USC star JuJu Watkins and UConn’s Paige Bueckers headline The Associated Press preseason All-America women’s college basketball team released Tuesday that for the first time includes three sophomores in a clear sign of the young talent in a sport coming off a record year of fan interest.

Watkins and Bueckers were unanimous choices by the 30-member national media panel that selects the AP Top 25 each week. It’s the third appearance on the team for Bueckers, who also was a preseason choice in her sophomore season and last year.

The duo was joined by Hannah Hidalgo of Notre Dame, Madison Booker of Texas and Kiki Iriafen of USC. Watkins, Hidalgo and Booker are all second-year players.

“It’s unbelievable. Those players excelled as freshmen and their teams won. They did it in multiple ways,” USC coach Lindsay Gottlieb said. “It’s really exciting for the game and the future of it.”

Gottlieb’s stars, Watkins and Iriafen, are the first pair of teammates selected to the All-America team since 2017-18, when UConn had three of the five players chosen. Iriafen entered the transfer portal soon after Stanford Hall of Fame coach Tara VanDerveer announced her retirement in April.

“Kiki came because she wanted to play with JuJu, who recruited her because she wanted to play with Kiki,” Gottlieb said. “It’s exciting to see their personalities mesh.”

Bueckers averaged 21.9 points and 5.2 rebounds to help UConn reach the Final Four. UConn’s star has eligibility left after sporadic injuries, but has said this will be her last year in school. She finally had a healthy season last year for the Huskies after missing most of her sophomore year.

Watkins burst onto the national scene as a freshman last year and put up eye-popping numbers, averaging 27.1 points, second only to Iowa’s Caitlin Clark, and set the national record for a freshman with 920 points. She helped the Trojans reach the Elite Eight in their deepest NCAA Tournament run in three decades.

GOLF

Transgender golfer Hailey Davidson began the second stage of LPGA qualifying with a 78 as reports surfaced of 275 female players signing a letter asking top golf organizations to repeal policies that allow biological males to compete against women.

Outkick said the Independent Women’s Forum shared the letter sent Aug. 19 to the LPGA, the U.S. Golf Association and the International Golf Federation. The letter was sent three days before the pre-qualifying stage of Q-school.

Davidson, who narrowly missed out on a playoff during U.S. Women’s Open qualifying this year, tied for 42nd in LPGA pre-qualify to advance to the next stage.

The LPGA allows players who have undergone gender reassignment after puberty and meet hormone therapy requirements.

Golfweek obtained a memo from Commissioner Mollie Marcoux Samaan in August in which she informed LPGA and Epson Tour players the tour would conclude a review of its policy by the end of the year and have any changes implemented before next season.

The second stage of qualifying began at Plantation Golf and Country Club in Venice, Fla. The top 35 and ties advance to final qualifying. Any player who completes all four rounds gets limited status on the developmental Epson Tour.

Davidson’s round of 78 put her in a tie for 171st in the 194-player field.

NHL

Juuse Saros made 33 saves and the Nashville Predators ended their season-opening five-game losing skid with a 4-0 win over the Boston Bruins.

The shutout was the 25th of Saros’ career.

Lightning 8, Devils 5: Brandon Hagel had three goals for his second career hat trick, Victor Hedman scored twice and Tampa Bay rallied past New Jersey.

Sabres 4, Stars 2: Peyton Krebs and Ryan McLeod scored on consecutive shots 83 seconds apart in the second period, and Buffalo hung on to beat Dallas.

Wild 5, Panthers 1: Filip Gustavsson continued his sizzling start to the season by making 24 saves, Jake Middleton tied a career-best with three assists and Minnesota beat Florida.

Earlier in the day, coach Paul Maurice and the Panthers have agreed on a contract extension.

Capitals 4, Flyers 1: Nic Dowd and Andrew Mangiapane scored short-handed goals in the first period, Charlie Lindgren made 17 saves and Washington won its fourth straight. Philadelphia lost its fifth straight.

Red Wings 1, Islanders 0: Alex Lyon stopped 29 shots and Patrick Kane scored the lone goal as Detroit edged New York.

Jets 3, Blues 2: Connor Hellebuyck had 27 saves to spark undefeated Winnipeg. Scoring for the Jets were Nino Niederreiter, Colin Miller and Kyle Connor.

Canucks 6, Blackhawks 3: Danton Heinen scored two of Vancouver’s four first-period goals.