Emily Syverud barely had time to celebrate last year when she received the $150,000 grand prize for winning the inaugural Just Women’s Sports x DICK’S Sporting Goods March Madness Bracket Challenge.

Syverud was on vacation when she heard the news that, out of 17,611 participants, she had submitted the winning bracket for the 2022 NCAA Women’s Tournament. From there, she came home, graduated from medical school at the University of Minnesota, got married, went on her honeymoon and started residency in Minneapolis for internal and emergency medicine.

Since then, she’s had time to exhale and reflect on the significance of her accomplishment, which included the largest prize ever awarded in women’s college basketball.

“It was life-changing,” Syverud, 27, told JWS in a recent conversation. “My husband and I still laugh about it all the time, like, remember when I won $150,000? It’s just such a ridiculous amount of money for anybody, and especially coming out of med school with debt.

“So all of a sudden, having that money just let me relax and enjoy things, and do some more fun things that I otherwise probably wouldn’t have done.”

Congratulations to our @DICKS NCAA Tournament Bracket Challenge Winner, Emily Syverud!

Emily picked @Gamecockwbb to go all the way and took home the grand prize of $150K.

Read more about Emily and her winning strategy at the link below

— Just Women’s Sports (@justwsports) April 8, 2022

One of those spontaneous activities happened in December. Unable to use some of the money toward upgrading their honeymoon flights to St. Lucia, Syverud surprised her husband with plane tickets to Switzerland for a ski trip for his 30th birthday.

Of the remaining $150,000, Syverud has donated to Keystone Community Services, a nonprofit in St. Paul, Minn. that runs food shelters, senior programming and after-school youth activities. She’s also set up recurring donations to other organizations she and her husband are passionate about and has paid off some of her student loans.

As the 2023 NCAA Tournament approaches, with the second annual Bracket Challenge featuring the same $150,000 grand prize, Syverud’s friends have been asking her for the secrets to her success.

JWS Bracket Challenge: Sign up for a chance to win $150,000!

As a relatively new fan of women’s college basketball, she likes that she can be an inspiration for others who are looking to get involved for the first time.

“It will sound cheesy, but I just tell them to go read Just Women’s Sports,” Syverud said. “Because that’s literally what I did, and that’s what I do when I’m scrolling on my phone. If I don’t want to be on Instagram for hours, I just go on the JWS website and read articles.”

Syverud has No. 1 South Carolina pegged as the favorite to win it all again this year. She’s high on reigning National Player of the Year Aliyah Boston and the Gamecocks’ depth. But she also has her eye on Caitlin Clark at Iowa and UConn, who played South Carolina close in February won the Big East tournament championship this week despite being ravaged by injuries to their roster.

Other than reading up on the top programs, Syverud advises participants to familiarize themselves with the teams outside of the Power 5 conferences for possible upset bids, and when in doubt, to trust their instincts.

“At the end of the day, it’s like, yes, you need to know some things about basketball and know some things about the teams that are playing,” she said. “But some of it, too, you’ve just gotta go with your gut and trust yourself to make a good choice.”

Still, Syverud doesn’t want to give away all her secrets. She plans to enter the Bracket Challenge again this year and prove her big win wasn’t a fluke.

“My family and friends are all kind of like, ‘Emily, did you really know anything or are you just BSing all of us?’ So I mean, not that I think I’ll win again,” she said, “but just to prove I’m gonna make some good choices in my bracket again and I’m gonna prove to you all that I do know some things about basketball.”

Syverud expects most of her residency class to sign up and fill out brackets in March. For them and everyone else participating this year, she has one final piece of guidance.

“It’s exciting to have the Bracket Challenge, it’s exciting to have such a big prize, but let’s also get eyeballs on the games and show people that people want to watch women’s sports,” she said.

“So fill out your bracket and participate, but then also go watch the games and cheer your teams on.”

Hannah Withiam is the Senior Managing Editor at Just Women’s Sports. Follow her on Twitter @HannahWithiam.

Expansion team WNBA Golden State has officially brought on New York Liberty assistant GM Ohemaa Nyanin as general manager, the team announced in a Monday afternoon statement.

The move marks one of the first major personnel hires for the highly anticipated franchise, set to begin league play in 2025. Nyanin will oversee all basketball operations for the Bay Area addition, including building out the roster, shaping the team, and developing talent. 

Nyanin joins team president Jess Smith and senior vice president of marketing and communications Kimberly Veale in the WNBA Golden State front office.

"Ohemaa is the perfect fit to lead our WNBA basketball operations as we prepare for our inaugural season in 2025," Warriors co-executive chairman and CEO Joe Lacob said in the release. "As we moved through the GM hiring process, it became more apparent each day how impressive and well-versed Ohemaa is in all facets of the business, and as a person."

Nyanin was with the Liberty for more than five years, most recently serving as the team’s assistant general manager. Prior to that, she spent five years as the assistant director of the women’s national team at USA Basketball, helping to oversee team operations through gold medal wins at the 2016 Summer Olympics in Rio and the 2018 FIBA Women's Basketball World Cup.

"I am truly honored to be chosen as the first general manager of WNBA Golden State," Nyanin said. "Throughout the interview process, it was clear that bringing a WNBA team to the Bay Area was meticulously thought out and those involved are motivated changemakers who will be proactive in growing the league. I look forward to joining this franchise and building a competitive basketball team that the fans deserve."

In a July 2023 profile published by The Next, Liberty assistant coach Roneeka Hodges described Nyanin as the New York team's “Ms. Make-it-Happen."

"She’s a jack of all trades," added Hodges, while Liberty GM Jonathan Kolb paid Nyanin a particularly prophetic compliment.

