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Rick Nixon, NCAA.com | November 15, 2023

Kamilla Cardoso headlines season's first women's basketball starting five of the week

Women's basketball rankings: South Carolina tops Power 10 after dominant start

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.

⛹️‍♀️ MORE WOMEN'S COLLEGE BASKETBALL ⛹️‍♀️
 

Kamilla Cardoso, South Carolina

USA Today Sports Images Kamilla Cardoso
South Carolina senior center Kamilla Cardoso figured prominently in the Gamecocks’ two top-15 victories that opened the season and propelled them to the No. 1 position in the latest Associated Press Top 25 poll.
 
Cardoso was the Gamecocks’ top scorer and rebounder as they opened the season with a scoring margin of +33.5 in wins scored over No. 10 Notre Dame (100-71) and No. 14 Maryland (114-76). Cardoso averaged a double-double for the week, shooting 66.7 percent from the field.
 
In the season opener against Notre Dame on Nov. 6 in Paris, Cardoso turned in the program’s first 20-point, 15-rebound effort since Aliyah Boston surpassed those marks in the 2022 NCAA Women’s Final Four game against Louisville. Cardoso, who also blocked four shots in the game, pulled down 10 of her 15 boards in the first half, including eight in the second quarter as the Gamecocks dominated the period 24-8. She scored 13 of her 20 points in the third quarter, including eight in the first four minutes of the period.
 
In the Gamecocks’ home opener against Maryland, Cardoso was a steadying force on the inside with 12 points to keep the defense in the lane for the Gamecocks’ 3-point shooters. South Carolina (2-0) had seven players in double figures. The 114 points scored against the Terrapins marked the most points scored against a ranked opponent in program history (previously 104 against Arkansas on Jan. 18, 2021).
 
South Carolina returns to action on Nov. 18, hosting Clemson.
 

Delanie Crawford, Tulsa

In Tulsa's 3-0 start to the season, Delanie Crawford averaged 21.7 points while shooting 57-percent from the field, 54-percent from 3-point range and 90-percent from the free throw line. She also added 12 rebounds and six assists.
 
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

Senior Liza Karlen helped lead Marquette to a 2-0 start to the season, including a win over No. 23 Illinois, averaging 16 points and seven rebounds per game.
 
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 Athletics Saniyah Richards

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.

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