These women's basketball players started the season off with big-time performances and were named to NCAA.com's first starting five of the week.
Kamilla Cardoso, South Carolina
Delanie Crawford, Tulsa
In an 89-80 opening road win at Lindenwood, Crawford scored 35 points, the second-highest single-game total in program history and three points shy of the all-time Tulsa record. She shot 56-percent from the field, 50-percent from 3-point range and 87-percent from the line, while grabbing nine rebounds.
Crawford followed that with a 22-point, three rebounds and two assists in the 86-61 home-opening win against New Orleans on Nov. 10.
In the third game of the week against Northwestern State, the junior guard only played 15 minutes due to early foul trouble and ended with eight points and two assists as Tulsa prevailed 65-53.
Tulsa will next travel across town for a November 18 at Oral Roberts.
Liza Karlen, Marquette
Against the Fighting Illini this past Saturday, Karlen scored a game-high 22 points on 11-of-16 shooting, while grabbing four boards and registering an assist and a steal. Eight of her 22 points came in the fourth quarter as Marquette held off a late Illinois charge, winning 71-67. Her 11 made field goals were one shy of a career high.
In the season-opening 84-51 win on Nov. 6 against UT Martin, Karlen scored 10 points and grabbed 10 rebounds for her 14th career double-double. For the week she shot 65-percent from the field (15-of-23).
Marquette, 2-0, returns to play on November 15 at IUPUI.
Saniya Rivers, NC State
NC State junior guard Saniya Rivers averaged 22 points, seven rebounds, four assists and two steals in a pair of Wolfpack wins this week, including a career-high for points as NC State scored its first win over UConn in 25 years.
Rivers led all players on the floor in the highly-anticipated matchup with the then-second-ranked Huskies, finishing her night with a career high of 33 points. That scoring total marked the most for a Wolfpack player since Feb. 27, 2011, and Rivers rounded out her first career double-double with 10 rebounds in addition to five assists, three steals and three blocks. She became the first player in the last 25 years to have 30+ points, 10+ rebounds and 5+ assists against UConn.
The performance came off the heels of an 11-point, four-rebound, three-assist outing in the Wolfpack's season opener against Charlotte on Nov. 7. Rivers put up those numbers in just 18 minutes of action.
NC State, 2-0, cracked the AP Top 25 for the first time since Feb. 6, 2023, checking in at No. 14 in Monday's poll. The Wolfpack returns to action on Wednesday, Nov. 15, when it welcomes Elon to Reynolds Coliseum.
Savannah Wheeler, Middle Tennessee
Middle Tennessee fifth-year guard Savannah Wheeler, the preseason Player of the Year in Conference USA, leads the league in scoring at 18.3 points per game after week one as the Lady Raiders won two of three games.
Wheeler tallied 17 points, five rebounds and four assists in the Lady Raiders' 67-47 win over Memphis to open the season on Nov. 6. She went a 7-of-8 from the charity stripe and played all 40 minutes against the Tigers.
She followed that performance up with a team-high 23 points, seven rebounds, and six assists in Middle Tennessee's 93-48 win against Florida A&M on Nov. 9, which marked the program's 1,000th win, just the 25th program in NCAA Division I women's basketball to eclipse that mark. She shot 8-of-9 from the field, including a perfect 2-for-2 from beyond the arc and 5-of-5 from the charity stripe in just 26 minutes of action.
Wheeler capped the week off with 15 points in a hard-fought 65-60 loss to Princeton on Sunday in what was a matchup of two 2023 NCAA tournament teams.
In addition to scoring, Wheeler currently ranks second in CUSA in field goal percentage (.594) and free throws made (14) behind teammate Jalynn Gregory.
The Lady Raiders, 2-1, next head to the Bahamas to compete in the Battle 4 Atlantis. Their first game of the tournament is scheduled against Michigan on Saturday, Nov. 18.
