EVANSVILLE, Ind. – On Wednesday, it was announced that University of Southern Indiana Women's Basketball senior guard
Ali Saunders has been named a finalist for the 2026 Lilly Women's College All-Star Game.
Saunders has had a career season in 2025-26, leading the Screaming Eagles and ranking among the top of the Ohio Valley Conference with 18 points per game and over four assists per contest. Shooting the ball, the senior was third in the OVC in three-point percentage (37.9 percent) with 69 made threes. Saunders was top 15 in the nation and second in the OVC with an 89.5 free-throw percentage. The senior scored 20-plus in 13 outings, including three 30-point performances.
Earlier this season, Saunders set a USI record by making 41 consecutive free throws. Additionally, Saunders surpassed 1,000 overall career points and 1,000 career points while at USI, and she moved up to second on USI's all-time assists list.
The Depauw, Indiana, native earned All-OVC First-Team honors and OVC All-Tournament Team accolades within the last week.
The Women's College All-Star Game Watch List, presented by Lilly, is selected by a distinguished panel of national media experts to potentially compete in the national showcase event at Global Credit Union Arena on the campus of Grand Canyon University on April 4 in Phoenix, Arizona, during national championship weekend.
The 2026 Lilly Women's College All-Star Game will feature the top senior standouts. Of the 100-plus players that appear on the finalist list, 20 will ultimately be selected to participate in the event, which will be televised on ESPN2 at Noon CT.
Inclusion in this finalist list recognizes the outstanding achievements of all student-athletes and underscores their status among the most impactful and distinguished performers in the country.
The list features 107 players from 58 different schools across 19 conferences, with the strongest representation coming from the major power leagues. The SEC leads all conferences with 20 players, followed by the Big Ten with 17 and the Big 12 with 16, while the ACC contributes 12 players, meaning the four power conferences account for 64 total selections—well over half of the entire list. Strong mid-major representation is also present, led by the American Athletic Conference with 7 players, the Atlantic 10 with 6, and the Sun Belt with 3, while additional contributors include the Big East (6) and America East (4).
At the school level, UCLA leads all programs with six players on the finalist list, reflecting the program's depth and national prominence. Several schools place four players each, including South Carolina, Kentucky, and Michigan State, while UConn, Baylor, Clemson, TCU, and Texas Tech each contribute three players. Numerous other programs—including Alabama, Duke, LSU, Maryland, Oklahoma, Oklahoma State, Richmond, Tennessee, UC Irvine, Vanderbilt, Vermont, and West Virginia—have multiple players represented, highlighting the wide geographic and competitive spread of talent across both power conference and mid-major programs nationwide.
Intersport launched the inaugural Women's Basketball Coaches Association (WBCA) All-Star Challenge in 1998, which the WBCA operated through 2006. The Chicago-based agency was also a longstanding partner with the Women's Basketball Hall of Fame and ESPN in staging the prestigious Women's Tip-Off Classic, which annually featured the sport's top programs in high-profile matchups as part of ESPN's early-season programming. Today, Intersport continues to operate major men's and women's college basketball events throughout the season, including the CBS Sports Classic, the Elevance Health Women's Fort Myers Tip-Off, Skechers Greenbrier Tip-Off, and other major showcase events that will be broadcast across CBS, FOX, NBC, ESPN, FS1, and more.
More information about the 2026 Lilly Women's College All-Star Game can be found at womenscollegeallstar.com.
