NASHVILLE — From competitive early rounds to a thrilling finish in the championship game Sunday, the SEC women’s basketball tournament delivered.

Here are my main takeaways from four days spent watching some of the best in the sport before the NCAA Tournament begins.

Kentucky shocked us all

Every program in the country strives to do what the Wildcats have accomplished these last few weeks, playing their best basketball at the right time. Kentucky bounced back from an underwhelming campaign to end the regular season and conference postseason on a 10-game win streak and stun No. 1 South Carolina for the program’s first SEC tournament championship in 40 years. The only people who believed they could win the SEC Tournament were the Wildcats themselves.

Rhyne Howard certainly did not need to prove her greatness in Nashville, but to lead her team to a championship against all odds is next-level heroics. The 6-foot-2 senior guard earned tournament MVP honors after averaging 22 points in Kentucky’s four games, including a 32-point performance against LSU and a near triple-double against Tennessee.

The projected top WNBA draft pick has faced immense pressure these last two years. Howard not only brought a championship back to Kentucky, she also did it against the team that’s been ranked No. 1 in the country all season long and in front of nearly every WNBA franchise there to watch her. Regardless of where she goes in the draft, Howard’s impact on the game of basketball will span far beyond her collegiate career.

I AM A SEC CHAMPION 🤩🏆

— Rhyne Howard 🤟🏾🈳 (@howard_rhyne) March 7, 2022

South Carolina’s “big” lineup is unbelievable

South Carolina took the loss Sunday, but Dawn Staley’s lineup of three to four post players will be difficult for any opponent to game-plan for in the NCAA Tournament.

When the 6-foot-4 Aliyah Boston and the 6-7 Kamilla Cardoso throw high-low passes to one another from the free-throw line, their length is nearly impossible to defend. And when you add 6-4 Laeticia Amihere and 6-2 Victaria Saxton to the mix, South Carolina has one of the biggest rotations in the country.

On the other end of the floor, Kentucky struggled to find looks at the basket against the pair, especially in the second quarter when they managed just three points. When you’re facing a lineup of that size, it’s easy to get in your own head and second guess your decision-making. The Gamecocks will be betting on that as they make a run at the national championship later this month.

Shakira Austin shows off pro-ready skills

Austin was named First Team All-SEC for the second consecutive season and solidified herself as one of the greatest players to ever wear an Ole Miss uniform. The senior center averaged 15.4 points, 8.9 rebounds and 1.9 blocks to lead Ole Miss to a 23-7 finish, its best record since 2006-07. Austin also elevated her play in the SEC tournament, averaging 21.5 points and 9.5 rebounds to lift Ole Miss to the semifinals.

Her 27-point, 13-rebound double-double against Florida in the quarterfinals in front of 10 WNBA teams was the highlight of the tournament. Austin is an automatic lottery pick in the upcoming WNBA draft and deserves to be in the conversation for No. 1 because of her pro-ready frame, athleticism and ceiling. For as good as she currently is, she will only get better as a pro. When you watch her 6-5 frame elevate over opponents, snag a rebound with power and proceed to advance the ball down the court, you realize her sheer potential might surpass any other prospect in this draft class.

Shakira Austin with the rejection! @Theylove_kira pic.twitter.com/3qHsPD5Wnf

— Ole Miss Women's BB (@OleMissWBB) March 5, 2022

The relentlessness of Florida

Florida has been one of the best stories of the college basketball season. This was a dormant program that overcame an early-season scandal and the transfer of their leading scorer earlier in the season and to earn five top-25 wins and a 21-10 finish. Kelly Rae Finley rightfully had the interim tag removed from her title last week, signing a five-year contract as head coach and solidifying her position as the leader of this program.

WNBA draft prospect Kiki Smith had a phenomenal season, averaging 14.6 points, 5.5 rebounds and 4.6 assists per game before going down with a season-ending knee injury in Florida’s one-point win over Vanderbilt in the second round. When Smith hit the floor, the Florida team circled together and held hands in support of their leader. After the win, Finley’s eyes swelled with emotion as her players ran to the training room to be with Smith.

