9. Kysre Gondrezick – West Virginia
  10. Lindsey Pulliam – Northwestern
  11. Michaela Onyenwere – UCLA
  12. Dana Evans – Louisville
  13. Arella Guirantes – Rutgers
  14. Kierra Fletcher – Georgia Tech
  15. Carlie Littlefield – Princeton
  16. Bethy Mununga – South Florida
  17. Aisha Sheppard – Virginia Tech
  18. Caitlyn Hibner – Green Bay
  19. Kiana Williams – Stanford
  20. Megan Maahs – Northern Iowa
  21. Kiara Smith – Florida
  22. Cece Hooks – Ohio
  23. Victoria Morris – Old Dominion
  24. Khayla Pointer – LSU
  25. Chantal Horvat – UCLA
  26. Katie Turner – Davidson
  27. Myah Pace – San Diego

SOPHOMORES

  1. Jessika Carter – Mississippi State
  2. Nia Clouden – Michigan State
  3. Rhyne Howard – Kentucky
  4. Christyn Williams – Connecticut
  5. Olivia Nelson – Ododa – Connecticut
  6. Emily Engstler – Syracuse
  7. Queen Egbo – Baylor
  8. NaLyssa Smith – Baylor
  9. Jasmine Franklin – Missouri State
  10. Naz Hillmon – Michigan
  11. Cate Reese – Arizona
  12. Taylor Chavez – Oregon
  13. Lexie Hull – Stanford
  14. Elissa Cunane – NC State
  15. Grace Berger – Indiana
  16. Ahlise Hurst – New Mexico
  17. Jaclyn Jarnot – North Dakota
  18. Kaela Webb – Providence

FRESHMEN

  1. Kayla Padilla – Pennsylvania
  2. Taylor Jones – Oregon State
  3. Aliyah Boston – South Carolina
  4. Haley Jones – Stanford
  5. Alex Fowler – Portland
  6. Tamari Key – Tennessee
  7. Ashley Owusu – Maryland
  8. Aliyah Matharu – Mississippi State
  9. Sydney Palma – California Baptist
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Canada blows out Cuba in the first game of the FIBA Olympic Qualifying Tournament in Edmonton

bridget carleton
~ Aneela Khan ~ Leave a comment

The Canadian Senior Women’s National Team got off to a solid start on Thursday evening when they took care of business and were able to get an easy blowout victory and won by a final score of 110-53. They are now 1-0.

Coming into this tournament, Canada was going to have a bit of extra motivation to play well because this particular tournament was going to be held in Edmonton so the Canadians knew they would have to play well in front of the home crowd. Not only that, but Kia Nurse would have extra motivation to play well as a large majority of her extended family is in Edmonton for the weekend to watch both Kia and her brother Darnell (who plays for the Edmonton Oilers) in their respective games.

Kia Nurse did not disappoint. After Canada got off to a sluggish start in the first quarter, Kia came in the ball game and was aggressive in getting to the rim and getting steals. She shot the ball well and was the best player on the floor tonight. She finished with a game high 28 points. Cuba just did not have the players to deal with Team Canada and they were not able to get Canada into foul trouble where Canada doubled up at the FT line. They also did not shoot the ball well either and shot 30% from the floor. Canada just had too much size and too much depth which overwhelmed the Cubans.

Like I mentioned in my preview, Canada should sweep the tournament and they started it off with a bang. After getting the day off tomorrow, they are back in action against Puerto Rico on Saturday at 5:00 pm local time, 7:00 pm EST and 4 pm PST.

Canadian Senior National Women’s Basketball Team preview of FIBA Olympic qualifying tournament in Edmonton

kia nurse
~ Aneela Khan ~ 1 Comment

The Canadian Senior Women’s National Team gets underway tonight in Edmonton as they host Cuba in the first of three games of the FIBA Olympic qualifying tournaments. This is the second tournament that Team Canada will participate in and there is a final Olympic qualifying tournament in February.

Team Canada has become more and more successful at FIBA Olympic qualifying tournaments and in this particular tournament, they should have no problem winning the tournament. The opponents that they will face are Cuba which tips off  tonight, Puerto Rico and Dominican Republic. They should have no problem winning all three games. Team Canada has risen and become a much stronger team thanks in large part to their coaches as well as a strong group of players as well. This is a deep Canadian senior women’s national team and it should get even better as the year goes on when Team Canada will face stronger competition down the line. Also of note, certain long time players will get the media attention such as Natalie Achonwa, Kia Nurse, Kim Gaucher, Miranda Ayim, etc but don’t forget about the upcoming future stars such as Aliyah Edwards and Shaina Pellington. Those two have a bright future ahead of them.

