On Tuesday, it was Vote Warnock and Vote Carter. The Atlanta Dream — and numerous other teams — made a statement with their t-shirts. Chennedy Carter made a statement with her play.

In just her fifth game in the league, Carter came away with a career-high 26 points. A score-first guard from her three years at Texas A&M, where she averaged over 19 field goal attempts per game, Carter has reached double digits in all five of her WNBA games. This time, however, she also knocked down 11-of-21 shots, marking her second straight game shooting above 50%.

Heading into the game, the rookie had the second highest usage rate in the league — 31.6% — and she only saw that number increase. Down the stretch in a tight game, Carter was the go-to option for the Dream. Going right at Diana Taurasi with under five minutes left in the fourth quarter, Carter went high off the glass unfazed. About two minutes later, she coolly answered Taurasi’s 3-pointer with one of her own.

Our Rookie putting up the numbers pic.twitter.com/h6TwhVOADe

— Atlanta Dream (@AtlantaDream) August 5, 2020

Carter’s game looked smooth and clean. It is clear that she has improved, even from her final college game in March. The end result is a rookie who’s making it look unusually easy.

In her first professional game, Carter dropped 18 points, with 8 assists and 5 rebounds — and the Dream won. Although Carter has not reached that number of assists since, she still has the eighth most among all players, including four against Phoenix.

And even with the eighth most field goal attempts in the WNBA, Carter still ranks 34th in the league in efficiency, though granted it’s a small sample size.

Carter’s name was mentioned in the now-infamous Instagram Live “A Touch More” episode in which Taurasi and Sue Bird debated which rookie would have the best career. Carter’s Tuesday rival, Taurasi, chose Sabrina Ionescu. On the other hand, Bird picked the No. 4 draft pick — Carter.

Ionescu will miss significant time with a sprain of her left ankle. Before her injury, Ionescu was the only rookie averaging more points per game than Carter. Compared to the entire league, Carter’s 17.4 point per game stacks up at 11th. And while she likely won’t get a chance to match up with Ionescu again, Carter’s play so far has proven the league has a lot to look forward to as the 2020 draft class continues to grow.

In the end, Atlanta wasn’t able to pull out the win against a Phoenix team. While expected for a young team with almost all new faces, 23 turnovers was too much to overcome. Carter committed five of those turnovers, which surprisingly did not even lead the team — Elizabeth Williams had six.

Still, things are looking up. Coming off an eight-win season, the Dream already have their first two of 2020. The ceiling for this team is wherever Carter will take them. As such, fans might want to buckle up now, because this rookie looks ready for lift-off.

Unrivaled Basketball and trading card manufacturer Panini America are teaming up, bringing the 3×3 league's first officially licensed trading cards to market on Friday.

As part of a multi-year agreement between the two parties, Panini will debut the Instant Cards just hours before the first full weekend of play in the 2026 Unrivaled season tips off on Friday.

Panini also plans to launch a Rewind set of trading cards celebrating the 2025 inaugural Unrivaled season, among other future drops.

"Our partnership with Unrivaled is a great way to reinforce and showcase our support of the women's game and female athletes," said Panini America SVP of marketing Jason Howarth in the pair's Thursday announcement. "Unrivaled's 3-on-3 format makes for exciting and compelling game play and continuing to work with the best players in the world in this format made this partnership make perfect sense."

Following Monday's Season 2 tip-off, Unrivaled is continuing to form strategic partnerships as the offseason pro league grows in popularity.

"We want to meet fans where they are, and Panini's history in this space makes them an ideal partner to highlight the biggest moments for women's basketball's biggest stars," said Unrivaled president Alex Bazzell.

How to purchase Unrivaled Instant Cards

The full Unrivaled Instant Card set will release online at 3:08 PM ET on Friday at PaniniAmerica.net.

US women are lighting up the ice, performing record-breaking short programs at the US Figure Skating Championships on Wednesday as the nation's top skaters compete to represent Team USA at the 2026 Winter Olympics in February.

