The college basketball season has already delivered upsets, debates and star performances, but before we shift focus to the upcoming NCAA Tournament, a little reflection is due.

Women’s college basketball in 2022 was full of eye-popping moments that deserve a second-look before the New Year.

South Carolina rises to the top

With Player of the Year and Defensive Player of the Year Aliyah Boston leading the way, South Carolina won its second title in program history in April, topping UConn in the national championship game. Destanni Henderson scored 26 points as the Gamecocks defeated the Huskies 64-49. The win also cemented South Carolina’s status as one of the top programs in college basketball, with the No. 1 team the favorite once again to win the 2023 title.

Coach Dawn Staley continues to recruit top talent — adding two more five-star players this season — and is a prominent voice when it comes to promoting the sport and supporting causes close to the community, such as the campaign to bring Brittney Griner home from Russia. This was certainly South Carolina’s year, but it won’t be the last time the Gamecocks dominate headlines.

Clark vs. Boston

South Carolina’s star eventually won out, but much of the year was devoted to the Player of the Year debate between Boston and Iowa’s Caitlin Clark. The Gamecocks junior averaged 16.8 points, 12.5 rebounds and 2.4 blocks per game, and her importance to the team on both ends of the floor helped solidify her case for the award. Meanwhile, the sophomore Clark led the country in assists and points, averaging 27 points, eight assists and eight rebounds per game. She wowed spectators with her scoring ability, particularly the logo 3-pointers that have become synonymous with Clark’s game. The POY debate has roared on into the 2022-23 season, with the upperclassmen leading the race once again.

Year of upsets

The 2022 NCAA Tournament ended with two giants battling for the title in South Carolina and UConn, but the postseason itself was packed with shocking results and new names. Perhaps the biggest upset of all came in the second round, when No. 10 Creighton defeated No. 2 Iowa in the waning minutes of the game. Lauren Jensen, an Iowa transfer, stunned the Hawkeyes when she hit a go-ahead 3-pointer with 15 seconds left to help the Bluejays clinch a spot in the Sweet 16.

10-seed Creighton upsets 2-seed Iowa!

Iowa transfer Lauren Jensen nailed the game winner against her former squad. pic.twitter.com/vnHENmldNR

— SportsCenter (@SportsCenter) March 20, 2022

And that was far from the only upset. A few more highlights: No. 12 Belmont topped No. 5 Oregon in double overtime in the first round, No. 11 Princeton tipped No. 6 Kentucky, and No. 10 South Dakota defeated Baylor in the second round.

NIL takeover

The Name, Image and Likeness rule that permits college athletes to profit off of their personal brand took effect for the 2021-22 season, and it didn’t take long for plenty of college basketball stars to take advantage.

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UConn’s Paige Bueckers signed deals with Bose, Crocs and Gatorade, while Miami transfers Haley and Hanna Cavinder monetized their Instagram and TikTok accounts and Clark signed on with Nike. Other athletes were able to capitalize on the rule at the local level, allowing players across the league to market themselves and make money. Of all athletes in the men’s and women’s Sweet 16 in March, women made up the majority of those with the highest earning potential on social media, according to Opendorse.

Transfers

The transfer portal burst with activity in 2022, with several high-profile players leaving their programs after the 2022 season. Maryland stars Angel Reese and Ashley Owusu departed for LSU and Virginia Tech, respectively, while former top recruit Saniya Rivers parted ways with South Carolina for NC State, to name a few.

The NCAA’s new one-time transfer rule, which allows players to change programs without sitting out a year, led to a record number of athletes in the portal in 2021 and 2022.

Eden Laase is a Staff Writer at Just Women’s Sports. Follow her on Twitter @eden_laase.

Longtime USWNT fixture Carli Lloyd took to Instagram Wednesday morning to announce that she’s pregnant with her first child. 

"Baby Hollins coming in October 2024!" she wrote. The caption framed a collaged image of baby clothes, an ultrasound photo, and syringes indicating what she described as a "rollercoaster" fertility journey.

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In a Women’s Health story published in tandem with Lloyd’s post, the Fox Sports analyst and correspondent opened up about her struggles with infertility and the lengthy IVF treatments she kept hidden from the public eye.

"Soccer taught me how to work hard, persevere, be resilient, and never give up. I would do whatever it took to prepare, and usually when I prepared, I got results," Lloyd told Women’s Health’s Amanda Lucci. "But I found out that I didn’t know much about this world. I was very naive to think that we wouldn’t have any issues getting pregnant. And so it began."

Lloyd went on to discuss her road to pregnancy in great detail, sharing the highs and lows of the process and expressing gratitude for the care and support her family and medical team provided along the way. She rounded out the piece with a nod toward others navigating the same challenges, encouraging people to share their own pregnancy journeys, painful as they may be.

"My story is currently a happy one, but I know there are other women who are facing challenges in their pregnancy journey. I see you and I understand your pain," she said. "My hope is that more and more women will speak up about this topic, because their stories helped me. I also wish for more resources, funding, and education around fertility treatments. There is much to be done, and I hope I can play a role in helping."

