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As Ariel Atkins reflects on Ukraine season, teammate navigates dangers

Ariel Atkins played in Ukraine this WNBA offseason for BC Prometey. (Tim Clayton/Corbis via Getty Images)

Just as WNBA fans and families were beginning to feel at ease, with reports that American players in Ukraine and Russia were returning home safely, we awoke last Saturday to find out that Brittney Griner was taken into Russian police custody over three weeks ago on charges of possessing vape cartridges containing hashish oil. Griner was detained at the airport as she attempted to return to Russia, where she competes for UMMC Ekaterinburg and has played professionally during the WNBA’s offseason for the past eight years.

Suddenly, the real-life consequences of Russia’s political agenda hit very close to home for sports fans in the U.S. At the heart of the conflict in Europe, the lives of professional Ukrainian players were thrown into total chaos as soon as Russia’s invasion of their country began two weeks ago.

Olympic gold medalist and Mystics starting guard Ariel Atkins was competing in Ukraine as things began to unravel. After stints in Poland, Australia and Turkey, Atkins decided to play with BC Prometey, a EuroCup team based in Kamianske, during this WNBA offseason. Atkins led Prometey to a 9-1 EuroCup regular season record, while averaging 20.3 points, 4.9 rebounds and 2.8 assists per game.

At the end of January, the European season paused for a month-long national team break as top players returned to their national team programs for FIBA World Cup Qualifying competitions. Atkins joined Team USA in her WNBA home city of Washington, D.C. for a three-day training camp and two-game series against Puerto Rico and Belgium.

With Russian troops gathering at the Ukrainian border even before she left for the break, Atkins was skeptical about returning to Eastern Europe for the rest of the season and packed up almost all of her belongings for her trip back home.

“It was definitely a tough decision,” Atkins recalled in a recent conversation with Just Women’s Sports. “Ultimately, I decided not to go back as I didn’t plan on crossing the Ukraine border whatsoever, just because I wasn’t sure how I would be able to get out if things ended up being what they are right now.”

But when her agent called to say the team was being relocated to Bulgaria to continue practicing ahead of their EuroCup playoff series against a tough Turkish squad, Atkins found herself back on a plane to Europe to rejoin her Ukrainian teammates.

“I build bonds with my teammates, and I really do care about them,” Atkins said from Turkey, the day before CBK Mersin knocked Prometey out of EuroCup competition. “I just want things to go well for them and I want to help as much as I can. But I honestly, personally, don’t know how. What I’m thinking or feeling or dealing with is not even an ounce of what they’re dealing with.”

The Russian invasion of Ukraine escalated rapidly during the brief time Prometey was practicing in Bulgaria and then competing in Turkey. The team’s Ukrainian captain, Olga Dubrovina, did her best to console her teammates as feelings of helplessness overwhelmed them.

“Everybody cry. Everybody don’t know how to help,” Dubrovina said in her semi-fluent English. “Everybody is scared. A lot of people leave [Ukraine]. The situation is so bad. A lot of people die.”

In shock and sorrow, the team continued to practice and prepare for their playoff game.

“There are moments here and there where you can just tell the room goes kind of somber,” Atkins said. “I feel like my job is to try to make practice more fun or to kind of lighten the mood a little bit as best I can, without being ignorant to the fact of what they have going on with their friends and their families back home.”

After losing that final playoff game and the remainder of the Ukrainian Women’s Basketball SuperLeague season was canceled due to the war, Atkins returned home to the U.S. while her teammates dispersed across Europe. Dubrovina and a couple of her Prometey teammates were able to sign with teams inside Turkey, and will play the remaining six weeks of the domestic league there.

With her 4-year old daughter and husband, a pro soccer player, safe in his native Bulgaria, Dubrovina’s primary concerns now are supporting her family financially and ensuring the safety of her loved ones still in Ukraine, including her parents, grandmother and brother.

“My brother is in the war in Ukraine. I don’t know his movement,” she said. “We don’t know where he is, what he’s doing. It’s army. It’s everything like secret, and we just wait for when he talks, he calls mom.”

