These women's basketball players posted big-time performances and were named to NCAA starting five this week.
Cameron Brink, Stanford
Stanford has started the season 4-0 behind the continued strong play of senior forward Cameron Brink, who averaged 18.5 points, eight rebounds, 4.5 blocks and shot 61.1 percent from the field while stretching her made free throw streak to 72 straight.
Highlight of the week for Brink was scoring a career-high 29 points in the 82-79 overtime win over Duke on November 19. She added 11 rebounds and six blocks against the Blue Devils to become the first Stanford player with 25-plus points, 10-plus rebounds and 5-plus blocks since Chiney Ogwumike on March 8, 2014. Brink also went 10-for-10 from the line to stretch her made streak to 72.
Brink opened the week with eight points, five rebounds and three blocks in 15 minutes in an 86-32 win over Cal Poly.
Stanford returns to action on November 22, playing Belmont in the first-round of the Ball Dawgs Classic tournament. Florida State and Northwestern are also competing at the tournament in Henderson, Nevada.
POWER 10: UCLA and Colorado rise in Autumn Johnson's latest power rankings
Hannah Hidalgo, Notre Dame
Notre Dame freshman guard Hannah Hidalgo averaged 22.5 points, 5.5 rebounds, 6.5 assists and 6.0 steals in Notre Dame’s pair of wins over Big Ten opponents Northwestern and Illinois last week.
Hidalgo started her second week of college basketball with a 110-52 drubbing of Northwestern in Notre Dame’s home opener. She had 21 points, six rebounds, five assists and six steals. Hidalgo went 9-12 on the day and 2-3 from deep. She produced these results in just 27 minutes of play.
On Saturday, Hidalgo helped the Irish down Illinois, 79-68, with 24 points, five rebounds, eight assists and six steals. She went 8-15 from the floor (53.5 percent).
Hidalgo continues to lead the Atlantic Coast Conference in points per game (25.5), and she leads the nation in steals per game (6.8). Hidalgo has 27 steals through her first four games, the most by any Division I player in that time span in the last 25 years. She also ranks seventh in the conference in field goal percentage (52.9) and fourth in assists per game (5.5). She is leading all ACC freshmen in the latter category.
Notre Dame, 3-1, will next host Chicago State on November 21, followed by a November 24 game at Ball State.
Lucy Olsen, Villanova
Villanova junior guard Lucy Olsen earned her starting five position for her sterling play in Sunday's 90-62 win over Temple.
In 33 minutes of action, Olsen scored a career-high 40 points on 12-of-22 shooting, including a 4-of-6 effort from three-point range and a 12-of-13 performance from the foul line. It was the seventh 40-point game in Villanova history, and she becomes the fourth Wildcat to accomplish the feat.
Olsen is off to a great start to the 2023-24 season. After three games, she has scored 84 points for an average of 28.0 points per contest. She is currently shooting 50.0 percent from the field (31-of-61), 46.2 percent from three (6-of-13) and .727 from the foul line (16-of-22). Her three-game point totals include 20 points at Portland State, 24 points at Oregon State and 40 versus Temple. Olsen had three 20-point games all of last season and now has eight 20-point efforts for her career.
Olsen and the Wildcats, 2-1, return to action on November 21 at home against Holy Cross, followed by a November 26 game at Wake Forest.
Tiara Young, SMU
SMU guard Tiara Young averaged 27 points per game in leading the 3-1 Mustangs to a split of two games against Nicholls and No. 5 Colorado.
The graduate guard scored 24 points, eclipsed 1,000 career points, and grabbed a season-high seven rebounds in SMU's 69-54 home victory over Nicholls State University on November 14.
She led all scorers and posted a career-high 30 points against Colorado in an 84-69 setback on Saturday, also in Dallas. It marked the fourth time Young has reached double figures in scoring this season. She also tallied four rebounds, two assists, and a block.
SMU will next face Toledo and Harvard on November 24-25 at the San Diego Classic.
Antwainette Walker, Eastern Kentucky
Eastern Kentucky, 5-1, is off to their best start in program history behind the strong play of Antwainette Walker who filled up the stats sheet with 87 points, 17 rebounds, and nine steals over her three games played last week.
To start the week, the graduate guard put up a career-high 38 points on 15-of-29 field goals to help Eastern Kentucky to a 77-75 win over Evansville on the road.
In Eastern Kentucky's opening round of the 2023 Great Alaska Shootout, Walker followed her career night with 20 points, seven rebounds, and three steals in a 68-65 win over the University of Alabama at Birmingham. With the win, the Colonels moved to 5-0 for the first time in school history.
Eastern Kentucky dropped its first game of the season to No. 4 Utah by a score of 117-72 in the Great Alaska Shootout championship game on Sunday night. Walker was named to the All-Tournament Team at the conclusion of the event after scoring 29 points, outscoring Alaska's own Alissa Pili, who totaled 28 points in her homecoming in front of 2,300 fans. The Lisle, Ill. native shot 13-of-29 from the floor with four rebounds and three steals.
Eastern Kentucky will play the next three games at home, starting November 25 against Campbellsville.
