Allie Quigley likes what she sees.

When the Sky guard locks eyes with fellow veterans Courtney Vanderlsoot and Candace Parker, she feels comfortable, confident. Ready for anything.

“When I see them on the court, I have so much trust in them,” she said. “I want to live and die with them.”

Together, the trio have 41 seasons of WNBA experience. They’ve won a championship, and now, with all three hitting free agency in the offseason, they want to win one more.

No WNBA team has won back-to-back titles since the Los Angeles Sparks in 2001 and 2002, and only two franchises have done it period, with the Houston Comets winning the first four WNBA championships from 1997 to 2000.

The repeat is elusive, and on Tuesday, with nine minutes left in regulation of the Sky’s win-or-go-home Game 3 against the New York Liberty, it was in danger of slipping away.

A minute earlier, Chicago held a 10-point advantage over the Liberty. But as Betnijah Laney sank a two-point shot — the latest in a 7-0 Liberty run — the lead was suddenly down to three.

In Barclays for an elimination game, the New York crowd was emboldened.

“I just saw all the towels flying,” Quigley said. “And I’m like, ‘All right, we’ve got to pick it up. We can’t let this crowd get into it.”

For the Sky, that “live or die” mode kicked in.

As for the Liberty, they didn’t score again for over six minutes.

Chicago secured a 90-72 victory, closing the game on a 22-7 run to advance to the semifinals against the winner of the Connecticut Sun-Dallas Wings first-round series and move one step closer to a second-straight championship.

“I think we all just kind of looked at each other and knew that we could do it,” Quigley said. “It’s going to come from all of us. That’s kind of how we’ve had our season this year is everyone stepping up in their moment. And I think that is what happened in the fourth quarter.

When Quigley says “all of us,” she means “all of us.” The Sky couldn’t have had a more balanced effort on Tuesday night.

Quigley and Kahleah Copper finished with 15 points each, Parker and Vandersloot had 14 apiece, and Emma Meesseman and Azurá Stevens each had 12. The Sky also assisted on 27 of their 75 field goals, an increase from their league-leading season average of 24.3 per game.

It was one of the most complete efforts the Sky have had this season. After a disappointing loss in Game 1, Chicago came back and dominated Game 2 in a record-breaking 38-point victory. As they demolished the Liberty, the Sky saw moments of near-perfection. They saw what they’ve been building toward all season, and they made it their mission to execute the same way in Game 3.

“Building on the last game, we saw a flash of a team that we really want to be consistently,” Copper said. “I think with the experience that we have, and what we felt in those moments, that is the team that we want to be, and that is the team that we want to continue to grow.”

The foundation of that team is Vandersloot and Parker, who each finished with double-doubles in the contest.

In addition to her 14 points, Parker grabbed 13 rebounds and dished out eight assists, coming close to the fourth triple-double of her career. Vandersloot had 10 assists to lead the Sky attack, while also grabbing five rebounds to go with her 14 points.

The Queen of the Fourth with an ABSOLUTE DIME to KFC 🔥#skytown pic.twitter.com/ZfBlwzgtQW

— Chicago Sky (@chicagosky) August 24, 2022

Then, there’s James Wade.

The fourth-year head coach was named WNBA Executive of the Year on Monday, and the proof of his qualification played a key role in knocking out the Liberty.

Beyond retaining Copper, Vandersloot and Quigley in the offseason, Wade made a number of franchise-defining moves. He signed Meesseman, who earned an All-Star bid in her first season with the Sky, helping to replace Stefanie Dolson and Diamond DeShields after they left in free agency.

Meesseman is no stranger to high-pressure situations like the one the Sky found themselves in on Tuesday. In 2019, the Belgian forward helped the Mystics to a championship, averaging 17.8 points off the bench and earning the Finals MVP award.

Wade also signed 32-year-old Rebekah Gardner, who spent a decade playing overseas before making her WNBA debut with the Sky this season. She made her presence Tuesday felt on the defensive end, disrupting Sabrina Ionescu and helping force the Liberty into 16 turnovers.

When you look up and down the Sky roster from starters Parker, Vandersloot, Quigley, Copper and Meesseman to bench players Gardner and Stevens, you see a complete unit that knows how to win.

“They are a great team,” Liberty coach Sandy Brondello said. “The chemistry that they have, they had poise. They just made plays.”

The Sky’s maturity was obvious in their response to the Liberty run, and during a timeout with 9:34 left, Copper saw the same thing that Quigley did: a team that had it all figured out.

Copper watched as Wade drew up a play and Vandersloot and Parker dissected it, relaying to their teammates exactly how it was going to go down.

“I’m sitting there, and I’m watching this all develop,” Copper said. “And then we go out there and execute. Just to see them really connect, it’s just like, wow.

“That’s the experience, that’s the leadership we need. And it really just carried us down the stretch.”

Now, with one foe down, the Sky are hoping their experience can carry them through the semifinals, and then the Finals, all the way to a feat a WNBA team hasn’t accomplished in 20 years. Another WNBA title.

Eden Laase is a Staff Writer at Just Women’s Sports. Follow her on Twitter @eden_laase.

The 2025 NWSL regular-season attendance numbers are in, with a Tuesday Sports Business Journal (SBJ) report outlining a 5% decline from the record highs the league saw in 2024.

Despite setting a new single-game record in August, the NWSL averaged 10,669 fans per match this season, down from average crowds of 11,250 last year — though the 2025 numbers do mirror 2023's attendance averages.

