Hidalgo, Betts lead girls’s preseason All-America basketball workforce

Hannah Hidalgo of Notre Dame, Lauren Betts of UCLA and Madison Booker of Texas headline The Associated Press All-America girls’s school basketball workforce launched Tuesday.

The trio have been first-team All-Americans final spring after having stellar seasons. They have been joined on the preseason workforce this 12 months by UConn’s Sarah Strong and South Carolina’s Ta’Niya Latson. Latson transferred to the Gamecocks this 12 months after spending the primary three years of her profession at Florida State.

Hidalgo and Betts every earned 29 votes from from the 31-member nationwide media panel that chooses the AP Top 25 every week. Strong garnered 28 votes whereas Booker had 23 and Latson 14.

Hidalgo is coming off a season that noticed the gifted guard grow to be simply the fourth sophomore to earn All-America honors in her first two years. USC’s JuJu Watkins additionally achieved that feat final season, however is out for this 12 months whereas she’s recovering from a torn ACL she suffered within the NCAA event. Courtney Paris and Maya Moore have been additionally All-Americans their first two seasons.

Hidalgo averaged 23.8 factors, 5.0 rebounds and three.6 assists for the Fighting Irish final season. She will tackle an even bigger position this season with the lack of the opposite 4 starters to both the WNBA or the switch portal.

“I know the weight of that is heavy, the crown is super heavy,” Notre Dame coach Niele Ivey stated. “But I feel like she has done a great job of surrounding herself with the right network, the Notre Dame network, but also her family. She is very grounded with her family and her faith.”

Betts, a senior, helped UCLA attain No. 1 within the AP Top 25 for the primary time at school historical past final season. The 6-foot-7 middle averaged 20.2 factors and 9.5 rebounds to get the Bruins to their first Final Four earlier than they misplaced to Strong and UConn.

Strong had a sensational freshman season for the Huskies, serving to them win the varsity’s twelfth nationwide championship. She averaged 16.4 factors and eight.9 rebounds, and coach Geno Auriemma has stated she is even higher this 12 months. UConn is No. 1 within the preseason Top 25.

“Every day, there isn’t a day that goes by that one of the coaches and I don’t look at each other and go, ‘Man, there’s just something about her right now,'” Auriemma stated. “I can’t wait. I look forward to going to practice just to see what might happen next, some things she might pull off.”

Latson led the nation in scoring at Florida State final season, averaging 25.2 factors a recreation. With one 12 months left of eligibility, it isn’t nearly making an attempt to win a nationwide championship however getting ready for the WNBA. Coach Dawn Staley has had a number of success producing professionals, together with four-time WNBA MVP A’ja Wilson.

Latson should face Booker at the very least as soon as this season within the SEC. The Longhorns’ junior wing averaged 16.0 factors, 6.6 rebounds and a couple of.6 assists final season. Booker helped Texas attain the Final Four final season earlier than the Longhorns misplaced to South Carolina.

Betts, Hidalgo and Booker have been all first-team All-Americans final spring whereas Latson and Strong have been on the second workforce. The AP started releasing a preseason All-America workforce earlier than the 1994-95 season.