NCAA women’s basketball: 5 breakout players in 2025-26, including South Carolina’s Joyce Edwards

Each season in women’s college basketball presents the potential for new stars and breakout players. Last year, fans saw UCLA’s Lauren Betts blossom into an unquestionable First Team All-American and candidate for National Player of the Year. Harvard’s Harmoni Turner became one of the best players at the mid-major level, and Notre Dame’s Olivia Miles got even better after returning from her injury.

Players develop, change and improve. Watching that happen over the course of four seasons is one of the things that makes college basketball great.

Here are five players that could take the leap this season, become leaders for their teams and consequential factors in their leagues.

As a sophomore, Brooks was voted the ACC’s Most Improved Player after increasing her shooting percentages from the floor, 3-point range and the free throw line by noticeable margins. She also averaged five more points per game compared to her freshman season. As a junior, the Wolfpack are likely going to lean on her even more following the graduations of Aziaha James, Saniya Rivers and Madison Hayes. Brooks has shown flashes of being able to be the leader in the backcourt for the Wolfpack, like when she dropped 33 points in a win over Notre Dame, or when she piled up 21 points, seven boards and seven assists in a victory at Florida State. Expect Brooks to be the bus driver for Wes Moore’s Wolfpack this season.

Woolston didn’t play for the Cougars this past season as she was serving a mission for The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. In case you forgot about how talented she was as a freshman, consider this: Woolston was one of just two players in the country in the 2023-24 season to shoot better than 45% from behind the arc and make at least 2.5 3-pointers per game. The 5-foot-11 native of Utah has the chance to be one of the best 3-point shooters in the country this season, and the potential to create a dynamic backcourt pairing with reigning Big 12 Rookie of the Year Delaney Gibb.

Ranked as the fifth-best recruit in the 2024 class, Koval started in 10 of the 32 games she played in for Notre Dame last season, averaging 5.3 points, 4.7 rebounds and 1.7 blocks per game. She twice notched double-doubles, and had 10 games where she dished out multiple assists. Koval’s playing time became less consistent though over the last two months of the season as Notre Dame got healthier and had more options in the post. She’s going to LSU now where she’ll be coached by Kim Mulkey — who has a reputation for getting the most out of her post players — and where she’ll be the primary option in the paint. The 6-foot-5 center could be the beneficiary of passes from MiLaysia Fulwiley and Flau’Jae Johnson.

Joyce Edwards, South Carolina

An honorable mention All-American last season, Edwards could take a big step forward for South Carolina this year as they deal with another year without Ashlyn Watkins and the loss of Sania Feagin. The 6-foot-3 native of Camen, S.C., seemingly got better as her freshman season went on. She scored 21 points against Oklahoma in the SEC Tournament semifinals, then piled up 13 points, 11 rebounds and six assists in a Final Four victory over Texas. Edwards is coming off an impressive and busy summer where she featured for the U.S. national team at the AmeriCup and in the FIBA 3×3 Nations League.

The reigning WCC Freshman of the Year, Turner has the chance to become the next great Gonzaga player. As a rookie, Turner was 11th nationally in 3-pointers made per game with 3.1. She shot 45.7 percent from behind the arc and averaged 13.4 points, 3.3 rebounds and 3.6 assists per game. In games where Turner scored 19 points or more, Gonzaga went 5-1. The Bulldogs also went 5-1 in games where she knocked down at least five 3-pointers. Simply put, when Turner plays well, the Zags win big. And there’s room for the 5-foot-8 native of St. Louis to get even better.

Miami brought in a pair of three-level mid-major scorers via the transfer portal, bolstering its roster with Gal Raviv of Quinnipiac and Amarachi Kimpson of UNLV. Kimpson averaged 14.5 points per game on 50.7 percent shooting from the field and 37.4 percent from beyond the arc last year for UNLV. Raviv led all freshmen in women’s college basketball in minutes played per game this past season (36.2) and averaged 17.9 points, 5.5 rebounds and 4.3 assists per game. This summer, Raviv also set the FIBA U19 World Cup scoring record by averaging 26.3 points per game for Israel.

Katie Collins was the unanimous Ivy League Rookie of the Year last season at Penn and could help the Quakers contend in a tough mid-major conference this season. At North Carolina, Cierra Toomey and Blanca Thomas will aim to fill the shoes of Maria Gakdeng as a post-scorers and rim-protectors. Bri McDaniel is returning from an injury at Maryland, and Hannah Stuelke seems ready for a stellar senior season at Iowa.