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Good morning! ☕️
We’ve got a great one tonight: No. 10 Iowa State and No. 11 Iowa meet in the Cy-Hawk rivalry with both teams still unbeaten. Tip-off is at 7 PM ET on ESPN.
What to Know About Women’s Basketball Today
1. A’ja Wilson Is TIME’s 2025 Athlete of the Year 👑
TIME has named A’ja Wilson its 2025 Athlete of the Year.
WHY IT MATTERS: Wilson has delivered one of the most dominant calendar years in recent memory: winning WNBA MVP, sharing Defensive Player of the Year, releasing her signature Nike A’Ones, and leading the Aces to another WNBA title. TIME’s recognition underscores what we already know: A’ja is one of the greatest to play the game.
And here’s an awesome note: this marks the second straight year a WNBA player has earned the honor, following Caitlin Clark in 2024.
2. UC Berkeley Launches Women’s Health & Performance Study 🔬
UC Berkeley has announced a first-of-its-kind, multi-year initiative collecting biometric data from women athletes to build injury-prevention models tailored specifically to female physiology. (KQED)
WHY IT MATTERS: For decades, women’s sports have faced a massive research gap, especially around injuries like ACL tears that disproportionately impact female athletes. With former UC president Janet Napolitano leading the effort and women’s sports medical experts like Dr. Cindy Chang involved, this initiative finally focuses on how women’s bodies move, recover, and get hurt. This could reshape how young athletes train and help prevent the injuries that have cut too many careers short.
3. Tamika Catchings Earns NCAA Silver Anniversary Award 🎖️
The NCAA has named Tamika Catchings a 2026 Silver Anniversary Award recipient, honoring the leadership and impact she made in the 25 years after her college career. (NCAA)
WHY IT MATTERS: Catchings has always given as much as she’s achieved. Her Catch the Stars Foundation has empowered Indianapolis youth for years through scholarships, mentorship, camps, and community events. In Tennessee, she established funds supporting students who need hearing aids and those studying audiology or speech pathology, a deeply personal mission rooted in her own hearing disability.
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OVERTIME ⏱️
You Betts: UCLA’s Lauren Betts is the new AP Player of the Week after posting 24 points, 14 boards, and 5 blocks vs. Oregon, earning a double-double by halftime.
Ivy League Ice: Perri Page had ice in veins (figuratively, of course) when she hit a winning layup with 0.5 seconds remaining to lift Columbia over Seton Hall.
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