As of now,  as mentioned above, they will face Cuba tonight at 7:30 pm local time, Puerto Rico on Saturday at 5:00 pm local time, and Dominican Republic at 4:00 pm local time.

For more details on the Canadian FIBA Qualifying Tournaments and who will play for the national team in this tournament, please read Canada Basketball’s press release.

It should be a fun tournament and I hope the people in Edmonton come out and support these women.

Women’s College Basketball Player Rankings – Class by Class! Week 1

aliyah boston of south carolina
~ Aneela Khan ~ 2 Comments

Women’s College Basketball is back in full swing and teams got underway last week. This is now my fourth year running these rankings and the same freshmen I ranked four years ago are now seniors! Time flies!

We had some upsets in the first week with some ranked teams falling to non ranked teams. We also saw how deep certain teams are early and how some teams have yet to play a single game. These rankings are going to look a whole lot different from the pre-season rankings just because other players stepped up in Week 1 and it will look different from week to week. As always, I ensure that these rankings are done fairly and accurately with representation from a large majority of competitive D1 women’s college basketball teams.

If you are new to these rankings and have questions on how I put these weekly ranking lists together, please read the Frequently Asked Questions page. Curious to see who was on the pre-season list? Click here for that list.

Listed below are the top 36 seniors, the top 27 juniors, the top 18 sophomores and the top 9 freshmen for the week of Nov. 5th to Nov. 10th.

SENIORS

  1. Beatrice Mompremier – Miami
  2. Mikayla Pivec – Oregon State
  3. Lauren Cox – Baylor
  4. Sara Rhine – Drake
  5. Crystal Dangerfield – Connecticut
  6. Peyton Williams – Kansas State
  7. Bella Alarie – Princeton
  8. Tyasha Harris – South Carolina
  9. Alexa Willard – Missouri State
  10. Becca Hittner – Drake
  11. Jeannie Boehm – Harvard
  12. Nicki Ekhomu – Florida State
  13. DiJonai Carrington – Stanford
  14. Ciara Duffy – South Dakota
  15. Juicy Landrum – Baylor
  16. Taryn McCutcheon – Michigan State
  17. Jordan Danberry – Mississippi State
  18. Mya Hollingshed – Colorado
  19. Chante Stonewall – DePaul
  20. Haley Gorecki – Duke
  21. Dominique Oden – Purdue
  22. Emma Guy – Boston College
  23. Kianna Ray – TCU
  24. Lexie Barrier – James Madison
  25. Kiah Gillespie – Florida State
  26. Mariella Fasoula – Vanderbilt
  27. Taylor Koenen – North Carolina
  28. Ja’Tavia Tapley – Arizona State
  29. Ellie Harmeyer – Belmont
  30. Zada Williams – Florida
  31. Andrea Brady – Colorado State
  32. Rebekah Hand – Marist
  33. Theresa Onwuka – Buffalo
  34. Nicole Jorgensen – Rhode Island
  35. Rachel Thompson – Colgate
  36. Suzanne Gilreath – Wisconsin

JUNIORS

  1. Chennedy Carter – Texas A&M
  2. Megan Walker – Connecticut
  3. Kysre Gondrezick – West Virginia
  4. Ciera Johnson – Texas A&M
  5. Chelsea Dungee – Arkansas
  6. Aari McDonald – Arizona
  7. Eleah Parker – Pennsylvania
  8. Enna Pehadzic – South Florida
  9. Brice Calip – Missouri State
  10. Mia Davis – Temple
  11. Selena Lott – Marquette
  12. Vivian Gray – Oklahoma State
  13. Kelsey Marshall – Miami
  14. Aisha Sheppard – Virginia Tech
  15. Dana Evans – Louisville
  16. Chloe Bibby – Mississippi State
  17. Kayla Jones – NC State
  18. Tekia Mack – Rutgers
  19. Jenn Wirth – Gonzaga
  20. Arsula Clark – Tulane
  21. Lindsey Pulliam – Northwestern
  22. Gabby Connally – Georgia
  23. Rennia Davis – Tennessee
  24. A’riana Gray – Xavier
  25. Natalie Chou – UCLA
  26. Desiree Elmore – Seton Hall
  27. Nancy Mulkey – Rice

