Iowa defeated Indiana 76-67 on Sunday to win the Big Ten tournament championship, one week after earning a share of the Big Ten regular season title. It was the first time in program history that the Hawkeyes have won both crowns in a single season.

Monika Czinano led the way for Iowa, scoring a game-high 30 points on 13-for-18 shooting and pulling down 10 rebounds to help the Hawkeyes pull away down the stretch.

Sweep Sweep Sweep 𝓥𝓲𝓬𝓽𝓸𝓻𝔂.#Hawkeyes x #B1GTourney pic.twitter.com/IvPrrLobxD

— Iowa Women's Basketball (@IowaWBB) March 6, 2022

Indiana hung tough throughout the game, with guard Nicole Cardaño-Hillary quieting Iowa star Caitlin Clark with her defense. Clark connected on just one of her seven attempted 3-point shots, but finished with 18 points to win tournament MVP

Four Indiana starters finished the game in double figures, led by Grace Berger’s 20 points, but as a team, Indiana shot just 37.7 percent to Iowa’s 50.

With the win, Iowa officially stamped its ticket to the NCAA Tournament.

The No. 1 Minnesota Lynx took care of business on Sunday, overcoming a halftime deficit to top the No. 4 Phoenix Mercury 82-69 and open the 2025 WNBA semifinals with a 1-0 series lead.

Lynx stars Courtney Williams, Kayla McBride, and Napheesa Collier combined for 62 of Minnesota's 82 points in the win, as the home side outscored the Mercury 42-22 in the second half.

"We've been through a lot of adverse situations in the last two years together — we always know it's a team effort," McBride said. "We know in those moments when we need to brainstorm."

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After ousting 2024 champs New York on Friday, Phoenix failed to execute as confidently against the No. 1 team in the league in Minneapolis.

"They made adjustments, and I still think we had a lot of open shots," Mercury forward Alyssa Thomas said. "I felt like it was similar to the last series, where we just didn't hit open ones."

Phoenix dominated the paint in the first half, but struggled from behind the arc throughout the game, hitting just three of their 23 attempted three-pointers.

How to watch the Phoenix Mercury vs. Minnesota Lynx in Game 2

The No. 1 Minnesota Lynx will host the No. 4 Phoenix Mercury again in Game 2 of the 2025 WNBA semifinals at 7:30 PM ET on Tuesday.

The clash will air live on ESPN.

The underdog run of the No. 6 Indiana Fever continued on Sunday, as the unlikely 2025 WNBA Playoffs contender took down the No. 2 Las Vegas Aces 89-73 to grab an early 1-0 lead in the pair's best-of-five semifinals.

Fever guard Kelsey Mitchell scored a game-high 34 points — the second-highest in franchise postseason history and the most by any WNBA player in their career semifinals debut — as the Aces suffered their worst home playoff loss since 2021.

"They played with a greater sense of urgency," Las Vegas head coach Becky Hammon said afterwards. "We couldn't catch up with their pace."

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Indiana is now on a three-game winning streak, barreling through the postseason despite losing five stars to season-ending injuries — including guard Caitlin Clark.

The Fever's defense proved key in Sunday's win, holding newly minted 2025 WNBA MVP A'ja Wilson to just 16 points off six made shots.

"We wanted to come in and be the aggressor right away, to make sure that we were dictating on the defensive end, and we were dictating from a pace standpoint," said Indiana head coach Stephanie White.

How to watch the Indiana Fever vs. Las Vegas Aces in Game 2

The No. 2 Las Vegas Aces will host the No. 6 Indiana Fever again in Game 2 of the 2025 WNBA semifinals on Tuesday.

The action will tip off at 9:30 PM ET, with live coverage on ESPN.

The first round of the 2025 WNBA Playoffs ends on Friday night, when the No. 4 Phoenix Mercury and No. 5 New York Liberty return to Arizona for a winner-take-all Game 3 — with a trip to the semifinals on the line.

"The message is, 'Everybody keep our heads up. This is a series, and Phoenix is a tough team,'" Liberty star Breanna Stewart said ahead of Friday's matchup.

Still battling an MCL sprain in her left knee, Stewart hopes for more quality time on the court to help New York bounce back from the Mercury's Game 2 blowout win.

While neither team has successfully defended at home so far, Phoenix will look for a boost from the Mercury fans as they try to oust the defending WNBA champs.

"It's just nice for everyone to get a home game," said Mercury forward Alyssa Thomas. "[But] in order to win a series, you got to win on the road."

"You see how competitive, how balanced this is," said Stewart, commenting on the league's new home-away-home first-round format. "How important it is for these kind of series to be going back and forth."

How to watch the New York Liberty vs. Phoenix Mercury in Game 3

It's win-or-go-home for both the No. 5 New York Liberty and No. 4 Phoenix Mercury in Game 3 of the 2025 WNBA Playoffs on Friday.

The high-stakes matchup will tip off at 9 PM ET, with live coverage on ESPN2.

The 2025 WNBA Defensive Player of the Year race ended in a tie on Thursday, as dominant seasons at both ends of the court saw Las Vegas Aces center A'ja Wilson and Minnesota Lynx forward Alanna Smith each receive 29 of the media panel's 72 total votes.

After finishing first this season in blocks per game (2.3), total rebounds (407), defensive rebounds (316), and combined steals and blocks (156), Wilson became just the fourth player in WNBA history named Defensive Player of the Year at least three times — adding this year's title to her previous 2022 and 2023 honors.

As for Smith, who picked up the award for the first time this year, the Lynx star ranked second overall in combined steals and blocks (135), third in both blocks per game (1.9) and total blocks (80), and tied for 10th in total steals (55) on the season.

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Also snagging votes were Seattle Storm forward Gabby Williams, who came in second with nine votes, as well as Phoenix Mercury triple-double phenom Alyssa Thomas and fellow Minnesota Lynx star Napheesa Collier, who received three and two votes, respectively.

The win by both Wilson and Smith marks the first time in history that the WNBA Defensive Player of the Year honor has ended in a tie, reflecting both the top-notch level of talent on display across the league as well as the hyper-competitive nature of the 2025 end-of-year awards race on display across multiple categories.

Next up on the league's awards docket is Saturday's Sixth Player of the Year announcement, followed by the highly anticipated reveal of the 2025 WNBA MVP on Sunday.