The NCAA.com Starting Five honors a starting lineup of players from around the country who enjoyed standout performances for that week. Here’s the starters for the week of Feb. 20-26.
Women's basketball: Scoreboard | Rankings
Princess Aghayere, Penn
Penn senior Princess Aghayere tied and then bested her career-high in points in weekend wins over Columbia and Cornell, then added 14 points in a Tuesday night loss to Princeton, as the Quakers continued their pursuit of the 2018-19 Ivy League regular season championship.
In Friday's 79-56 win over Columbia, Aghayere matched her season-high of 19 points for the second-straight game on 8-of-12 shooting from the field, going perfect from behind the arc with a career-best three 3-pointers. She also grabbed seven rebounds in 24 minutes of play.
Crown her. 👑
— PENN WBB (@PennWBB) February 25, 2019
A career weekend, averaging 21 points and 8.5 rebounds, shooting a combined 63 percent from the field and PERFECT from behind the arc.
Pretty good work from Princess Aghayere, @IvyLeague Co-Player of the Week!
🗒 >>> https://t.co/gzRrNBEZkE pic.twitter.com/jpb18clGOh
On Saturday against Cornell, Aghayere powered Penn past the Big Red with a career-high 23 points, adding in 10 rebounds for her fourth double-double of the season as the Quakers won 69-58. In 37 minutes of action she went 9-of-15 from the floor and shot a perfect 4-for-4 from the free throw line, adding in another 3-pointer.
For the weekend, Aghayere averaged 21 points and 8.5 rebounds, shooting 63 percent (17-of-27) from the floor including a perfect 4-for-4 on both 3-pointers and free throws.Aghayere then led Penn with 14 points and five rebounds in a 68-53 loss to Princeton on Feb. 26. With the loss, Penn is now tied for first in the Ivy with Princeton, both sporting 8-2 conference records.That's a big 3️⃣ ball from Aghayere and she's tied her career high with 21 points!#OneMore pic.twitter.com/P89dXe85C2
— PENN WBB (@PennWBB) February 23, 2019
Penn, 18-5 overall, returns to action on March 1 at home vs. Harvard, followed by a March 2 matchup with Dartmouth at The Palestra.
Kaila Charles, Maryland
Maryland continued its quest of capturing the regular season championship in the Big Ten Conference as Kaila Charles averaged 24.5 points, 10.5 rebounds with 2.5 blocks, 2.0 steals and 2.0 assists in the Terrapins’ two conference wins last week over Minnesota and Purdue.
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Charles led the Terrapins to a 71-69 come-from-behind victory over Minnesota on Feb. 21 in College Park. With 5:36 left in the third quarter, the Terrapins trailed by 16 at 54-38. Charles went on to score 17 points of her 29 points over the final 15:36, including 13 in the fourth quarter.
Kaila in crunch time is the best Kaila!!
— Maryland Women’s Basketball (@umdwbb) February 26, 2019
WE'RE TIED AT 43!#FearTheTurtle pic.twitter.com/wXViscmxXS
Maryland was down by seven with under a minute to play, then Charles scored to spark a 9-0 run over the final 50 seconds and take the win. After an old-fashioned three-point play by Stephanie Jones, the Terps forced another turnover and Charles scored the game-tying layup with six seconds to play.
Shakira Austin deflected Minnesota's in-bounds play and Charles took it from midcourt and scored the game-winner with 0.9 seconds left. She finished with 21 of her season-high 29 points in the second half as Maryland clinched a double-bye in the Big Ten Tournament. She tied her career-high 13 field goals made and her career-high blocks with three.
At Purdue Monday, Charles led the Terps with 20 points, 13 rebounds, four assists, two steals and a block as they won 58-55. With the win, the Terps clinched at least a share of their fourth Big Ten title in five years in the league.
Maryland, 25-3 overall and 14-3 in Big Ten play, will return home to host Illinois on Saturday, with a win clinching the outright Big Ten championship.The top plays from @umdwbb's win over Purdue, clinching at least a share of the Big Ten regular season title. pic.twitter.com/GLSCHfDCvN
— Maryland On BTN (@MarylandOnBTN) February 26, 2019
Aleah Goodman, Oregon State
Oregon State guard Aleah Goodman averaged a team-best 18 points over the course of the Beavers' three wins last week that pushed the team towards the top of the Pac-12 standings and to a No. 9 ranking in the latest Associated Press top-25 poll.