"Our underlying business is incredibly strong," NWSL COO Sarah Jones Simmer told SBJ, citing multiple single-game team highs. "Across the league, we're seeing consistent attendance growth, franchise-best seasons, and record-breaking moments in markets big and small."

The 2025 season saw the Portland Thorns unseat Angel City as the NWSL's top-supported team, with the LA club seeing a 15.8% drop in overall attendance before missing the playoffs for the second straight year.

ACFC's SoCal neighbor, the San Diego Wave, experienced the steepest 2025 fall, with ticket sales down 26.4% from 2024 and 35.2% from the 2022 expansion club's Shield-winning 2023 campaign.

Some teams did see gains, however, with the North Carolina Courage improving attendance by 40.8% over the last two years while the Washington Spirit's numbers jumped 42.3%, Gotham FC's rose 41.1%, and the 2024 champion Orlando Pride saw a massive 51.5% growth over the same period.

Though this year's attendance declines are not cause for immediate alarm, with two new teams launching next year — and even more in the pipeline — sustainability concerns are increasingly entering the expansion conversation.

The 2025 NCAA soccer postseason has arrived, with this week's conference tournaments setting the scene for November 10th's Selection Monday — and the 64-team Division I College Cup.

While 30 teams will earn automatic bids to the national tournament by winning their conference titles, all NCAA squads are looking to impress this week with 34 additional bracket spots awarded by the selection committee on Monday.

Stanford entered this week at No. 1 in the United Soccer Coaches rankings, with the ACC regular-season title-holders also earning a bye into Thursday's conference tournament semifinals.

"We've got to keep getting better," Cardinal head coach Paul Ratcliffe said. "If we want to win the national championship, you gotta learn from each game and continue to push forward and improve."

After sending four teams to the 2024 College Cup, the ACC remains on top of the women's college soccer landscape with four of the current Top-7 teams hailing from the conference — though other contenders loom.

The No. 3 Memphis Tigers remain the year's surprise success story as one of the sport's two unbeaten teams, with the mid-major squad now vying for their fifth American Conference championship this weekend.

Elsewhere, the No. 13 Washington Huskies and No. 9 Michigan State Spartans enter Thursday's Big Ten tournament semifinals as the Nos. 1 and 2 seeds, respectively, while upsets already ousted the top seeds from both the SEC and Big 12 tournaments: No. 4 Arkansas and No. 5 TCU.

How to watch the 2025 NCAA soccer conference tournaments

The majority of the 30 NCAA soccer conference tournaments will kick off their semifinals on Wednesday and Thursday, with live coverage of most matches across the Big Ten Network and ESPN platforms.

No. 8 Tennessee opened their 2025/26 NCAA basketball season on a down note, falling to No. 9 NC State 80-77 on Tuesday as the Volunteers hope to better last season's Sweet Sixteen finish under second-year head coach Kim Caldwell.

Vanderbilt transfer forward Khamil Pierre led the Wolfpack with a 21-point, 14-rebound double-double, while fellow preseason Top 25 player Talaysia Cooper led Tennessee's efforts with 23 points and 11 rebounds of her own.

"We wanted to see where we were early, so we had time to fix it," Caldwell said postgame about Tennessee opening the 2025/26 NCAA season against a Top-10 foe. "I think that's exactly what we got out of it. We have a lot of things we can fix. We can get a lot better."

Tuesday's narrow loss was encouraging news for a Tennessee side reeling from a recent roster loss, after Caldwell dismissed starting guard Ruby Whitehorn — a double-digit scorer for the Vols — following the senior's second offseason arrest.

"I love Ruby and will always be rooting for her, but my priority is to uphold the respected reputation of the Lady Vols," Caldwell said in a Sunday statement.

"I have failed to uphold the standards of the lady vol legacy and what it represents and for that I apologize," Whitehorn posted in response.

With the Vols' next ranked matchup set for November 30th, Tennessee's softer slate will allow Caldwell's team to continue refining their new starting lineup before their next big test.

The Toronto Tempo has officially landed a sideline leader, with the 2026 WNBA expansion team announcing ex-New York Liberty boss Sandy Brondello as their inaugural head coach on Tuesday — and making her one of the league's highest-paid coaches in the process.

"This is the place I wanted to be," Brondello said during her introductory press conference. "To build a team from the ground up — that really excited me."

Brondello joins the Toronto Tempo as a two-time championship-winning coach, claiming her first title with the Phoenix Mercury in 2014 before taking the New York Liberty to the top in 2024.

The first-ever Canadian WNBA team is also doubling down on their choice, with multiple reports valuing Brondello's multi-year contract at over $1 million annually.

The 57-year-old Australian — a three-time Olympic medalist as a player — will join the Mercury's Nate Tibbetts and Las Vegas Aces boss Becky Hammon as the only known WNBA coaches earning seven-figure salaries.

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That said, Brondello could have banked even more, with Front Office Sports reporting that a different WNBA team offered her a more lucrative offer, but Brondello deemed Toronto a better fit.

 "From my first conversations with the Tempo organization, it was clear we share the same vision: to build a world-class franchise that competes at the highest level, to create a strong and dynamic culture, and to root everything we do in clear and consistent values," Brondello said in team statement.

"This is a place that's serious about doing things the right way — about excellence, about people, about community — and that's exactly the kind of environment every coach wants to be part of."

As the offseason coaching carousel nears its final turn, teams are stretching resources as they prep for big spending — and a contentious new CBA — in 2026.