BIG EAST notebook: Serah Williams’ leap, Bluejays youth movement

The 6’4 forward excelled at Niagara Prep, leading the Ontario Scholastic Basketball Association (OSBA) in blocks in 2019-20. She was named to the 2022 All-Canadian All-Star Game (the top 24 student-athletes in Canada) and also competed with Canada Elite before accepting a scholarship offer from Wisconsin. A two-time All-Big Ten First Team selection and the conference’s 2024 Defensive Player of the Year, Williams transferred to UConn for her final season of collegiate eligibility.

The Women’s Champions Classic at the Barclays Center on Saturday was a good test of how the New York native has transitioned to the role of UConn’s starting big. After UConn’s 90-64 win over No. 11 Iowa, UConn head coach Geno Auriemma offered a balanced assessment.

“There’s been an improvement … in her approach to what she wants to get accomplished,” Auriemma told reporters. “I think coming into a situation like ours … can be a little bit daunting — you know, where do I fit in, what [is] my role going to be? We talked a lot about impacting the game — whichever way, whatever that means. And I thought tonight was one of her better performances.”

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In 23 minutes of play against Iowa, Williams added 7 points, four rebounds and three blocks. Her length and defensive instincts disrupted the Hawkeyes’ post play and created second-chance opportunities for the Huskies.

She wasn’t brought to UConn to be a primary scorer — it already has Sarah Strong, Azzi Fudd and Blanca Quiñonez averaging, respectively, 26.7, 26.4 and 22.8 points per 40 minutes. Instead, Williams allows the Huskies to match up better against the nation’s elite bigs like Madina Okot at South Carolina and Lauren Betts at UCLA — teams poised to return to the Final Four this season.

The margins between the nation’s very top teams are a matter of inches, and adding length like Williams was a wise transfer portal tune-up from the technicians on UConn’s coaching staff.

“Iowa relies heavily on their inside game, and I thought [Serah] both getting us a couple buckets and some of the rebounds and blocked shots [was important]. Those are things that, when we decided that we wanted to add Serah [to the roster], we thought we really, really need more of a defensive presence,” Auriemma told reporters. “We need more of an offensive threat. And I think it takes time, and I think this last three weeks or so, she’s made a lot of progress.”

Williams is a formidable post presence on a reigning national championship Huskies squad already stacked with high-impact guards and wings. As the calendar turns to January, she’s steadily becoming the player she was brought to Storrs to be. Sunday’s performance in her hometown is proof.

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The future is now in Omaha

Ranked ESPN HoopGurlz No. 84 and No. 89, respectively, twin guards Neleigh and Norah Gessert arrived at Creighton having already made names for themselves in Omaha. Just 20 minutes down the road from Creighton’s campus, the 6′ guards guided Millard West High School to consecutive Nebraska state championships in 2024 and 2025. Over their final two high school seasons, they went 55-2.

Last November, with Creighton coming off a program-best third consecutive NCAA Tournament appearance, Neleigh and Norah chose to become Bluejays.

“I fell in love with Creighton from the very beginning, the first step on campus, I knew it would be home,” Norah said when she committed to the school. “Ever since I was a kid, Creighton has been nothing less than a dream school for me, and I can’t wait to be a Bluejay!”

Last week against Omaha, the twins combined for 40 points — a career-high-tying 25 points from Neleigh and a career-high 15 points from Norah — en route to a 92-48 victory over the Mavericks at Baxter Arena, Omaha’s home court.

“Because of the way they shot — hopefully they’re not thinking about leaving to come here and play in this gym,” Creighton head coach Jim Flanery joked with reporters after the game.

When asked about the transition to the college game, Norah acknowledged that it’s been a bit of an adjustment for the Bluejays, given that their roster consists of six freshmen out of 11 players.

“I feel like we got an early start in the summer, so that always helps,” Norah said. “But obviously, there’s a lot of differences from high school to college. Basically, everything’s 10 times faster. So I think it’s always a little rocky at first, but we’ve kind of talked about how we were kind of young at the beginning, but now we’re more in the season, so we’re not as young.”

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The Gessert twins aren’t the only freshmen making an immediate impact for the Bluejays. Freshman guard Ava Zediker moved into the starting line-up following the loss of senior guard Kiani Lockett on Nov. 20 to injury. Zediker made her mark right away, earning BIG EAST Freshman of the Week honors for the first week of December.

Zediker didn’t look much like a freshman in a 73-60 win over Tulsa on Dec. 7, notching a career-high 26 points, going 4-for-4 from beyond the 3-point line. She averages 11.6 points per game, good for second on the Bluejays, narrowly behind Neleigh Gessert‘s 12.3 points per game.

“They’re not only getting to play, they’re impacting whether we win or lose. … That’s a great thing for a freshman to have that opportunity, but it’s also a heavy responsibility,” Flanery told reporters. “I have to constantly remind them that that’s a responsibility.

“You don’t want [it] to be a heavy pressure, but you want them to put enough pressure on themselves to talk louder on defense and more forcefully on defense, and stay in … broken plays that you can get away with maybe in high school, not finishing a play that you can’t get away with in college.”

As he has for years, Jim Flanery has built a solid foundation of mostly local Midwest talent who have bought into a Creighton program now seeking a fifth-consecutive NCAA Tournament appearance. While the Bluejays have shown some growing pains in their 6-5 start to the season, it’s clear that their newcomers are ready to maintain the program’s standard of excellence — and that starts with making an impact on the court right away.

“[I’m] so happy and blessed to be able to coach them,” Flanery said. ” … We need them now — to win, not just to play.”

Howard Megdal and Jackie Powell of The IX Basketball contributed reporting to this story.