Goodman started the week with 22 points on 6-for-13 shooting in a 67-62 win over No. 2 Oregon that snapped the Ducks’ 17-game winning streak. The guard hit all six of her free throws in the game, including several down the stretch to help ice the win.
HUGE honor for @aleahgoodman, the @espnW National Player of the Week!#GoBeavs pic.twitter.com/ovR12Y1TOO
— Oregon State WBB (@BeaverWBB) February 25, 2019
The sophomore followed that up with 11 points Friday in a 68-61 win over Southern California. The Beavers hit eight of their final 10 field goal attempts, and used important 3-pointers from Goodman and Destiny Slocum in the closing minutes to lock down the victory.
In a hard-fought 75-72 win over UCLA Sunday afternoon on Senior Day at Gill Coliseum, Goodman came up with another big performance, scoring 21 points on 6-for-12 shooting from the floor. Her performance against the Bruins included a clutch 3-pointer in the closing minutes to help seal the victory.
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Overall, Goodman is averaging 10.8 points for the Beavers this season, and is shooting 43.4 percent from the floor and 43.3 percent from 3-point range. She has scored in double-figures 14 times.
Oregon State, 23-5 on the season and 13-3 in Pac-12 play, will next head to Arizona this weekend for matchups with Arizona State (March 1) and Arizona (March 3).
Enna Pehadzic, South Florida
South Florida has been devastated by numerous injuries this season that has seen up to eight of 12 players miss action due to injury, with three players out for the season and two more currently out indefinitely.
Winners of three straight games, South Florida has received major contributions from role players to stay afloat. This week it was sophomore guard Enna Pehadzic who stood out, scoring a career-high 35 points against East Carolina on Feb. 20 as the Bulls won 63-50. Pehadzic connected on 8-of-26 shots from the field, including a career-high 6-of-15 makes from beyond the 3-point line. She went 13-for-14 from the free throw line in her third straight 20-plus point outing.CONGRATS Enna! She was named to the @American_WBB Honor Roll after her huge 35-point performance against ECU last week! #HornsUp pic.twitter.com/tWhvSw8KBA
— USF W. Basketball (@USFWBB) February 25, 2019
Pehadzic scored 16 of her points during South Florida’s decisive 19-0 run in the fourth quarter that boosted the Bulls. The 35 points is the highest by an American Athletic Conference player this season and is good enough for 13th all-time on South Florida’s single-game scoring chart.
CONGRATULATIONS @CoachJFernandez on your 350TH CAREER WIN! We are so glad you're our coach! #HornsUp pic.twitter.com/vMc5jubjqJ
— USF W. Basketball (@USFWBB) February 24, 2019
Against Wichita State on Feb. 23, Pehadzic added 11 points and was one of three players to score in double figures in the 55-46 victory over the Shockers. The win was the 350th career win for Bulls head coach Jose Fernandez.
South Florida, 15-12 overall and 6-7 in AAC play, will return to action on Feb 27 at Houston.
Caliya Robinson, Georgia
Caliya Robinson led Georgia to three-straight wins, scoring over 20 points in each of those games as Lady Bulldogs moved up the Southeastern Conference standings.
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Robinson posted two consecutive double-doubles last week, with 21 points and 11 rebounds in a 93-83 win over Arkansas on Feb. 21 and to 29 points and 14 boards in a 76-67 win at Alabama on Feb. 24. The senior forward also averaged 3.5 assists, 3.0 blocks and 3.5 steals per game last week. Robinson now has nine double-double’s this season and 27 for her career.
The Marietta, Georgia native was the Lady Bulldogs leading scorer and rebounder and shot nearly 60 percent from the field in each of the last two wins. Robinson is the first Georgia player since Angel Robinson from 2007-10 to record 200 or more rebounds in three-straight seasons and is currently 16 blocks away from becoming the program's all-time blocked shots leader.
Georgia, currently 17-10 overall and 8-6 in SEC play, will next head to Florida to take on the Gators this Thursday, Feb. 28, before returning home to face 11th-ranked Kentucky on Sunday.This week for Caliya Robinson:
— Georgia Basketball (@UGA_WBB) February 26, 2019
✅ Shot 64% from the field
✅ Three 20+ point scoring performances
✅ 9.7 rebounds per game
Your @SEC Player of the Week: Caliya Robinson!#GoDawgs | #BelieveInMore pic.twitter.com/szfSeSBQGM