"She needs to be a general manager in this league," Kolb said. "Full stop, it needs to happen, and that’s her goal."

Chelsea began Sunday with their WSL title hopes a distant dream... before closing out the weekend right back in the thick of the title chase.

The Blues made a last-ditch effort to claim their fifth consecutive Barclays WSL title on Sunday with an 8-0 win over relegation-bound Bristol City. The victory came after a visiting Arsenal upset current table-toppers Manchester City at Joie Stadium, besting the home side 2-1 on back-to-back goals from Stina Blackstenius. With the win, the third-place Gunners re-opened the door for Chelsea to finish level at the top of the table on points.

Chelsea remains second in the standing, with 49 points to Manchester City's 52. But the barrage of goalscoring over the weekend could be enough to overtake City's potential tiebreak advantage in goal differential, leaving even coach Emma Hayes in awe.

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Chelsea holds a game in hand, but the Blues will need to win their May 15th match against Tottenham to give them a shot at the title. Should they take all three points, the title race will come down to the final weekend, when Chelsea squares off with Manchester United while City faces Aston Villa on Saturday, May 18th. 

Set to take over the USWNT in June, Hayes acknowledged the likelihood of finishing out her time at Chelsea with zero trophies, after losing in both the Conti Cup final and UWCL semifinal last month. But for now, her initial pessimism has subsided.

"Let me be clear, it's not f*****g over," Hayes said after coaching her last home match with Chelsea on Sunday. "There's no time for sentimentality, all work drinks are canceled. There's a title to be won.

"This group of players taught me something so special this week — that you never ever give up."

A WNBA League Pass error left fans scrambling to watch Angel Reese and Kamilla Cardoso make their preseason debuts for the Chicago Sky in Minneapolis on Friday. 

Despite indicating streaming availability via YouTube before tip-off, the evening’s game was later removed from the league’s platform. With no streaming options — along with no live TV broadcast — WNBA fan Alli Schneider began livestreaming the game on X from her seat inside Target Center. As many as 400,000 people logged on to watch the game live, and by Saturday, the resulting two-hour video had amassed over 2 million total views. 

In the lead-up to the preseason showdown, fans on both sides voiced frustrations over the WNBA's error. The league apologized in response, saying their app was "incorrectly showing that every preseason game (including CHI vs MIN) is available on League Pass."

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"The growth is happening so fast, it’s so accelerated. Business as usual isn’t going to work anymore, you’re going to get left behind," Reeve said of the blunder. "This is an example... We have to capitalize on those things."

Sky coach Teresa Weatherspoon echoed Reeve's sentiments, calling it "awesome" that so many fans followed along via Schneider's DIY livestream.

"We would love for us to be on and for everyone to take a look, especially for this team, you have a great group of young women who are exciting to watch play," said Weatherspoon. "Tonight we had an opportunity to kind of get a feel for where we are and what we need to do. It’s awesome to know that a lot of people really tuned in."

On the court, Reese had a near double-double in her first professional outing, notching 13 points and nine rebounds in 24 minutes. A viral pass inside to set up fellow rookie Cardoso's bucket served as the icing on the cake. The Sky ultimately lost to the Lynx 92-81, despite Minnesota newcomer Alissa Pili netting just two points and one rebound in 13 minutes of playing time.

Due to overwhelming fan demand, the WNBA confirmed today that it will indeed stream the Sky's next preseason game against the New York Liberty on League Pass. The two teams square off on Tuesday, May 7th at 8 PM ET.

The Caitlin Clark WNBA era has officially begun, with the star-studded rookie making her preseason debut with the Indiana Fever on Friday. 

Clark scored a team-leading 21 points — including five threes — and recorded a game-high 16 points at the half. But it was Arike Ogunbowale who got the last word for Dallas, knocking down a splashy buzzer-beating three-pointer in front of the sold-out crowd to deliver the Wings the 79-76 win.

"I think there's gonna be a lot to go back and look at and learn from, because a lot of it is kind of different from college," Clark said shortly after the Fever's loss. "Just from, you know, a technique standpoint or you know, scheme standpoint, and what we do is not always always going to be the same. So I think those are the biggest things, but I think overall, I just played really hard and that's always something to be proud of."

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For Clark, the biggest transition challenges lie in WNBA's physicality and talent levels. 

"No matter who steps into the game, you can never really relax, because that’s how competitive the league is," she added.

Fever coach Christie Sides also commented on's Clark on-court adjustment in her postgame remarks. Noting that the team will have to take steps to protect their star as she navigates the W's upgraded athleticism, Sides shared that at one point in the game, Clark was "completely gassed" and called for a sub. 

"We have to do better, we can't let her get to that point," Sides said. "She just won't be able to last and the way people are guarding her — I mean, she's seeing a double team, she's seeing hard hedges, they're being real physical with her. That's how it's going to be for her. And so we've got to make sure we're doing what we can to protect her so she's able to go into fourth at the same level she is in the first."

Clark wasn't the only rookie making their pro debut in Dallas that night. Ohio State ace Jacy Sheldon racked up six points and one rebound in her 13 minutes on the court (plus an unfortunate viral moment), but the breakout performance of the night went to Jaelyn Brown, a Cal grad who went undrafted in 2020 and spent the last few years playing overseas. On Friday, she carried the Wings to the finish line with 21 points in 29 minutes on 7-of-15 shooting.

After the game, Brown attested that she's "ready to compete" in an atmosphere that she "belongs in."

"I just try and treat it as any other game," she continued. "The crowd was amazing, it’s a little different from overseas, a little bit, but it’s the same game. I just [came] out there with a calm composure and did what I can do."