SOPHOMORES

  1. NaLyssa Smith – Baylor
  2. Christyn Williams – Connecticut
  3. Lexie Hull – Stanford
  4. Olivia Nelson-Ododa – Connecticut
  5. Kaitlyn Gilbert – Notre Dame
  6. Madi Williams – Oklahoma
  7. Queen Egbo – Baylor
  8. Elizabeth Balogun – Louisville
  9. Sam Haiby – Nebraska
  10. Zaay Green – Tennessee
  11. Lindsey Corsaro – UCLA
  12. Jayde Van Hyfte – Arizona State
  13. Naz Hillmon – Michigan
  14. Kolbi Green – Navy
  15. Dorka Juhasz – Ohio State
  16. Sonya Morris – DePaul
  17. Monika Czinano – Iowa
  18. Haylee Andrews – Portland

FRESHMEN

  1. Aliyah Boston – South Carolina
  2. Ashley Owusu – Maryland
  3. Jakia Brown – Turner – NC State
  4. Mackenzie Holmes – Indiana
  5. Anaya Peoples – Notre Dame
  6. Taylor Jones – Oregon State
  7. Ashten Prechtel – Stanford
  8. Alyza Winston – Michigan State
  9. Alissa Pili – USC

Preseason Women’s College Basketball Players Rankings – Class by Class!

Chennedy Carter of Texas A&M is the top junior to watch for
~ Aneela Khan ~ Leave a comment

It’s that time of year again! The start of a brand new women’s college basketball season is upon us with many exciting story lines to watch for. This also means that the women’s college basketball players rankings are back! This is the fourth year of compiling these rankings and they take a lot of time, energy and effort. It’s a pleasure to do them every year, but keep in mind that these rankings can change from now until March. I have received tons of feedback over the years on these rankings and it is great to see how they they have been received from the women’s basketball community. Thank you all for the constant support on these rankings. I sincerely appreciate it.

The preseason rankings are combined of a combination of what happened last year and what is most likely predicted this season from the players. Remember, this list can change and are updated weekly. These rankings are designed to help gauge who really are the top players in women’s college basketball and if you have any questions or comments, feel free to read the FAQ regarding these rankings. Any additional questions or queries, leave them in the comments and I will get back to you as soon as possible.

Listed below are the preseason rankings for the top 36 seniors, the top 27 juniors, the top 18 sophomores and the top 9 freshmen for 2019-2020. Curious to see who made last year’s preseason list? Click here for that list.

*Note: Only active players are listed below. Transfer and or red shirt players are included if they are playing this season. *

SENIORS

  1. Sabrina Ionescu – Oregon
  2. Lauren Cox – Baylor
  3. Ruthy Hebard – Oregon
  4. Crystal Dangerfield – Connecticut
  5. Kaila Charles – Maryland
  6. Beatrice Mompremier – Miami
  7. Mikayla Pivec – Oregon State
  8. Te’a Cooper – Baylor
  9. Joyner Holmes – Texas
  10. Bella Alarie – Princeton
  11. Haley Gorecki – Duke
  12. Kiah Gillespie – Florida State
  13. Stephanie Jones – Maryland
  14. DiJonai Carrington – Stanford
  15. Peyton Williams – Kansas State
  16. Sara Rhine – Drake
  17. Minyon Moore – Oregon
  18. Japreece Dean – UCLA
  19. Amber Smith – Missouri
  20. Dominique Oden – Purdue
  21. Ayana Mitchell – LSU
  22. Becca Hittner – Drake
  23. Nadia Fingall – Stanford
  24. Aislinn Konig – NC State
  25. Taiye Bello – Minnesota
  26. Grace Hunter – NC State
  27. Kamiah Smalls – James Madison
  28. Brenna Wise – Indiana
  29. Korneila Wright – UCF
  30. Kelly Jekot – Villanova
  31. Ciara Duffy – South Dakota
  32. Kobi Thornton – Clemson
  33. Mikiah Herbert Harrigan – South Carolina
  34. Alecia (Sug) Sutton – Texas
  35. Emma Guy – Boston College
  36. Chante Stonewall – DePaul

JUNIORS

  1. Chennedy Carter – Texas A&M
  2. Satou Sabally – Oregon
  3. Aari McDonald – Arizona
  4. Destiny Slocum – Oregon State
  5. Megan Walker – Connecticut
  6. Michaela Onyenwere – UCLA
  7. Rennia Davis – Tennessee
  8. Vivian Gray – Oklahoma State
  9. Karissa McLauglin – Purdue
  10. Janelle Bailey – North Carolina
  11. Kristin Scott – Iowa State
  12. Erin Boley – Oregon
  13. Dana Evans – Louisville
  14. Elah Parker – Pennsylvania
  15. Destiny Pitts – Minnesota
  16. Sidney Cooks – Michigan State
  17. Kayla Wells – Texas A&M
  18. Kiana Williams – Stanford
  19. Jaelynn Penn – Indiana
  20. Chelsea Dungee – Arkansas
  21. Maya Dodson – Stanford
  22. Ciera Johnson – Texas A&M
  23. Ana Llanusa – Oklahoma
  24. Digna Strautmane – Syracuse
  25. N’dea Johnson – Texas A&M
  26. Ali Patberg – Indiana
  27. Terra Reed – VCU

