Tennessee guard Mia Pauldo has earned United States Basketball Writers Association (USBWA) Tamika Catchings National Freshman of the Week honors for the second time this season, the organization announced on Tuesday afternoon.
The Southeastern Conference also announced its weekly women’s basketball awards, and Pauldo claimed SEC Freshman of the Week accolades for the second time as well. Pauldo was a co-winner of those honors for the first time earlier this season on Dec. 16.
Pauldo averaged 22.0 points, 3.5 assists, 3.0 rebounds and 2.0 steals last week while shooting 54 percent from the field and 90 percent at the free-throw line in the Lady Vols’ victories over Mississippi State and Arkansas to remain unbeaten in league action.
A 5-foot-6 freshman from Paterson, N.J., Pauldo has scored in double figures in seven of her last eight contests, registering career bests in points on four occasions. She has increased her season scoring average to 11.4 to rank fourth for UT and is putting up 15.5 ppg. in league games to rank second for the Big Orange, No. 12 among SEC players and No. 2 among SEC freshmen.
The most recent career-best scoring effort for Pauldo came at Mississippi State on Thursday night in Starkville, as she connected on eight of 12 shots, including 2-of-5 accuracy from long range, and 8-of-9 marksmanship from the free-throw line to score 26 points and lead Tennessee to a 90-80 triumph. Pauldo had 12 points alone in the second quarter, fueling the Lady Vols to a 10-point halftime lead they would never relinquish. She also contributed three assists, two steals and two rebounds as UT improved to 5-1 in road games in 2025-26.
On Sunday, Pauldo fired in 18 points on a 7-for-16 day from the field, knocking down a team-best three treys to spur the Big Orange to an 85-50 runaway victory over Arkansas. She chipped in four rebounds and four assists to the cause and helped Tennessee hold the Razorbacks to 27.3-percent shooting and only 50 points, marking the lowest SEC regular-season single-game efforts in those statistical categories by foes during the Kim Caldwell era.
Pauldo, whose scoring has helped UT to a 7-0 record at home, a five-game winning streak and seven victories in their last eight outings, also ranks third among all SEC players (top freshman) in league games in free throw percentage (.950) and seventh (top freshman) in assist-to-turnover ratio (2.17). Her development has been key to her Lady Vols standing 12-3 overall, 4-0 in SEC play and No. 17 in the NET rankings.
The rookie and her teammates will next see action on Sunday, as they travel to Tuscaloosa to take on No. 21 Alabama (17-1, 3-1 SEC) in Coleman Coliseum at 1 p.m. CT (2 p.m. ET). The contest will be televised by SEC Network and available on Lady Vol Radio Network stations and via live audio stream on UTSports.com.