The following day, Smith joined her team on the bench in a different role, clipboard in hand as the Gators fell to Ole Miss, 70-60, and now await their NCAA Tournament fate. As outsiders, it’s difficult to understand everything this team has gone through in the last eight months. If they get a bid to the NCAA Tournament, their first since 2015-16, they’ll do so with a level of collective resolve that will be hard to count out.

Keep an eye on Vanderbilt

First-year head coach Shea Ralph took over a Commodores program that won just nine conference games in the last four seasons and led them to a 14-18 record, their best finish since 2015-16.

Vanderbilt has shown flashes of promise throughout the season, but none more clearly than in the last two weeks when the Commodores beat Florida on Feb. 24 and Texas A&M in the first round of the SEC tournament, 85-69. Vanderbilt was one point away from advancing to the SEC tournament semifinals, falling to Florida 53-52 last Thursday.

While the Commodores’ season could continue in the WNIT, the SEC has gotten the message: Watch out for Vanderbilt next year. Senior guard Jordyn Cambridge is expected to return following a strong season, and All-SEC Freshman honorees Iyana Moore (12.2 points per game) and Sacha Washington (seven) earned valuable experience. With top-100 recruits Ryanne Allen and Amauri Williams entering the mix next fall, Ralph’s team is on the rise.

𝗝𝗼𝗿𝗱𝘆𝗻 𝗖𝗮𝗺𝗯𝗿𝗶𝗱𝗴𝗲

☑️ First triple-double in school history
☑️ Second athlete to tally a triple-double at the SEC Tournament.
☑️ 13 points, 15 rebounds, and 10 assists#AnchorDown pic.twitter.com/ZhcoQo2qwI

— Vanderbilt WBB (@VandyWBB) March 3, 2022

Missouri’s rocky SEC finish

Aijha Blackwell did not play in three games in the final two weeks of the season, including losses to Kentucky and Georgia. The 6-foot guard leads Missouri in scoring and averaged 31 minutes per game this season, but she played just 11 minutes in Missouri’s 61-52 overtime loss to Arkansas in the first round of the SEC tournament. She remained on the bench in overtime as the Tigers fought to keep their NCAA Tournament hopes alive. A win would have nearly solidified an at-large bid, and yet head coach Robin Pingeton kept Blackwell sidelined.

No matter what was going on behind the scenes, Missouri will now have to wait patiently until Selection Sunday to find out if their 18-12 overall record, 7-9 SEC record, and 70-69 win over No. 1 South Carolina back on Dec. 30 will be enough to send them to the tournament.

Rachel Galligan is a basketball analyst at Just Women’s Sports. A former professional basketball player and collegiate coach, she also contributes to Winsidr. Follow Rachel on Twitter @RachGall.

Seven-time Olympic gold medalist Katie Ledecky received the Presidential Medal of Freedom, the nation's highest civilian honor, at a White House ceremony on Friday afternoon. 

The Team USA standout is the most decorated women’s swimmer in the sport’s history. In addition to her seven Olympic golds, she’s also won a total of 21 gold medals at the World Championships, the most of any swimmer regardless of gender. 

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The esteemed award recognizes those who have "made exemplary contributions to the prosperity, values, or security of the United States, world peace, or other significant societal, public or private endeavors," according to a White House press briefing. 

Ledecky is one of 19 medal recipients chosen by the Biden administration this year. She joins a class that spans the worlds of politics, sports, film, human rights, religion, and science. Her fellow 2024 awardees include Everything Everywhere All at Once actress Michelle Yeoh, pioneering Hispanic astronaut Dr. Ellen Ochoa, and former Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi, plus posthumous winners Jim Thorpe, the first Native American to win an Olympic gold medal for the US, and assassinated civil rights leader Medgar Evers. 

"I'm surrounded by so many extraordinary people in so many different fields," Ledecky told Just Women's Sports on Friday. "I feel like I've made a lot of friends today among that group, and their families and their friends."

Olympic gymnast Simone Biles and USWNT legend Megan Rapinoe were among 2022’s class of Presidential Medal of Freedom recipients. Biles and Rapinoe were the fifth and sixth women athletes to be given the honor, making Ledecky the seventh.

Ledecky said she was surprised to learn how recent it has been that athletes in women's sports have been considered for the honor. Billie Jean King was the first to receive the award in 2009. "That kind of blew my mind that it was that recent," she said.