The 41-year-old New Jersey native retired from professional soccer in 2021, closing out her decorated career with 316 international appearances, the second-most in USWNT history, in addition to 134 international goals. A legend on the field, Lloyd walked away from the game with two World Cups, two Olympic gold medals, and two FIFA Player of the Year awards.

On Tuesday, FIFPRO announced the launch of Project ACL, a three-year research initiative designed to address a steep uptick in ACL injuries across women's professional football.

Project ACL is a joint venture between FIFPRO, England’s Professional Footballers’ Association (PFA), Nike, and Leeds Beckett University. While the central case study will focus on England’s top-flight Women's Super League, the findings will be distributed around the world.

ACL tears are between two- and six-times more likely to occur in women footballers than men, according to The Guardian. And with both domestic and international programming on the rise for the women’s game, we’ve seen some of the sport's biggest names moved to the season-ending injury list with ACL-related knocks.

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Soccer superstars like Vivianne Miedema, Beth Mead, Catarina Macario, Marta, and England captain Leah Williamson have all struggled with their ACLs in recent years, though all have since returned to the field. In January, Chelsea and Australia forward Sam Kerr was herself sidelined with the injury, kicking off a year of similar cases across women’s professional leagues. And just yesterday, the Spirit announced defender Anna Heilferty would miss the rest of the NWSL season with a torn ACL. The news comes less than two weeks after Bay FC captain Alex Loera went down with the same injury. 

Project ACL will closely study players in the WSL, monitoring travel, training, and recovery practices to look for trends that could be used to prevent the injury in the future. Availability of sports science and medical resources within individual clubs will be taken into account throughout the process.

ACL injuries in women's football have long outpaced the same injury in the men's game, but resources for specialized prevention and treatment still lag behind. Investment in achieving a deeper, more specialized understanding of the problem should hopefully alleviate the issue both on and off the field.

With recent transfers Talia von Oelhoffen and Kiki Iriafen joining first-team All-American JuJu Watkins and the nation’s No. 1 recruiting class at USC next season, the Trojans look to transition from an up-and-coming squad to a legitimate title contender. 

Former Oregon State graduate student von Oelhoffen is the latest collegiate talent to commit to the program, announcing her transfer Monday via ESPN. She follows ex-Stanford leading-scorer Iriafen in the jump to the pair’s one-time Pac-12 rival.

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The 5-foot-11 Washington native was a two-time All-Pac-12 guard during her time at Oregon State. But after the recent dissolution of the Pac-12, the Corvallis side found themselves without a permanent home conference going forward. Many big name players opted to take their skill elsewhere as a result, with von Oelhoffen’s fellow ex-Beaver Raegan Beers announcing her own departure to Oklahoma on Monday.

According to DraftKings, USC is now tied with UConn for the second-best betting odds to win the 2025 NCAA women’s tournament. Dawn Staley’s tested South Carolina side, poised for a repeat performance, holds down the number one spot.

Last year, LSU loaded up in the transfer portal after beating Iowa to win the 2023 national championship. The Tigers were clear favorites coming into the 2023-24 season, but were bounced in the Elite Eight by Caitlin Clark’s Hawkeyes. Shortly thereafter, star transfer Hailey Van Lith opted to transfer a second time, this time signing with TCU. 

Yet while history proves that an excess of star power doesn’t always translate to on-court chemistry, on paper, USC sure looks ready to hold their own — in 2025 and beyond.

The United States and Mexico have withdrawn their joint bid to host the 2027 Women’s World Cup, per a Monday afternoon release from U.S. Soccer and the Mexican Football Federation.

According to the statement, they will instead focus on developing a "more equitable" bid for the 2031 tournament, with the ultimate goal of "eliminating investment disparities" between the men’s and women’s tournaments.

The federations went on to cite the upcoming 2026 Men’s World Cup in the U.S., Canada, and Mexico as an opportunity to build support for local infrastructure, improve audience engagement, and scale up media and partnership deals in preparation to "host a record-breaking tournament in 2031."

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"Hosting a World Cup tournament is a huge undertaking — and having additional time to prepare allows us to maximize its impact across the globe," said U.S. Soccer President Cindy Parlow Cone. "Shifting our bid will enable us to host a record-breaking Women’s World Cup in 2031 that will help to grow and raise the level of the women’s game both here at home as well as across the globe."

The decision leaves just Brazil and a joint bid from Belgium, Germany, and the Netherlands in the running for the 2027 host spot. Brazil — the rumored frontrunner — has never hosted a Women’s World Cup, while Germany hosted the 2011 tournament as a solo venture. 

Furthermore, this postponement doesn’t mean the U.S. is a shoo-in for 2031, as it's been previously reported that 2022 UEFA Women's EURO host England is considering their own Women's World Cup bid. FIFA is scheduled to confirm the winning bid after the FIFA Congress votes on May 17th.