{"id":535939,"date":"2026-01-14T11:53:19","date_gmt":"2026-01-14T11:53:19","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/535939\/"},"modified":"2026-01-14T11:53:19","modified_gmt":"2026-01-14T11:53:19","slug":"womens-college-basketball-midseason-all-american-team-who-joins-strong","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/535939\/","title":{"rendered":"Women’s college basketball midseason All-American team: Who joins Strong?"},"content":{"rendered":"

A little more than halfway through the women\u2019s college basketball season, UConn\u2019s Sarah Strong<\/a> looks like the best player in the nation.<\/p>\n

Strong was the lone unanimous choice to our USA TODAY Sports midseason All-American team with about two months to go until Selection Sunday. The Huskies (17-0) continue to hold down the top spot in the USA TODAY Sports women’s college coaches poll<\/a>. UConn, the defending national champion, has won 34 straight dating back to last season.<\/p>\n

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USA TODAY Sports staffers Heather Burns, Meghan Hall, Cydney Henderson and Mitchell Northam voted on the team. Here\u2019s who else made the cut and who got honorable mention:<\/p>\n

USA TODAY COACHES POLL: Texas falls, LSU rises six spots in women’s basketball coaches poll<\/a><\/p>\n

Sarah StrongUConn, Jr., Forward<\/p>\n

Strong is the motor for a UConn squad that is one of three remaining undefeated teams. The 6-foot-2 sophomore forward is often called a unicorn and has drawn comparisons to Nikola Jokic for her ability to do seemingly everything at a high level. She can bang in the paint with bigs, drain 3-pointers, bring the ball up the floor, dish out assists and pick an opponent’s pocket.<\/p>\n

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The versatile yet quiet UConn star is averaging 18.4 points, 8.1 rebounds, 4.6 assists, 3.7 steals and 1.4 blocks per game while shooting 60% from the floor, 42.4% from 3-point land and 88.9% from the free throw line. In addition to flirting with a 50-40-90 season, Strong leads the nation in win shares (4.6) and defensive rating (55.6), and is fourth in points-per-scoring-attempt (1.39).<\/p>\n

\"UConn<\/p>\n

UConn Huskies forward Sarah Strong (21) shoots for three points against the Providence Friars during the first half at the Amica Mutual Pavilion.<\/p>\n

Hannah Hidalgo Notre Dame, Jr., Guard<\/p>\n

Hidalgo is doing everything for Notre Dame, averaging 5.9 steals \u2014 first in the country \u2014 and 25.1 points a game, good for second. The two-time ACC Defensive Player of the Year has a chance to win the national award this season and recently wreaked havoc on North Carolina in a win in South Bend.<\/p>\n

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\u201cHidalgo was a real problem,\u201d Tar Heels coach Courtney Banghart said on Sunday. \u201cObviously, she disrupted us in all ways, I think most of (Notre Dame\u2019s) 27 points off turnovers was because of her. And then I thought offensively, she was able to really pick on all types of all screen coverages.”<\/p>\n

\"Feb.<\/p>\n

Feb. 17: Notre Dame’s Hannah Hidalgo (3) goes up for a shot as Duke’s Oluchi Okananwa (5) defends during the first half at the Purcell Pavilion. Notre Dame won the game, 64-49.<\/p>\n

Madison BookerTexas, Jr., Forward<\/p>\n

Booker is the bus-driver for Texas and second in win shares to only Strong while averaging 19.2 points, 7.3 rebounds and 4.1 assists per game. She\u2019s shooting a career-best 51.8% from the floor and also averaging 2.6 steals per game.<\/p>\n

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Texas looks like a team capable of making the Final Four again and Booker’s play is a big reason. The Longhorns just endured their first loss of the season on Sunday, falling 70-65 at LSU, but Booker\u2019s 24 points and seven rebounds kept them in the game.<\/p>\n

\"Texas<\/p>\n

Texas forward Madison Booker is averaging 19.2 points a game.<\/p>\n

Mikayla BlakesVanderbilt, Soph., Guard<\/p>\n

Vanderbilt has climbed to No. 5 on the USA TODAY Sports women\u2019s basketball coaches poll<\/a>, thanks in large part to Mikayla Blakes. The 5-foot-8 guard has powered the Commodores to a 17-0 start, which matches the best in program history. Blakes leads the SEC with 24.9 points a game, ranked third in the nation. She has reached double-digit points in every game this season and has recorded four 30-point games, including a 32-point performance in Vanderbilt\u2019s comeback victory over No. 5 LSU.<\/p>\n

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\"Vanderbilt<\/p>\n

Vanderbilt guard Mikayla Blakes scored 55 points against Auburn last season to set NCAA single-game freshman record.<\/p>\n

Audi CrooksIowa State, Jr., Center<\/p>\n

Audi Crooks has been unstoppable this season. The 6-foot-3 center is leading the nation with 28.3 points per game, all while shooting a staggering 69.8% from the field, which ranks second in the country. Crooks has scored double-digit points in 83 straight games, the longest active streak in NCAA women’s basketball, and has surpassed the 40-point mark three times this season. The Cyclones opened the season 14-0, before stumbling in conference play. Iowa State dropped three consecutive games, although Crooks recorded double-doubles in each of those matchups. She’s up to seven double-doubles on the season.<\/p>\n

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\"Iowa<\/p>\n

Iowa State’s Audi Crooks (55) celebrates a basket.<\/p>\n

Honorable mentions<\/p>\n

The USA TODAY app gets you to the heart of the news \u2014 fast.\u00a0Download for award-winning coverage, crosswords, audio storytelling, the eNewspaper and more<\/a>.<\/p>\n

This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Women’s college basketball midseason All-American led by UConn star<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"A little more than halfway through the women\u2019s college basketball season, UConn\u2019s Sarah Strong looks like the best…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":535940,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3723],"tags":[25911,7,63931,217,73838,4116,4258,25914,27963,231,772,1544,1773,6115,2098,2378,922,8837],"class_list":["post-535939","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-ncaa-basketball","tag-audi-crooks","tag-basketball","tag-coaches-poll","tag-college-basketball","tag-cydney-henderson","tag-hannah-hidalgo","tag-lsu","tag-madison-booker","tag-mikayla-blakes","tag-ncaa","tag-ncaa-basketball","tag-ncaab","tag-north-carolina","tag-sarah-strong","tag-texas","tag-the-huskies","tag-uconn","tag-usa-today-sports"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@nba\/115893319222708722","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/535939","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=535939"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/535939\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/535940"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=535939"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=535939"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=535939"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}