The UConn Huskies are 34-0 and ranked among the Associated Press All-Americans. UConn’s Sarah Strong and Azie Forde become the 10th teammates named to the first team and the first since Oregon’s Sabrina Ionescu and Ruthie Hebard were named to the first team in 2020.
Strong and Forde have shouldered the load for UConn this season. Strong averaged 18.5 points, 7.6 rebounds, 4.1 assists, 3.4 steals and 1.6 blocks per game. To put that into perspective, Strong leads UConn in every one of those categories except assists, and she trails only KK Arnold, the team’s assist leader, by 0.7 in assists. As a sophomore, she shot 60.1% from the field and 42.7% from three-point range.
advertise
Ford followed closely behind, averaging 17.7 points, 3 assists and 2.6 rebounds per game, shooting 48.9% from the field and 44.6% from three-point range. Strong and Forde join Vanderbilt’s Mikaela Blacks, UCLA’s Lauren Bates and Texas’ Madison Booker on the first team.
Blake leads the NCAA in scoring, averaging 27 points per game. Betts was the Big Ten Player of the Year, a first-team selection and won the league’s Defensive Player of the Year award for the second consecutive year. She helped UCLA to a 31-1 season and its second straight Big Ten title.
Booker was also named first-team All-Pro for the second consecutive year and helped lead Texas to an SEC Championship Game victory over South Carolina in the championship game.
The second team includes Notre Dame’s Hannah Hidalgo, South Carolina’s Joyce Edwards, TCU’s Olivia Myers, Iowa State’s Audie Crooks and Ohio State’s Jaloni Cambridge. The third team consisted of LSU’s Frauje Johnson, Michigan’s Olivia Olson, UCLA’s Kiki Rice, Duke’s Toby Fournier and South Carolina’s Raven Johnson. Honorable mentions went to Kentucky’s Clara Strike, Texas’ Rory Harmon and Mississippi State’s Cody McMahon.