Currently atop the field is 26-year-old Amber Glenn, with the reigning back-to-back national champion posting the highest short program score in event history on Wednesday.

Glenn's 83.05-point performance surpassed the 81.11-point previous record set just minutes before by her 20-year-old teammate, reigning world champion Alysa Liu.

"I think that was one of my most enjoyable experiences competing ever," Glenn said afterwards.

With Liu and Glenn leading the charge, the US is aiming to end a 20-year Olympic medal drought in women's singles figure skating in Milan, Italy, this winter — and Team USA has even more depth on their side.

A full six of the world's Top-17 skaters hail from the US, with 18-year-old Isabeau Levito — who claimed third in Wednesday's short program competition — joining Glenn and Liu in the Top 5.

Team USA can send only three singles skaters to next month's Winter Games, with the national selection committee assessing each athlete's full season — not just their performances at this week's championships — before announcing the Olympic-bound trio on Sunday.

How to watch the 2026 US Figure Skating Championships

The women's singles competition will conclude with Friday's free skate, which kicks off at 3 PM ET before the top skaters in the standings take the ice at 8 PM ET on NBC and Peacock.

The 2026 US Olympic Figure Skating Team will then be announced at 2 PM ET on Sunday, live on NBC.

This month's USWNT roster featured one notable gap, as the absence of Portland Thorns midfielder Sam Coffey stirred up rumors that the 27-year-old is finalizing a move to the WSL to join the top-tier UK league's frontrunners, Manchester City.

First reported by The Guardian, ESPN added on Thursday that Manchester City will ante up a base transfer fee around $800,000 to add Coffey to the Citizens' roster — though the number could rise as negotiations continue and parties finalize a deal.

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The national team stalwart will reportedly travel to Manchester in the near future to ink a potential contract, but Coffey currently remains under contract with Portland until 2027, having signed an extension with the Thorns in 2024.

Coffey has been a mainstay for her NWSL club since Portland drafted the Penn State alum in 2021, but the UK league's pull could persuade her to join her USWNT teammates Alyssa Thompson (Chelsea), Emily Fox (Arsenal), Phallon Tullis-Joyce (Manchester United), and Naomi Girma (Chelsea) in making the leap to the WSL.

Currently sitting six points clear of six-time reigning champion Chelsea atop the 2025/26 WSL table, Manchester City has reportedly been searching for "the right defensive midfield option" as they pursue their first league title since 2016.

This weekend's SEC slate brings the heat, as the stacked NCAA basketball conference gears up for more than one high-profile ranked matchup on Sunday.

Undefeated No. 2 Texas will visit Baton Rouge to take on No. 12 LSU, with the Tigers looking to add to their 80-59 Thursday win over unranked Georgia as they continue battling back from a dismal 0-2 start in 2025/26 conference play.

"We think we're just going to go in there and out-jump, out-leap somebody," said LSU boss Kim Mulkey following last Sunday's loss to No. 7 Vanderbilt. "You're not going to do that in this league."

"This year, the [SEC] is every bit as good as last year — when you really think about it, it's probably way better," Longhorns head coach Vic Schaefer told the Austin American-Statesman on Thursday. "The big thing right now is we've got to get better."

Texas's clash with LSU opens a tough stretch for the Longhorns, as they face AP Poll headliners No. 3 South Carolina, No. 5 Oklahoma, No. 6 Kentucky, and No. 7 Vanderbilt in the coming weeks.

Sunday's other SEC blockbuster between the Sooners and the Wildcats is all about redemption, as Oklahoma aims to bounce back from their 74-69 upset loss to No. 18 Ole Miss on Thursday while Kentucky looks to put their 64-51 Thursday loss to unranked Alabama in the rearview mirror.

How to watch ranked SEC basketball on Sunday

No. 2 Texas will tip off Sunday's ranked SEC slate against No. 12 LSU at 3 PM ET, airing live on ESPN.

Then at 4 PM ET, No. 5 Oklahoma will visit No. 6 Kentucky, with live coverage on the SEC Network.