SOPHOMORES

  1. Rhyne Howard – Kentucky
  2. Shakira Austin – Maryland
  3. Taylor Mikesell – Maryland
  4. Christyn Williams – Connecticut
  5. Naz Hillmon – Michigan
  6. Destanni Henderson – South Carolina
  7. NaLyssa Smith – Baylor
  8.  Elissa Cunane – NC State
  9. Olivia Nelson – Ododa – Connecticut
  10. Elizabeth Balogun – Louisville
  11. Cate Reese – Arizona
  12. Hailey Brown – Michigan
  13. Beatriz Jordao – South Florida
  14. Queen Egbo – Baylor
  15. Charli Collier – Texas
  16. Zarielle Green – Tennessee
  17. Robyn Benton – Auburn
  18. Lexie Hull – Stanford

FRESHMEN

  1.  Haley Jones – Stanford
  2. Samantha Brunelle – Notre Dame
  3. Aliyah Boston – South Carolina
  4. Zia Cooke – South Carolina
  5. Jordan Horston – Tennessee
  6. Ashley Owusu – Maryland
  7. Rickea Johnson – Mississippi State
  8. Kierstan Bell – Ohio State
  9. Aijha Blackwell – Missouri

 

Canada finishes with a silver medal at the FIBA AmeriCup Tournament

Canada finishes in second place at FIBA Americas. Photo courtesy of FIBA
~ Aneela Khan ~ Leave a comment

*I know this blog post is one week late, and the medals already have been awarded and the results sorted but I got extremely busy last weekend and then got really lazy, so now I finally have written this blog post. Apologies to my blog readers who keep an eye on the Team Canada women’s basketball team*

Puerto Rico – The United States is golden once again, this time in the FIBA AmeriCup Tournament. Canada fought as it could, but the US proved too much for Team Canada to handle and they won the gold medal back from Canada. Canada was the two time defending champion in this tournament.

Both the US and Canada were playing in their fifth game in six days and exhaustion showed in the game. Canada was also down two key starters, centre Kayla Alexander and point guard Miah Marie Langlois. Kayla Alexander was brilliant for Team Canada in the first couple of games before going down with a leg injury in the semi final. Canada missed her production against the United States forwards. Kayla Alexander was also named one of the FIBA All Star Five for her performance at the tournament.

Nonetheless, Canada still fought as much as they could but the depth of the United States wore them off. Canada finished with a silver medal and qualified for the next round of FIBA Olympic qualifying which will take place in Edmonton, Alberta from Nov. 16th to Nov. 19th.  Canada needs to finish in the top six in that tournament to qualify for the last Olympic qualifier which will take place before the 2020 Tokyo Summer Games.

Canada proved their worth as a rising basketball nation as they have had worthy prospects playing both in the WNBA and NBA in the past few years and it speaks to Canada’s talent level that the US took part in this tournament since they rarely participate in them. Canada now has to put it’s roster together for November and it may include Kia Nurse and Natalie Achonwa, who did not participate in this FIBA Americas Tournament. Both of them are Team Canada standouts and if they are not on the roster in November, they definitely will be on the Olympic roster.

After slow start, Canada rolls against Cuba in the second game of FIBA Women’s AmeriCup Tournament

~ Aneela Khan ~ Leave a comment

It took a while for Team Canada to get going, but they were able to shake off Cuba to improve to 2-0 in group play. They started off slowly and only led by 1 point going into the second quarter. They only led by 8 at halftime. Canada only shot 37% in the first half and Cuba was efficient from the three point arc which led to a close game in the first half. Canada’s defense was poor in the first half.

The second half was a different story. In the third quarter, Canada was able to correct some of their mistakes and were able to pull away midway through the third quarter and never looked back as the final score was 87-51. Four players were in double figures in this game. Kayla Alexander continued her strong play and finished with her second double double with 23 points and 15 rebounds. Sami Hill also was a key component to help Canada when they were struggling through the first 3 1/2 quarters of the game. She was able to draw fouls and get to the FT line to help Canada’s offense when it was struggling. Four players finished in double figures. It was not pretty at the start but Canada finished strong.

They now face Puerto Rico tomorrow night at 8 pm EST. Canada looks to go 3-0 in Group A against the host country. It will not be an easy feat for Canada since this will be their third game in three days and the host country will not go down easily. The game will be available to watch on DAZN in Canada and on ESPN+ for America.