Dubrovina, 34, says a few of her Prometey teammates opted to return to Ukraine despite her encouragement that they stay in Turkey until the danger subsided. Those with husbands or fathers younger than 60 years old were the most anxious to return, as men aged 18-60 are currently not permitted to leave the country per President Volodymyr Zelensky’s general military mobilization.

Other teammates scattered to Poland or Belgium, Dubrovina explained. One had a family connection in Canada. Another, who opted to stay and play in Turkey, is planning to use the money she will earn there to get her kids and grandmother safely out of Ukraine when the season ends.

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Olga Dubrovina competes for the Ukrainian national team at the European Championships in 2014. (Jonas Güttler/picture alliance via Getty Images

Dubrovina originally left Ukraine in 2014 when tensions with Russia escalated over the annexation of Crimea. After ten years of playing professional basketball all over Europe, the point guard had assumed her playing career was behind her when she became pregnant with her daughter in 2018. She was enjoying coaching youth basketball when an old coach called and talked her into getting back on the court with the newly formed Prometey club in Ukraine. As a result, Dubrovina, her husband and their young daughter have spent the past two years in Ukraine.

Now that her family has relocated to Bulgaria, Dubrovina is the sole provider for the time being. She says focusing on providing for her daughter, who wants to be a basketball player like her mom when she grows up, is keeping her sane during an otherwise unbearable situation. Dubrovina talks with her family during every break she gets, often ten times a day.

She hopes to eventually get her parents safely to Bulgaria, where she envisions staying to raise her family surrounded by her husband’s relatives. The main reason her parents are still in Ukraine is that her grandmother cannot travel.

“I’ll stay with my family, my daughter and husband. And speak with my mom, because now I have grandma who is invalid,” she said. “She can’t move, she’s just in the bed. And I want to take my mom and my family to Bulgaria, but it’s impossible because Grandma can’t move and now it’s so dangerous.”

As to what Dubrovina thinks will happen to her homeland, she says giving in is not an option for her people.

“You need to understand, we’re not scared of nothing,” she said. “We are a people who can’t just stay and shut up … We can’t lose. If we lose, it’s just as if we died.”

She also urged leaders in the West to hear Ukraine’s pleas for military support in the country’s air space.

“[Those] who have power, close the sky for Ukraine, please,” she implored. “We don’t need food. We don’t need help with money. Just to close the sky…We talk about this night and day. Close the sky. That’s all.”

For now, the continuation of leagues outside Ukraine is helping players like Dubrovina better survive this catastrophe. But as the situation with Griner escalates and geopolitical relations become more strained, WNBA players who supplement their salaries overseas during the offseason will have even more difficult decisions to make in the future.

Tessa Nichols is a contributing writer at Just Women’s Sports.

USC enters superteam era with transfer portal gains 

Oregon State transfer and USC recruit Talia von Oelhoffen at 2024 NCAA women's tournament
Oregon State transfer Talia von Oelhoffen adds fuel to USC's 2025 NCAA title dreams. (Photo by Sarah Stier/Getty Images)

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.

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.

U.S., Mexico drop bid to host 2027 Women’s World Cup 

uswnt fans cheer at 2023 fifa women's world cup in australia
USWNT fans will have to settle for cheering on their home team from abroad in 2027. (Brad Smith/USSF/Getty Images for USSF)

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."

"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.

NCAA breakout star Kiki Iriafen confirms transfer to USC

Kiki Iriafen #44 of the Stanford Cardinal shoots n the Sweet 16 round of the NCAA Women's Basketball tournament
Kiki Iriafen led Stanford to the Sweet 16 in last year's NCAA Women's Basketball Tournament. (Soobum Im/Getty Images)

Former Stanford leading-scorer Kiki Iriafen is set to join star rising sophomore JuJu Watkins at USC next year, reported ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski on Saturday. 

