These are five of the standout performers from the last week of DI women's basketball.
Laila Blair, Houston
Houston junior guard Laila Blair scored a career-high 30 points in Houston's upset win at No. 24 South Florida on Sunday.
Blair scored 22 of her 30 points in the first half and made five of her six three-pointers in the first 20 minutes of the game, including a half-court pull-up buzzer beater at the half to put Houston up 43-31.
The Houston-native's 14.4 points per game in American Athletic Conference play ranks seventh in the league and her 3.3 assists per game against American opponents is fourth.
The Cougars, 10-13 overall, have now won four conference games in a row and are in second place in the league at 7-3. Houston's win at South Florida snapped a 12-game winning streak for South Florida and handed the Bulls their first home loss of the season.
Houston will return home to play Memphis on Feb. 15. The Cougars and Tigers will meet for the first time this season after their Feb. 1 game in Tennessee was postponed due to severe weather.
Domonique Davis, Southern Mississippi
Southern Mississippi’s Domonique Davis led all Sun Belt scorers last week with 44 points as the Lady Eagles split a pair of games against Texas State and Coastal Carolina.
Against Texas State on Feb. 9, Davis came off the bench to pace both squads with 19 points, three assists and one steal, even though Southern Mississippi came up short, 69-52. The DeRidder, La. native finished the day 9-of-14 from the field in 33 minutes of action.
Davis followed up her strong showing with an even better outing against Coastal Carolina on Feb. 11. Returning to the starting lineup appeared to be the spark Davis needed to thrive on Saturday as she dazzled the home crowd with a strong but steady 25-point performance, topped off with 10 rebounds for the third double-double of her career and season. Davis went 9-of-16 from the field, highlighted by a 3-of-5 day behind the 3-point line. She also completed a perfect day at the charity stripe, finishing 4-of-4, and recording four assists and one steal.
The 25 points pushed Davis over the 400-point mark this season. She now sits at 415 on the season, one point shy of her best, and at 873 career points, 831 of which she scored at Southern Mississippi. In doing so, she became the 70th player in Division I to eclipse the 400-point mark this season.
Southern Mississippi, 16-9 overall and 9-5 in Sun Belt play, returns to action on Feb. 16 at Georgia State.
Jaylyn Sherrod, Colorado
Colorado rolled to a weekend sweep of Washington State and Washington as senior Jaylyn Sherrod led the Buffaloes, averaging 17.5 points, 4.0 assists and 2.0 steals per game.
The weekend started with Sherrod matching her career-high with 27 points in Colorado’s 71-68 come-from-behind win over Washington State. The Buffs trailed by 11 in the third quarter and Sherrod was instrumental in the comeback effort, going a perfect 5-for-5 with 15 points in the fourth quarter.
She capped off the weekend with a six-assist day in Colorado's 65-43 win over Washington. She was 3-for-6 from the field with eight points in the decisive victory.
Sherrod is the only player in the Pac-12 Conference averaging at least 10 points and five assists per game this season (11.0 points, 5.2 assists). She currently ranks 29th in the NCAA in both total assists (124) and assists per game (5.2). She starts this week leading the conference with 2.4 steals per game, second in total steals (58) and fifth in assist/turnover ratio (1.94).
Colorado, 20-5 overall and 11-3 in Pac-12 play, will next play at Arizona State on Feb. 17.
Maddy Siegrist, Villanova
Villanova senior forward Maddy Siegrist continues to play at an All-American level, averaging 38.5 points per game and 11.0 rebounds per contest, while shooting .630 from the field in wins over Georgetown and Seton Hall.
Siegrist earned Big East Conference Player of the Week honors for a record 16th time for a week that was highlighted by her 50-point effort in the 99-65 win over Seton Hall on Saturday. The 50 points included a 20-of-26 effort from the field, including going 4-of-6 from three-point range and a 6-of-8 performance from the foul line. She also added 10 rebounds, two assists and two steals.
Siegrist set four records with the 50-point performance, including the all-time Big East scoring mark for regular season conference games, the conference single game scoring record and the Big East mark for most field goals in a game. She also set the Villanova school record for points in a game.
In a win at Georgetown on Feb. 8, Siegrist tallied 27 points and 12 rebounds.
Siegrist currently leads the nation in scoring with a 29.1 points per game average to go with a 9.4 rebounds per contest average. She is shooting .536 from the field (283-of-528) and .410 from three-point range (41-of-100).
Villanova, 22-4 overall and 13-2 in Big East play, returns to action on Feb. 15 at St. John’s (New York).
Destinee Wells, Belmont
Junior guard Destinee Wells led Belmont to its fourth-straight undefeated week, averaging 23 points and seven assists while shooting 52.8 percent (19-of-36) from the field in victories over Indiana State and Evansville.
Wells had quite the afternoon Sunday in Belmont's 81-69 victory over visiting Indiana State, registering a career-high 35 points on 16-for-27 shooting and distributing a game-high five assists. She became the first Bruin to reach 35 points in a game since 2005 and her 16 made field goals are the most by a Belmont player in over two decades. She scored 18 in the first half, including 11 in the opening quarter alone, and added 17 points in the second half versus the Sycamores.
Wells started her week on Feb. 10 by nearly registering a double-double with 11 points and a season-high tying nine assists in the Bruins' 40-point, 93-53 home rout of Evansville. Committing just one turnover, she went 3-for-4 at the free-throw line and came up with a steal.
For nine consecutive games Wells has now reached double-figure scoring. Her career-best 35-point performance is Wells' second 30-point outing of her career after scoring 32 in the 2021 Ohio Valley Conference Tournament title game versus UT Martin. She owns 11 career 25-point games and has reached 20 points on nine occasions this season.
Currently on a season-best eight-game winning streak, Belmont, 15-10 overall and 11-3 in Missouri Valley Conference play, hit the road this weekend and travel west to Southern Illinois on Feb. 17 and Missouri State, Feb. 19.
