Five players stood out after another exciting week of women's college basketball. Here's this week's Starting Five.
Maggie Bair, Drake
Drake senior Maggie Bair averaged 20.0 points and 10.0 rebounds per game as the Bulldogs split a pair of games against South Dakota and Creighton.
Bair began the week with 14 points and nine rebounds, shooting 6-9 from the field in Drake's 83-54 road win at South Dakota. The Bulldogs improved to 5-2 with the win and continued their streak of scoring 80-plus points in each game this year.
Bair one-upped herself in Drake's narrow 75-71 loss to No. 18 Creighton with 26 points, 11 rebounds, two blocks, and two assists on 11-of-17 shooting. Her output against Creighton included a pair of three-pointers and marked her 10th career double-double and second of the season.
Over the two games, Bair shot 65.4% from the floor and was just one rebound away from posting back-to-back double-doubles. Bair currently ranks sixth nationally with a field goal percentage of 67.9%. She is also the third-highest scorer in Missouri Valley Conference with an average of 17.3 points per game.
Drake, 5-3, will return to action on Dec. 22 with an important non-conference game at nationally-ranked Iowa State.
𝗦𝗵𝗼𝘄𝗲𝗱 𝗮 𝗹𝗼𝘁 𝗼𝗳 💙 𝗹𝗮𝘀𝘁 𝗻𝗶𝗴𝗵𝘁#DSMHometownTeam | #BeBlue pic.twitter.com/ofcUSbT99A
— Drake Women's Hoops (@DrakeWBB) December 11, 2022
POWER 10 RANKINGS: See the latest women's basketball Power 10 rankings
Caitlin Clark, Iowa
Iowa standout Caitlin Clark came up just short of triple-doubles in two games last week as the Hawkeyes rolled to wins over Iowa State and Minnesota.
In Iowa’s 70-57 win over No. 10 Iowa State, Clark registered 19 points, eight rebounds, eight assists and tied her career-high with five steals. It was Iowa’s first Associated Press top-10 win since beating No. 5 Indiana on Feb. 19, 2022.
Against the Gophers, Clark notched 32 points, 10 rebounds, nine assists, and four steals to lead the Hawkeyes to an 87-64 win, its fourth win by 20-or-more points this season.
Clark currently leads the nation in points, free throws, and free throws attempted. The West Des Moines, Iowa, native is the only player in the country with more than 300 points, 70 rebounds, 70 assists, and 15 steals. She is fourth on Iowa’s all-time scoring list with 1,967 career points.
Iowa, 8-3 overall and 2-0 in Big Ten Conference play, will next host Northern Iowa on Dec. 18.
Caitlin Clark pic.twitter.com/xFtJEUyajk
— Iowa Women's Basketball (@IowaWBB) December 11, 2022
TEAM OF THE WEEK: Toledo earns women's basketball Team of the Week honors after upset win
Dynah Jones, Tulane
Tulane graduate guard Dynah Jones led the Green Wave to a 2-0 record last week, averaging 17.5 points, 3.0 rebounds, 1.5 assists, 1.5 steals in wins over Troy and Southern. The New Orleans product shot 56.0 percent from the floor and sank five three-pointers.
The week began with a career-high in minutes as she played 41 minutes in the Green Wave's double-overtime 103-100 win on the road against Troy on Dec. 7. Jones posted 18 points on 8-of-14 shooting with a pair of made threes against the Trojans. She also tallied three steals, a pair of rebounds and an assist.
Jones followed that performance by scoring a game-high 17 points and hitting three from downtown in a 67-52 win at home over Southern. She tacked on four rebounds and a pair of assists to her stat sheet as well.
The Green Wave, 7-3, will next host three teams for the Tulane Holiday Tournament, Dec. 20-21. Tulane will face Saint Francis to open the tournament and then play either Tennessee Tech or VCU on the 21st.
Silky Smooth with the Step-Back @dynahjones#RollWave | #BuiltDifferent pic.twitter.com/eEFjM28Wor
— Tulane Women's Hoops (@GreenWaveWBB) December 11, 2022
POWER 10 RANKINGS: See the latest women's basketball Power 10 rankings
Aneesah Morrow, DePaul
DePaul sophomore Aneesah Morrow broke DePaul's single-game scoring record and averaged 24 points and 11.3 rebounds in a 3-0 week for the Blue Demons.
With 45 points in a win over Northwestern on Saturday, Morrow shattered DePaul's single-game scoring benchmark that stood for 31 years while tying Iowa's Caitlin Clark for the most in a game this season. In the process, Morrow eclipsed 1,000 career points in the 43rd game of her career — a feat only 12 women in NCAA Division I history have accomplished in fewer games.
On Dec. 7, the Chicago native added 25 points and grabbed 14 rebounds in a decisive win over Loyola. She then played only 14 minutes in an 81-56 blowout win over Howard on Dec. 12, scoring two points and pulling down seven rebounds. In the win over Howard, Morrow’s teammate Darrione Rogers recorded the sixth triple-double in DePaul women's basketball history with 22 points to go along with a career-high 11 assists and 10 rebounds.
Morrow is currently averaging 26.1 points per game this season, good for fourth in Division I, to go along with 12.1 rebounds per game, which ranks sixth nationally.
The Blue Demons, 8-3, return to action on Dec. 18 with a Big East Conference home matchup against Georgetown.
An incredible performance now etched in the record books#DePaulBall x @AneesahMorrow24 pic.twitter.com/KhYuCYcNA0
— DePaul Women's Basketball (@DePaulWBBHoops) December 11, 2022
Endyia Rogers, Oregon
Senior guard Endyia Rogers scored a career-high 34 points to lead Oregon to a 75-67 win over in-state rival Oregon State on Sunday, the most by a Duck since Sabrina Ionescu's 37 against Stanford on Jan. 16, 2020.
Rogers, who leads the country in 3-point shooting at 57.1 percent (20-for-35), also set a career high with six 3-pointers made and equaled her career best with nine rebounds in the Oregon State game. The Dallas, Texas, product dished out six assists without committing a turnover while going 8-for-8 from the free throw line — with all eight free throws coming over the last 5:15 of Sunday's win.
Rogers, who shot 10-for-18 from the field overall, logged her third career 30-point performance and first in a Duck uniform. It was just the second time since the 2009-10 season that a player finished with at least 30 points, five 3-pointers, nine rebounds and six assists without committing a turnover.
Oregon, improved to 7-1 after winning its Pac-12 opener for the fifth time in the last six years. The Ducks continue the non-conference portion of its schedule on Dec. 15 at home against Eastern Washington.
Endyia Rogers’ career night leads the No. 17 Ducks to a dub over the Beavs! @OregonWBB | #Pac12WBB pic.twitter.com/eExyS0KQyR
— Pac-12 Network (@Pac12Network) December 12, 2022
