There are simply 16 groups left within the 2025 ladies’s NCAA Event. This weekend, groups will battle in Birmingham, Alabama, and square-up in Spokane, Washington. When the mud lastly settles on Monday evening, we can have 4 groups going to the Closing 4.
Some groups, like TCU, are attempting to get there for the primary time. Others, like North Carolina and Duke, are attempting to finish lengthy droughts and have powerful paths forward.
Alongside the best way, stars could emerge for the primary time, whereas elite gamers will reestablish their standing with highlight-worthy performs and clutch moments.
Because the Candy 16 will get underway on Friday, these are the 16 gamers it’s worthwhile to watch. They’ll decide which groups get to the Closing 4.
16. Toby Fournier, Duke
The ACC Rookie of the 12 months didn’t play in Duke’s second-round win over Oregon as a result of an sickness, however she and coach Kara Lawson confirmed that she’ll play in Friday’s conflict with rival North Carolina, which is sweet information for the Blue Devils. In Duke’s win over UNC in late February, Fournier completed with 19 factors and 10 rebounds, notching simply the second double-double of her profession. She leads Duke in scoring this season and is thirteenth nationally in factors per 40 minutes with 26.8.
15. Chloe Kitts, South Carolina
The junior ahead for the Gamecocks has performed a few of her greatest basketball over the previous month, scoring in double figures in seven straight video games. She’s additionally averaging 9.1 rebounds and three.7 assists over that stretch, giving South Carolina consistency and reliability within the put up. For her play in Greenville, S.C., earlier this month, she was voted MVP of the SEC Event.
14. Shyanne Sellers, Maryland
Brenda Frese introduced in seven transfers final offseason to revamp Maryland’s roster, however the fixed that is still is Sellers. She’s the bus driver for this workforce that can face South Carolina on Friday night, and if the Terps hope to win they’ll want Sellers to play effectively. The senior guard is considered one of simply three gamers nationally averaging a minimum of 14 factors, three rebounds and 4 assists per sport whereas capturing higher than 40 % from 3-point land. The others – Paige Bueckers and Olivia Miles – are on this checklist too. Sellers means simply as a lot to her workforce as they do to theirs.
13. Alyssa Ustby, North Carolina
The fifth-year ahead is the center and soul of this Tar Heels workforce, which is within the Candy 16 for the second time within the Courtney Banghart period. Among the finest rim-runners within the nation, Ustby owns North Carolina’s all-time rebounding file and the one triple-double in program historical past. She’s coming off a win in opposition to West Virginia the place — in her ultimate sport in Chapel Hill — she tallied 21 factors, seven rebounds, 4 steals and three blocks. The Tar Heels will go so far as Ustby can take them.
12. Reagan Beers, Oklahoma
A giant motive why Oklahoma is within the Candy 16 for the primary time since 2013 is due to Beers, who’s ninth within the nation in area objective share with a clip of 64.5 %. The junior middle averages 17.5 factors, 9.3 rebounds and 1.2 blocks per sport. She’s the most effective combos of inside scorer, rebounder and rim protector enjoying within the sport in the intervening time.
11. Flau’Jae Johnson, LSU
The electrical and entertaining junior guard for the Tigers leads the workforce in scoring with 18.8 factors per sport to go together with 5.7 rebounds, 2.4 assists and 1.7 steals per sport. Johnson is the one participant within the nation that shoots higher than 46 % from the ground, 37 % from 3-point land and 80 % from the free throw line whereas averaging a minimum of 18 factors and 5.5 rebounds per sport.
10. Hailey Van Lith, TCU
A fifth-year guard at her third faculty, Van Lith is having fun with arguably the very best season of her profession. She’s averaging 17.7 factors and a career-best 5.5 assists per sport as she’s led TCU to its first Huge 12 title and first-ever look within the Candy 16. Whether or not or not they will go any additional can have quite a bit to do with how Van Lith performs.
9. Kiki Iriafen, USC
Following the season-ending damage to famous person sophomore guard JuJu Watkins, Iriafen is now the bus driver for the Trojans. Whether or not they get to the Closing 4 or not rests on her play. We all know that Iriafen is able to carrying a workforce offensively although. Final yr for Stanford, she had 41 factors and 16 rebounds to guide the Cardinal previous Iowa State. On Monday evening in opposition to Mississippi State after Watkins went down, Iriafen piled up a season-high 36 factors to go along with 9 rebounds.
8. Aziaha James, N.C. State
For the second straight season, James is enjoying her greatest basketball in March. She’s averaging a career-high 18.1 factors per sport this season to pair with 4.9 rebounds and a pair of.6 assists. She totaled 26 factors in N.C. State’s second spherical win over Michigan State, and she or he’ll seemingly should put forth an identical efficiency for the Wolfpack to beat LSU.
7. Olivia Miles, Notre Dame
Probably a top-five decide on this spring’s WNBA Draft, Miles has raised her sport this season at Notre Dame, capturing a career-best 40.1 % from 3-point land whereas additionally averaging 15.5 factors, 5.8 rebounds and 5.9 assists per sport. Few gamers have the courtroom imaginative and prescient that Miles does, and she or he’s one piece of a three-headed-monster in Notre Dame’s backcourt.
6. Madison Booker, Texas
The bus driver for a Texas workforce that earned a No. 1 seed on this event, Booker improved her 3-point shot from her freshman to sophomore season by 11.8 %. She averages 16.4 factors, 6.8 rebounds and a pair of.8 assists per sport and was named SEC Participant of the 12 months.
5. Sarah Robust, UConn
Arguably the very best freshman within the nation this season — although Vanderbilt’s Mikayla Blakes has a robust case for that title — Robust has raised the ceiling for this UConn workforce as a rookie, offering them with a constant inside presence, filling the footwear left behind by Aaliyah Edwards. She averages 16.1 factors, 8.5 rebounds and three.5 assists per sport and has the second-best capturing share on 2-point photographs this season, making 68.9 % of her makes an attempt contained in the arc. Robust additionally leads the nation in win shares (8.4) and defensive ranking (83.9)
4. Aneesah Morrow, LSU
The nation’s main rebounder with 13.5 boards per sport, Morrow additionally averages 18.5 factors per sport and was tabbed as a First Group All-American by the USBWA. A flexible ahead with a robust offensive skillset, Morrow is a superb one-on-one participant with the power to attain within the paint with relative ease.
3. Hannah Hidalgo, Notre Dame
For an instance of how good Hidalgo is on each ends of the ground, contemplate she is fourth within the nation in scoring with 24.1 factors per sport and fourth in steals with 3.7 swipes per sport. The ACC Participant of the 12 months was sturdy for the Combating Irish in its opening weekend wins, piling up 45 factors, seven rebounds, eight assists and 7 steals in two video games.
2. Lauren Betts, UCLA
The 6-foot-7 middle is the nucleus of a Bruins’ workforce that has a program-record 32 wins this season. Betts took house Huge Ten Defensive Participant of the 12 months and Huge Ten Event MVP honors in UCLA’s first season within the league, whereas additionally incomes consensus First Group All-American honors.
1. Paige Bueckers, UConn
Who else may it have been? The 2021 Nationwide Participant of the 12 months, Bueckers shall be a consensus First Group All-American for the third time in her profession. This season, her ultimate one at UConn earlier than heading off to the WNBA, she’s the one participant within the nation (minimal 20 video games performed, a minimum of 20 minutes per sport) capturing a minimum of 50 % from the ground, 40 % from 3-point land and 90 % from the charity stripe. Ought to these numbers maintain, she would develop into simply the tenth collegiate participant since 2009 to hitch the unique 50-40-90 membership.