December 3, 2022
Locked on Women’s Basketball: Kiki Rice is the best freshman in the nation, Diamond Miller’s buzzer beater and more
By The Next
Did you miss some of the recent top-tier matchups in women's college basketball? Our team is here to catch you up!
The latest episode of Locked on Women’s Basketball features co-hosts Hunter Cruse, Em Adler and Joshua Welch discussing some of the exciting games and player performances recently in women’s college basketball. Those include Notre Dame-Maryland in the ACC/Big Ten Challenge, which the Terps’ Diamond Miller won on a buzzer beater, and UCLA-South Carolina, which nearly became the Gamecocks’ first loss of the season.
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Here are Hunter and Em’s thoughts on UCLA freshman guard Kiki Rice, who finished with 16 points and five rebounds against South Carolina but also earned a late technical foul:
Hunter: “The story will be how she ended the game. But over the course of the game, I mean, her downhill driving … I think she ranks in the 70th percentile in terms of rim finishing this year, which is — I mean, she’s a freshman.”
Em: “She had this hesi dribble. … It was a high pick-and-roll going from the sideline. She cuts it towards the baseline. She hits [South Carolina center] Aliyah Boston at just past the elbow with this hesi dribble. It forces Boston to take an extra step, and Rice just gets by her and hits the reverse [layup]. Crazy stuff.”
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Em was also at the PK85 tournaments in Portland, Oregon, over Thanksgiving and got to see teams such as UConn, Iowa, Iowa State and North Carolina live. Here are some of their thoughts on Iowa State’s 6’6 center, Stephanie Soares, and whether she is a WNBA prospect:
“Being able to be 6’6 and also shoot the three while being good at the rim, as she is, is really intriguing. And she’s not purely a foul machine, I think, on defense … [But] one thing that has stood out to me in the game, just watching it live, is the fact that she’s 6’6, but she finishes like she’s 6’2 or 6’3.”
To learn even more about the NCAA season, the WNBA Draft and so much else in the world of women’s basketball, subscribe to the Locked on Women’s Basketball podcast!
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