"There are so many great female athletes that I've looked up to for so many years," she continued. "And I know we're just going to keep pushing ahead, and doing our best to continue to get a seat at every table."

Like Biles, Ledecky receives the Medal of Freedom while she's still actively competing in her sport, a fact not lost on the 27-year-old. "My goals in the pool are to continue to push forward and swim good times, hopefully win some more medals. And then secondly to continue to do good things out of the pool, whether that's inspiring young kids to learn how to swim, get into the sport, set big goals in whatever pursuits they're interested in."

"I've recognized I've had a long career now, and it's important to reflect every now and then. But at the same time, I'm still competing and still working hard into the future."

After an illustrious career for both club and country, Gotham FC and U.S. Women’s National Team defender Kelley O’Hara announced today via Kelley on the Street that she will be retiring from professional soccer at the end of this year, making the 2024 NWSL season her last.

"I have always said I would play under two conditions: that I still love playing soccer, and if my body would let me do it the way I wanted to," O’Hara told Just Women’s Sports in the lead-up to her retirement announcement. "I realized a while back that I was always going to love it, so it was the physical piece that was going to be the deciding factor."

The 35-year-old will retire as a two-time World Cup champion, an Olympic gold medalist, and at least a two-time NWSL champion, depending on where Gotham finishes this season. Her legacy as a player is hard to fully encapsulate, and will forever run through some of the biggest snapshots in USWNT and NWSL history. 

In 2012, O’Hara played every minute of the USWNT’s Olympic gold medal run, after having recently converted into a defender. Her soaring goal off the bench in the 2015 World Cup semifinal is the stuff of legend. And her return from lingering injury to play in every knockout match of the national team’s 2019 World Cup win cemented a storybook international career. 

It was O’Hara who scored the overtime goal in 2021 to earn the Washington Spirit their first-ever NWSL championship, and O’Hara who returned to help see Gotham earn a title in 2023 after years spent in the trenches with the club’s previous iteration, Sky Blue. Her 15-year career spanned two professional women’s soccer leagues in the U.S. (she earned her first professional title in 2010 with WPS’s FC Gold Pride), as well as sweeping changes to the sport both on and off the pitch.

On the field, O’Hara has always been known for a motor that never quits, making the right flank her domain in attacking possession and defensive transition. In recent years, she’s also been celebrated for a competitive fire that raises the level of her teammates, whether she’s in the starting XI or supporting from the bench.

But injuries take a toll, a reality not always seen by the fans watching from home. "I've never taken anything for granted, and I feel like I've never coasted either," O’Hara said of her late-career success in the NWSL despite battling injuries. "I've always been like, 'I gotta put my best foot forward every single day I step on this field' — which is honestly probably half the reason why I'm having to retire now as opposed to getting a couple more years out of it. I've just grinded hard."

Recently, O’Hara has been sidelined at Gotham with ankle and knee injuries, and the situation motivated her to really prioritize listening to her body. "To get injured and come back, and get injured and come back, and just keep doing it, it really takes a toll on you.

"People don't see the doubt that's associated with injury,” she continued. "As athletes we feel a certain way, we perform a certain way, our body feels a certain way, we're very in tune with our bodies. And there's always so much doubt surrounding injury. It’s like, 'Can I feel the way I felt before?' The reality is sometimes you don't."

O’Hara didn’t arrive at the decision to move on from her playing career lightly. But once she began seriously considering making 2024 her final year during the last NWSL offseason, it felt right. "Once I was like, 'Alright, you know what, this will be my last year,' I have had a lot of peace with it," she said. "Truly the only thing I felt was gratitude for everything that my career has been, all the things I've been able to do and the people I've been able to do it with."

She said she’ll miss daily interactions with her teammates and all the amazing memories they’ve created, though she feels lucky to have formed relationships that go beyond sharing a locker room. "You're basically getting to hang out and just shoot the shit with your best friends every day," she reflected. "Which is so unheard of, and I just feel very lucky to do it for so long."

The Stanford graduate also mentioned that the NWSL’s suspension of regular season play in 2020 due to the Covid-19 pandemic made her realize how much playing allowed her the space to simply be creative every day. The tactical elements of soccer provided O’Hara an outlet for problem solving and made use of her naturally competitive edge.

