Goals from Alex Morgan and Sydney Leroux powered the Orlando Pride past the the Portland Thorns, 2-1 Wednesday night.

The victory marked the second win in a row for the Pride and the first time the Pride have been on a winning steak in the regular season since 2018.

Morgan started the game off strong with an impressive goal in the 22nd minute, making it her third goal in three straight matches.

Portland’s Simone Charley tied the game in the 42nd minute, but that was all the Thorns could get going. Despite out-shooting the Pride 21-12, a defensive mistake in the 46th minute provided Leroux the perfect opportunity to score the game-winning goal.

A number of crucial saves from Pride goalkeeper Ashlyn Harris preserved the lead and the Pride went on to capture another victory — leaving them, for the moment, atop the NWSL standings.

Next up, the Pride look to continue their winning streak as they take on Kansas City on Sunday, May 30 at 5 p.m. ET.

Sabrina Ionescu made history Tuesday night, becoming the youngest player in the WNBA to record a triple-double in the New York Liberty’s 86-75 victory over the Minnesota Lynx. It was also the first in the history of the Liberty, an original WNBA franchise.

In just her third game of the season and sixth of her WNBA career, Ionescu recorded 26 points, 12 assists and 10 rebounds.

Ionescu led the Liberty to their third straight win with her historic performance. The team has now won more games this season than all of last year, when New York went 2-20. They’re also 3-0 to start the season for the first time since 2007.

“A triple-double and a win is what’s important. If I got that and a loss, it wouldn’t mean anything to me,” Ionescu said after the game. “And so, super just proud of my teammates for helping me get that, my coaching staff. Those things never are easy and they never come without help from everyone else on the court.”

The Liberty guard had previously set an NCAA record with 26 triple-doubles in her four seasons with the Oregon Ducks.

New York also received big contributions from Sami Whitcomb (13 points, eight rebounds), Kylee Shook (10 points, six rebounds) and Betnijah Laney, who’s scored 20 points or more in each of the Liberty’s first three games.

Up next, Ionescu and the Liberty take on the 0-2 Washington Mystics on Friday at 7 p.m. ET.

Global sports agency Wasserman and its womxn’s division, The Collective, are partnering with sports performance and biomarker company Orreco to give women, trans and non-binary athltes new insight into the effects of the menstrual cycle on their training and performance.

With the partnership, Wasserman athletes will have access to Orreco’s Athlete Consultancy program for womxn, which helps athletes train in sync with their menstrual cycle to maintain peak performance.

“No one ever talks about periods, period,” says Wasserman Action Sports Agent, Yulin Olliver. “After seeing the U.S. Women’s National Soccer Team dominate and win the World Cup last summer, then boldly acknowledge the power and insight Orreco offers to maximize performance for womxn by applying science, exercise, recovery and diet insights to menstrual cycles, I knew it was something I wanted to provide to my clients, and the idea expanded from there across The Collective.”

The Orreco program includes the FitrWoman and FitrCoach platforms. Wasserman athletes and their coaches will also have access to detailed individualized reports, as well as action plans and strategies to maintain nutrition, recovery and wellness around the menstrual cycle.

Wasserman athletes who will be working with Orreco include Leo Baker, Sue Bird, Mariah Duran, Gwen Jorgenson, Nneka Ogwumike and Satou Sabally. The range of sports, from skateboarding to basketball, speaks to the widespread benefits offered by the program.

Yulin says that this is not just a program for elite athletes, either: “With the app FitrWoman, anyone with a smartphone can download it and use it. It’s not just something that elite pro-athletes have access to — it’s accessible to all.”

With the partnership, Orreco and Wasserman are also hoping to change the stigma surrounding periods in sports by bringing the subject from out of the shadows.

“There’s an unconscious bias in society towards the menstrual cycle as something extra to deal with, inferring that it impacts an athletes’ energy and their bandwidth,” Yulin told JWS. “But no body is actually lesser than another. We are all equal and whole.”

Coming soon: we’ll be talking to the athletes involved with the program about what it’s taught them so far and how it’s aiding their training.

On Tuesday night, A’ja Wilson of the Las Vegas Aces and Napheesa Collier of the Minnesota Lynx each put up historic performances in their respective playoff games.

In the first semifinal game of the night, it appeared as thought the Las Vegas Aces were about to fall behind 2-0 in their series with the Connecticut Sun. But with just minutes left in the game, league MVP Wilson quite literally put the team on her back, hitting a pair of tough layups to seal the victory.

Wilson finished with 29 points, 7 rebounds and 7 blocked shots in the 83-75 victory over the Sun. Wilson’s seven blocked shots were tied for third most in a WNBA playoff game.

In a game the Aces couldn’t afford to lose, Wilson stepped up, allowing Las Vegas to level the series. Just 24 years old, Wilson has officially made the jump from potential to present superstar.

