The 2023 WNBA Finals kicks off Sunday, when the New York Liberty play the Las Vegas Aces.

It is a matchup between teams in two of the league’s biggest markets, featuring some of its brightest stars. New York forward Breanna Stewart said the series has a “different kind of buzz.”

“Everybody’s been talking about New York and Vegas since the beginning of the season and now we’re the last two standing,” Stewart said to the media. “As women’s sports continue to grow and people continue to get behind the WNBA, they want to be a part of it. They are locked in. They are watching. It’s exciting to be part of continuing the momentum and the push behind equality.”

Stewart and the Liberty advanced to the Finals after beating the Connecticut Sun, 3-1, in the semifinals. Stewart, in particular, was a force in the clinching game, scoring 27 points and recording nine rebounds as New York won, 87-84.

But the team is likely to face a stiffer test in Las Vegas, led by star forward A’Ja Wilson, who’s averaging 25.8 points per game this postseason.

The Finals represents a matchup between the league’s two “superteams,” and the hype surrounding the league is palpable.

“There’s been a lot of talk all year,” Aces guard Jackie Young told reporters. “I think it’s good for the game. People are excited, people want to see us play. I mean, it’s going to be a sold-out crowd, so there’ll be a lot of big names there.

“The coolest thing is that people are excited to watch us play.”

Sophia Smith is back.

The Portland Thorns forward, who had not played since Aug. 28 because of a mild MCL strain, returned to the pitch Saturday in the 83rd minute of the Thorns’ game against Gotham FC.

Smith received a standing ovation as she sprinted onto the field of what turned into a 1-0 win for Portland, which clinched a top two spot in the NWSL Playoffs. The Thorns will have a playoff bye and a semifinal home match.

“I was just so proud to be on that field today,” Thorns midfielder Olivia Moultrie told reporters. “We didn’t let ourselves drop for one minute, we went after it the whole time no matter what was going on. We attacked the game, and we stayed together throughout that.”

Despite having missed a little more than a month of action, Smith remains the NWSL’s Golden Boot leader with 11 goals. Two international stars, Kerolin of the North Carolina Courage and Debinha of the Kansas City Current, are right on her heels with 10 and nine goals, respectively.

Smith entered the game with what appeared to be protective tape over her knee, but she appears ready to take on a larger role as the Thorn look toward the postseason.

Portland wraps up the regular season next Sunday against Angel City.

Aneesah Morrow seems to be fitting right in at LSU. And a big part of that is Tigers coach Kim Mulkey.

Morrow, who transferred to the Tigers from DePaul, lavished praise on her new coach while addressing the media this week.

“You have to have tough skin as a player, and Mulkey is going to keep it real with you,” Morrow said. “She’s not going to sugarcoat it, she’s going to tell you what it is. She just, honestly, wants you to come in here every day and give 100 percent.

“Everybody needs a Kim Mulkey in their lives.”

Morrow comes to LSU after two terrific seasons at DePaul. Last season she averaged 25.7 points and 12.2 rebounds per game, after averaging 21.9 points and 13.8 rebounds per game as a freshman in 2021-22.

She’ll team up with LSU star Angel Reese as the Tigers look to defend their 2023 NCAA National Championship. The Tigers open the season Nov. 6 against Colorado in Las Vegas as part of the Naismith Basketball Hall of Fame Series.

“I’m super excited to join. I just know how hard I work. Every day, my stats showed that I was very consistent every game, I was a double-double last year at DePaul and the year before would be a national freshman of the year,” Morrow said on Haley Jones’ “Sometimes I Hoop” podcast in August. “So I try to stay as consistent as I possibly can. But I also want to be challenged by my teammates and my coaching staff. I want them to have my back and I felt like LSU was the best fit for that.”

The South Carolina women’s basketball team has perhaps never been more popular.

Gamecocks coach Dawn Staley announced on X that the team had sold more 10,100 season tickets for the 2023-24 campaign, surpassing last year’s total.

“Let’s gooo!” Staley wrote on X.

As of Friday morning, Staley said, South Carolina had sold 10,144 season tickets, already up from last year’s number of 10,084.

The Gamecocks play Rutgers in an exhibition game at home Oct. 22, before challenging Notre Dame in a neutral site game in Paris on Nov. 6. They then host Maryland on Nov. 12.

South Carolina won a program record 36 games last season and entered the Final Four without having suffered a loss. They fell to Iowa, 77-73, in the NCAA semifinal.

The team enters the season with high expectations, even without star players Aliyah Boston and Zia Cook, who left for the WNBA.

“We can’t erase what took place for the last four years,” Staley told reporters. “But we can start anew and give this team its own identity. … They’re in a good place.”

Point guard Raven Johnson is expected to step into a leadership role after averaging 18.6 minutes per game as a backup last season.

“It’s got to be a team effort,” Johnson said. “If I’m buying in, everybody’s got to buy in.”

Megan Rapinoe is hardly ready to leave the public eye.

Rapinoe, 38, is on the final leg of her farewell tour, having just played in her last home regular season game as a member of the OL Reign on Friday night. The Reign set a new NWSL attendance record of 34,130.

While Rapinoe’s playing career might be coming to an end, the star said after Friday’s game there’s still a “lot more to come” from her.

“I’m going to be a part of this next phase of women’s sports, not just soccer hopefully, but even beyond that” Rapinoe told the media. “So many players in this generation have had such a huge part in building the foundation and the beginning stages of what is a really exciting time in women’s sports.

“I’m not going to miss out on the fruits of that labor, and just disappear and not be a part of it. I think I have so much to offer.”

The Reign threw a celebration for Rapinoe after Friday’s game, a 0-0 draw against the Washington Spirit. Rapinoe addressed the fans from a makeshift stage on the field.