The 6-foot-3 forward is coming off a breakout season with the Cardinal, where the then-junior led Stanford to the Sweet 16 with an average of 19.4 points, 11 rebounds, and 2.3 assists per game. Walking away with the Pac-12’s Most Improved Player award and a spot on the All-Pac-12 team, Iriafen entered the portal at the close of last season and was subsequently ranked second on ESPN’s 2024-2025 transfer ranking list.

At USC, Iriafen will play out her senior year alongside the Women's Basketball Coaches Association’s 2024 National Freshman of the Year JuJu Watkins, forming what could be an explosive partnership for the Trojans as they look to build momentum going into next season. The Southern California side advanced to the Elite Eight for the first time since 1994 this year, ultimately falling to UConn in a heated 80-73 battle.

Iriafen wasn’t the only one making choices this past week. LSU guard Hailey Van Lith officially announced her own transfer to TCU on Friday, while Princeton standout Kaitlyn Chen committed to UConn for her final year of college eligibility. Other big names still weighing their options are Oregon State's Talia Von Oelhoffen and Raegan Beers, as well as UNC's Deja Kelly.

With conference realignment on the horizon and team fit a contending factor, the NCAA women's basketball transfer portal has been busier than ever. And while transfers can bolster many types of college programs, this particular offseason has seen talent-rich programs growing even richer.

WNBA icon Candace Parker retires

Candace Parker #3 of the Las Vegas Aces looks on during a WNBA game with the Indiana Fever
The WNBA great retires a two-time league MVP, seven-time WNBA All-Star, two-time Olympic gold medalist, and two-time NCAA champion. (David Becker/NBAE via Getty Images)

Legendary WNBA superstar Candace Parker announced her retirement from professional basketball on Sunday, effective immediately.

"I promised I'd never cheat the game & that I'd leave it in a better place than I came into it," she wrote in an Instagram post. "The competitor in me always wants 1 more, but it's time. My HEART & body knew, but I needed to give my mind time to accept it."

The Las Vegas Aces forward was in the midst of rehabbing a right ankle injury and a left foot fracture after missing part of the 2023 season.

One of women's basketball's most prominent trailblazers, Parker popularized the play of a "big guard." A back-to-back NCAA National Championship winner with Tennessee, she was drafted No. 1 overall by the Los Angeles Sparks in 2008. She was named both WNBA MVP and Rookie of the Year in her debut season with the league. 

Parker exits the pros a three-time WNBA champion, a two-time league MVP, seven-time WNBA All-Star, two-time Olympic gold medalist, and two-time NCAA champion, in addition to many more individual accolades. Throughout her 16-year career, she averaged 16 points, 8.5 rebounds, and four assists per game. She remains the only player in WNBA history to earn three WNBA titles with three different teams: LA in 2016, Chicago in 2021, and Las Vegas in 2023. 

In her announcement, the 38-year-old implied the physical toll of league play was a driving factor in her ultimate decision to walk away from the game, despite recently signing a one-year deal with Las Vegas.

"This offseason hasn’t been fun on a foot that isn’t cooperating," she wrote. "It’s no fun playing in pain (10 surgeries in my career) it’s no fun knowing what you could do, if only…it’s no fun hearing 'she isn’t the same' when I know why, it’s no fun accepting the fact you need surgery AGAIN.

"I’m grateful that for 16 years I PLAYED A GAME for a living & DESPITE all the injuries, I hooped," she continued. "I’m grateful for family, friends, teammates, coaches, doctors, trainers & fans who made this journey so special."

Fans weren’t the only ones shocked by Parker’s surprise retirement. In a reaction captured on video, Liberty forward Breanna Stewart responded to the news with a jaw-dropped, eyebrow-raised "What? Wow." 

Yet while the Naperville, Illinois native’s time on the court might be over, Parker says she isn't leaving the world of basketball anytime soon.

"This is the beginning," she wrote. "I’m attacking business, private equity, ownership (I will own both a NBA & WNBA team), broadcasting, production, boardrooms, beach volleyball, dominoes (sorry babe it’s going to get more real) with the same intensity & focus I did basketball."

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