During the second game of the night between the Minnesota Lynx and the Seattle Storm, Napheesa Collier put on a show with 25 points, 9 rebounds, 6 blocked shots and 3 assists.

While the Lynx lost in a buzzer beater finish, Collier looked like the best player on the floor for much of the game. In a single stretch, she blocked former UConn teammate Breanna Stewart three times.

Collier, last year’s Rookie of the Year, just turned 24 on Wednesday. Earlier in the year, she told Just Women’s Sports that her next big individual goal was to win league MVP. That might not be too far down the road.

Before Tuesday night, there had only been two performances in WNBA playoff history in which a player logged at least 25 points, 5 rebounds and 5 blocks. In a matter of hours, Wilson and Collier added their names to that list Tuesday night.

As the playoffs continue, expect this duo to continue filling up the stat sheet. Along with former league MVP Breanna Stewart, herself just 26, they’ve already made it clear that no matter who walks away from the Wubble with a trophy, the future of the league is in excellent hands.

With a successful NWSL Challenge Cup completed and a promising start to the WNBA season, women’s professional sports are looking to make gains during these unprecedented times. Most US professional sports leagues have started play within isolated bubbles, and the WNBA and NWSL have set the standard with few to none COVID-19 cases and record-breaking viewership.

Currently, in an effort to complete their full 22-game regular season, the WNBA is isolating their 12 teams at the IMG Academy in Bradenton, Florida. All WNBA players, coaches, staff and referees are living in hotel rooms and villas within the bubble while games are played at the Feld Entertainment Center, about 20 minutes away by bus.

Since entering into the bubble, the WNBA has reported zero new positive cases of COVID-19. Players and staff arrived on July 6th — 18 days before the season tip off — in order to quarantine. Before even departing for Florida, every player was tested for COVID-19 three times and then tested once more upon arrival. Of the 137 players, 7 tested positive and were made to self-isolate and satisfy CDC guidelines before being allowed to join the other teams in Florida.

During the initial quarantine period, a few players complained about the quality of food and lodging in the bubble; however, the league quickly addressed those issues by moving players and remedying the food situation. Now that the quarantine period is over and the season has begun, players are given more freedom on the IMG campus — players can hang out in the hotel lounge and at the pool, areas which have been prepped with social distancing measures. Players are also given a range of food options on campus or can opt to have groceries delivered and cook for themselves in their villas.

“Food has been great. Service has been great. People have had issues with their housing. but there is no protocol for this, and the league took care of it,” Diana Taurasi of the Phoenix Mercury said. “This is the first time anyone has done this. The WNBA has gone far and beyond what I thought would happen.”

While inside the bubble, players are tested regularly for COVID-19 and are required to log their temperature every day using personal thermometers. Masks are required throughout the IMG bubble and social distancing measures have been put in place. No media or fans are allowed at the games.

The WNBA shares a number of COVID-19 prevention protocols with the NBA; however, there are a few stark differences in how each league is approaching bubble play. First, the WNBA cohort is much smaller in size. Each WNBA team was allowed to bring 18 people into the bubble — 12 players and 6 staff members. Each NBA team, on the other hand, was allowed to bring double the personnel, with 37 members. And, unlike the NBA bubble, there is no “hotline” to report protocol violations at the IMG Academy. However, WNBA players who are caught breaking protocol will face “serious ramifications,” according to Commissioner Cathy Engelbert.

Before the WNBA even began their successful bubble play, the NWSL set the blueprint for how to run a professional sporting event during a pandemic. The women’s professional soccer league finished their month-long Challenge Cup on July 26th and became the first US professional sports league to complete an event during the COVID-19 crisis. Before the tournament, the Orlando Pride were forced to withdraw due to too many positive COVID tests (some of which were later proven to be false-positives). While isolating in Utah, however, the NWSL reported zero COVID-19 cases.

With similar protocols to other leagues — no fans, regular testing, isolating players and staff — the NWSL was the first league to prove that the bubble system can work and be successful. During the Challenge Cup, the league attracted record-breaking viewership, gained new sponsors and announced a new Los Angeles expansion team.

As North Carolina Courage’s Crystal Dunn said, “The NWSL captured the audience because we were the first league to return back to play, but also because the games were close and competitive.”

While women’s professional leagues have proven that bubble play can work and be successful, a number of men’s leagues are continuing their efforts to play games in home markets (eventually) with fans despite overwhelming evidence that it is unsafe to do so. The MLS, MLB, NFL and college football have all announced that they are scheduling games outside of a bubble system. This comes just weeks after the MLB reported outbreaks within both the Miami Marlins and St. Louis Cardinals organizations, and the MLS saw two teams pull out of their tournament due to COVID-19 outbreaks.

The NWSL and the WNBA have shown how to successfully host professional sporting events during a pandemic. It remains unclear whether other leagues will follow in their footsteps or ignore the risks and attempt to play outside a bubble.