She’s now gearing up to channel her on-field intensity into her post-playing career full time, which is a new chapter she’s excited to begin. "I don't know if the world's ready for it, like the fact that I'm not going to be putting all of my energy into football all the time," she said with a laugh. 

O’Hara said she would like to stay connected to the game in some fashion, whether it be as an owner, coach, or member of a front office. She’s also interested in the growing media space surrounding women’s sports, having provided on-camera analysis for broadcasters like CBS Sports in addition to starting a production company with her fiancée.

"I just feel like I have a lot of passions, and things that excite me," she says. "And I do want to stay as close as I can to the game, because I feel a responsibility — and I'm not sure in what capacity — to continue to grow it."

A sense of responsibility to grow the game has been a consistent refrain for the USWNT and NWSL players of O’Hara’s era, who ushered in a new age of equal pay for the national team and collectively bargained protections for those in the league. The landscape for new players looks different than it did 14 years ago, in large part due to this pivotal generation.

"I feel an immense sense of pride around that, because I don't know if any of us knew that was gonna happen," she said. "We kind of, as things unfolded, took the next step towards changing what women's football looks like in this country and around the world.

"I'm really grateful to have been part of this era with the players that I was [with], not backing down and pushing and knowing that was the right thing to do."

Whatever the future holds, O’Hara is going ahead full throttle. It’s a piece of advice she’d also give to the next generation of professionals looking to make their own impact.

"Whatever you do in life, do it because you love it, and the chips will fall in place," she said. "If you love something, you're willing to do what it takes. You're willing to make the sacrifices, you're willing to handle the roller coaster.

"To me, it's simple. Don't do it for any other reason but that, and I think you'll be alright."

The Phoenix Mercury center spoke with Robin Roberts about her 10-month incarceration, reflecting on her poor living conditions and shaky mental state ahead of her May 7th memoir.

"The mattress had a huge blood stain on it. I had no soap, no toilet paper," Griner told the ABC News anchor in last night’s 20/20 special. "That was the moment where I just felt less than a human." 

She also detailed some of her lowest moments during that time, saying with tears in her eyes that she went so far as to consider taking her own life on more than one occasion. However, the thought of Russian officials not releasing her body back to her family made her reconsider.

"I just didn't think I could get through what I needed to get through," said Griner.

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In February 2022, Griner was arrested and charged with drug possession and smuggling by a Russian court after Sheremetyevo International Airport police found vape cartridges containing hashish oil in her luggage. The cartridges were prescribed by Griner’s doctor for chronic pain back in Arizona, where medical marijuana is legal. In the interview, the two-time Olympic gold medalist said she had a "mental lapse" while packing, and never intended to bring the cannabis products with her when she returned to play for UMMC Ekaterinburg.

"It's just so easy to have a mental lapse," Griner said. "Granted, my mental lapse was on a more grand scale. But it doesn't take away from how that can happen." 

She was later sentenced to nine years behind bars after her Russian attorneys advised her to plead guilty the following July. Griner was then sent to a remote penal colony where she was forced to spend her days cutting cloth to make military uniforms. From there, it only got worse.

"Honestly, it just had to happen," she said when asked about her decision to cut off her signature long locks. "We had spiders above my bed making nests.

"My dreads started to freeze," she added. "They would just stay wet and cold and I was getting sick. You've gotta do what you've gotta do to survive."

Shortly after Griner’s initial arrest, the U.S. State Department classified her case as wrongfully detained, escalating its urgency within the government and calling even more attention to the situation. On December 8th, she was freed in a prisoner exchange negotiated by the Biden administration.

While she told Roberts she was "thrilled" when she got the news, she was also very upset about having to leave fellow wrongful detainee Paul Whelan behind. She also continues to carry guilt about her arrest, saying "At the end of the day, it's my fault. And I let everybody down."

Griner’s memoir, Coming Home, hits shelves on May 7th.

"Coming Home begins in a land where my roots developed and is the diary of my heartaches and regrets," Griner told ABC News in an exclusive statement. "But, ultimately, the book is also a story of how my family, my faith, and the support of millions who rallied for my rescue helped me endure a nightmare."

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.