“This was just always the place where I could be myself,” Rapinoe said. “To be able to play here my whole career, in one city … It is just really special to be able to have this.”

The Reign wrap up the regular season Oct. 15 against the Chicago Red Stars.

Megan Rapinoe made history Friday night – yet again.

In the final home regular season game of Rapinoe’s career, the OL Reign set an NWSL attendance record of 34,130.

Lumen Field then watched the Reign play the Washington Spirit to a 0-0 draw, but the result hardly dampened the festive atmosphere: Fans wielded “Thank you Megan” signs and dressed up like their hero in pink wigs.

For Reign coach Laura Harvey, the attendance record was something to be proud of, but also a goal for the future.

“We have to do that every week,” Harvey told the media. “We need to have extra resources to be able to do that and meet the exposure that the sport’s having….we need to have the capability to market ourselves at that level.”

The city of Seattle had made plans to embrace Rapinoe on the day of her final game. “Forever Rapinoe” flags flew on Seattle’s ferries and at Lumen Field, and buildings across downtown Seattle lit up in “Pinoe Pink” in the evening.

The Reign (8-5-8, 29 points), in sixth place in the league standings, wrap up the regular season Oct. 15 on the road against the Chicago Red stars. The club can extend Rapinoe’s career with a berth in the postseason, but that is hardly guaranteed as the season heads into its final chapter.

“Thank you to everyone,” Rapinoe said while addressing the crowd after the game. “I really appreciate it. And I hope to see all of you. At all of the home games next year.”

The NWSL has agreed to new TV rights deals, according to a report in Sportico.

The league has agreed to four-year contracts with ESPN, CBS, Amazon and Scripps, according to the report. The deals, expected to be signed in the coming weeks, run through the 2027 World Cup.

The financial details of the deals are unknown, but in the streaming era, live sports have never been more valuable to networks.

The NWSL’s current deal, with CBS, is worth $1.5 million but comes with a caveat: the league is required to pay for production, which is an eight-figure expense.

As the women’s game continues to gain popularity around the country, spurred by the success of the U.S. Women’s National Team, more money is flowing into the NWSL. It’s most valued team, Angel City FC (valued at $180 million) is on par with some MLS clubs.

By signing deals with multiple partners, the NWSL would allow for its games to be viewed by even more fans than just those with CBS.

The NWSL regular season is wrapping up next week, with the postseason scheduled to start Oct. 22 and the 2023 NWSL Championship set for Nov. 11.

The WNBA is growing in visibility, and no team is more popular than the Connecticut Sun, according to a map created by by Vivid Seats using ticket sales data.

The Sun, led by stars Alyssa Thomas, DeWanna Bonner and Brionna Jones, are the most popular team in Connecticut but also Maine, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, Rhode Island and Vermont. Their pull in the region is similar to that of the legendary UConn women’s basketball program.

The Dallas Wings and the Seattle Storm are the next most popular teams, according to the map data. The interactive map features the most popular WNBA team in all 50 states.

For all of the interest around the Sun, the team is in a precarious position: Their season will be on the line Sunday against the New York Liberty, which lead the WNBA semifinal series 2-1.

Thomas scored 23 points and recorded 14 rebounds and nine assists in the team’s 92-81 loss to the Liberty on Friday as New York outscored Connecticut by 21 points in the first quarter.

The Liberty, according to the map data, are the most popular team in New York, New Jersey and Pennsylvania.

Mia Fishel’s first game with Chelsea got off to an impactful start.

Fishel, who signed with the legendary English club in August from Liga MX, made her debut — in the starting lineup — for Sunday’s match against Tottenham. Then, in the 28th minute, she made her presence felt.

The forward headed in a cross from about 10 yards out, giving Chelsea the opening goal in the Women’s Super League contest on the opening day of competition for the 2023-24 season.

Fishel screamed in celebration and was mobbed by her teammates as the Chelsea fans erupted. Chelsea went on to take a 2-1 victory.

Fishel, 22, signed with Chelsea after a successful run with Tigres UANL of Liga MX Femenil, the highest division of women’s soccer in Mexico.

She had long been a mainstay on the U.S. youth national team and made her debut for the senior team during the Sept. 24 friendly match against South Africa. Fishel entered in the 65th minute of what turned into a 2-0 victory for the USWNT.

Trinity Rodman is in the middle of a stellar stretch of soccer.

The forward scored in each of the U.S. Women’s National Team’s friendlies Sept. 21 and Sept. 24, and then, on Saturday, she came up big for the Washington Spirit.

Rodman broke a tie with a goal in stoppage time to lift the Spirit to a 2-1 victory over the KC Current and their first league win since June.

“It’s been a little rough the past few games,” defender Tara McKeown told the media afterward. “But just to get that win and know that we can come back from hard situations going into fighting for a playoff spot and into the playoffs, I think that that’s really going to help us.”

The victory snapped a seven-game winless streak for Washington (7-8-5, 29 points), which moved into fourth place in the NWSL standings.

The goal was Rodman’s fifth of the NWSL season and her first in league play since June 3. Rodman, 21, did not score in the World Cup despite starting three games.

Her goal came Saturday after she outran her defender and then smacked a left-footed shot into the back of the net. She celebrated with the dance made famous by former Washington Wizards star John Wall, a wide smile spread across her face. Ouleymata Sarr scored the other goal for the Spirit, in the 52nd minute, after Debora Cristiane de Oliveira opened the game’s scoring for with a 21st minute goal for the Current.

Washington hosts the OL Reign on Friday, and then wraps up the regular season Oct. 15 on the road against the North Carolina Courage.