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Dec. 24, 2019
For Immediate Release
Contact: Malcolm Moran
814-574-1485

Weekly women's honors continue each Tuesday this season

COLLIER, SIEGRIST ARE USBWA WOMEN'S
NATIONAL, FRESHMAN PLAYERS OF THE WEEK

INDIANAPOLIS (USBWA) – For the season's sixth U.S. Basketball Writers Association Ann Meyers Drysdale Women's National Player of the Week and the organization's Tamika Catchings women's freshman player honor, Texas center Charli Collier is national player while Villanova forward Maddy Siegrist has been tabbed a second time by USBWA for the freshman citation after each helped their teams go unbeaten ending the week of Sunday, Dec. 22.

As the Big 12 co-player and Big East freshman weekly winners, both were nominated for the awards, which were chosen by Mel Greenberg, the USBWA coordinator for women's basketball, primarily from a pair of lists of Division I conference players and freshmen players of the week.

Collier, a 6-5 sophomore center from Mont Belvieu, Texas, averaged a Longhorns best 15.0 points per game and 17.5 rebounds in a pair of wins against Mid-American preseason favorite Ohio University and then-No. 1 Stanford. Against the Cardinal, she had game-highs of 20 points and 19 rebounds, the latter a career best, most for Texas in a game in six seasons, and eighth best in program history. She is tied for second in the NCAA with eight double-doubles and the win made the ‘Horns just the seventh unranked team in the Associated Press women’s poll 44-year history to upset the No. 1 team.

Siegrist, a 6-1 redshirt freshman forward from Poughkeepsie, N.Y., blasted record books in a 41-point performance that was the best for a Division I rookie this season – also the fifth highest by any player – and it surpassed a 36-year-old Wildcats freshman mark held by three-time Big East player of the year Shelly Pennefather. Playing a total game, she shot 13-for-19 from the field, including 6-of-10 three-pointers, 9-of-10 from the foul line, and had three blocks, three assists and 10 rebounds. She's also the Big East Player of the Week, only the third dual honoree, joining Marquette’s Allazia Brockton in 2016 and UConn superstar Maya Moore in 2008. It’s the most points by any Big East player in seven seasons and the most points ever in a Philadelphia Big 5 women's game. This week's honor is her second of the season from the USBWA.

Since the 1987-88 season, the USBWA has named a women’s National Player of the Year. For the 2012-13 season, the national and weekly player award became named for Hall of Famer and former UCLA All-American Ann Meyers Drysdale while this is the first season the national and weekly freshman award is being given in the name of former Tennessee all-American Tamika Catchings.

At the conclusion of the regular season, the USBWA will name finalists for both awards, which is voted on by the entire membership of the USBWA.

The winners of the 2020 Ann Meyers Drysdale National Player of the Year and Tamika Catchings National Freshman of the Year will be announced and presented at the USBWA’s annual awards event in New Orleans, site of the 2020 NCAA Women's Final Four. Both winners will be honored at the USBWA Awards Luncheon hosted by the Missouri Athletic Club in St. Louis on April 13, 2020.

The U.S. Basketball Writers Association was formed in 1956 at the urging of then-NCAA Executive Director Walter Byers. With some 900 members worldwide, it is one of the most influential organizations in college basketball. It has selected a women's All-America team since the 1996-97 season. For more information on the USBWA and its award programs, contact executive director Malcolm Moran at 814-574-1485.

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