CHICAGO — Courtney Vandersloot smiled and paused to look around the postgame press conference room, content with the secret she was about to let everybody else in on.

Vandersloot has been with the Chicago Sky since they drafted her with the third pick in 2011, riding the ups and downs that, 10 years later, led them to the mountaintop. As Vandersloot, the longest-tenured Sky player, tried to put the franchise’s historic first WNBA championship into words after the 80-74 win over the Phoenix Mercury in Game 4 on Sunday, she recounted a conversation that brought this team’s storybook season full circle.

Several years ago, when the Sky were going through some personnel changes, Vandersloot and Candace Parker were together in Europe, training and playing with USA Basketball. At a club in Spain one night, Parker told Vandersloot about this coach she had her eye on named James Wade.

“I told Michael [Alter], ‘Candace Parker told me we need to hire this guy,’” Vandersloot said, referring to the Sky’s owner. “Now she comes to play for him, and the first year we come here, to win a championship — I don’t think you can write it better than that.”

Parker has said she knew this team was capable of winning a title in her first year — the two-time WNBA MVP left Los Angeles after 13 seasons and a championship with the Sparks to sign in her hometown of Chicago. She knew the caliber of players the Sky had, but she also believed in their coach.

Coach Wade was ready for the challenge. pic.twitter.com/DPlXObuXau

— Just Women’s Sports (@justwsports) October 17, 2021

Parker said something she’s appreciated about Wade is the adjustments he makes. One of those decisions came with 4:52 left in the fourth quarter Sunday and the Sky trailing the Mercury 70-65, when Wade subbed Stefanie Dolson back in for Azurá Stevens despite her having five fouls. Dolson made the layup at the 1:22 mark that gave the Sky the lead and put in another one 36.2 seconds later that helped them ice the game.

Chicago, which had trailed by as many as 14 points in the third quarter, rode a 15-2 run in the fourth to win the title at home and avoid a Game 5 back in Phoenix on Tuesday.

“I told Stef, ‘You’re going to be big for us in this next series, so I need you to stay ready,’ and she was ready,” Wade said. “She gave us some good, valuable minutes, and she leaned on [Brittney Griner] a lot throughout the game, so BG didn’t have the same legs in the fourth quarter as she did in the first three quarters.”

About a month ago, the Sky might not have been as resilient as they were on Sunday.

Allie Quigley — who had a team-high 26 points Sunday on 5-for-10 shooting from 3 — said they reached a “breaking point” not long before the playoffs. Frustrated with their inconsistency after following up a seven-game losing streak with a seven-game winning streak early in the season and entering the playoffs as the No. 6 seed after going 16-16, they nearly buckled under the strain of it all. “We didn’t know who we were,” Quigley explained.

At that point, they took a hard look at themselves. They leaned on their leadership and made a conscious decision to grow stronger and closer from the adversity.

“Candace, the first thing she said was she was going to play for me. It was just so inspiring that she wanted me to win a championship so bad, and I just — it just made me want to play harder,” Quigley said. “And everybody went around and said who they were playing for. In the end we all wanted to play for each other, and that’s what you saw tonight in this whole playoff experience.”

What a memorable night in Chicago 🎬 pic.twitter.com/oavjJv5lRo

— Just Women’s Sports (@justwsports) October 18, 2021

Since that team meeting, the Sky started playing their best basketball when it mattered most. They won two single-elimination games against Dallas and Minnesota. They took down the mighty Connecticut Sun in four games in the semifinals to earn a rematch with the Mercury, who swept Chicago in the 2014 Finals for Diana Taurasi’s third championship and second Finals MVP award.

When reflecting on that series during Finals week, Quigley said they were “babies” in terms of WNBA experience. Since then, Quigley and Vandersloot not only fell in love off the court and got married, but they also committed to stay with the Sky and bring a championship to Chicago.

“We did get a taste early what it felt like to be in the Finals, and we got our asses kicked, but we did get that taste,” Vandersloot said while sitting next to Quigley, Parker and Kahleah Copper, named Finals MVP after overcoming career adversity of her own to put the league on notice this year.

“We knew if we got the right people — exhibit A and B — that we could be in this moment, and it would be special here. We didn’t want to go seeking that. We didn’t want to go seeking this feeling. We wanted to do it here, and we just knew that we had what it takes. We just needed a few more pieces and people to believe, and that’s exactly what we got.”

The story of the Chicago Sky’s 2021 season? No, you can’t write it much better than that.

Hannah Withiam is the Managing Editor at Just Women’s Sports. She previously served as an editor at The Athletic and a reporter at the New York Post. Follow her on Twitter @HannahWithiam.

Georgia outdoor track and field won their first-ever NCAA championship in style this weekend, finishing the four-day meet with a dominant 73 points to claim the team title by a massive margin of 26 points on Saturday.

Snagging podium finishes with 47 and 43 points, respectively, were silver medalists USC and bronze winners Texas A&M.

The Bulldogs proved impossible to beat, boasting individual champions in the 400-meter dash (junior Aaliyah Butler), the high jump (senior Elena Kulichenko), the hammer throw (grad student Stephanie Ratcliffe) and the 4×400-meter relay — more individual titles than any other school at the meet.

The winning relay team of freshman Michelle Smith, sophomore Sydney Harris, and juniors Butler and Dejanea Oakley particularly impressed, with three of the four taking individual podium spots as well.

Butler — a 2024 US Olympic gold medalist in the 4×400-meter relay — led the aforementioned 400-meter dash, with teammate Oakley securing second-place just behind her.

Meanwhile, Smith bagged bronze in the 400-meter hurdles.

Georgia head coach Caryl Smith Gilbert, who previously led three-time champion USC to the Trojans' 2018 and 2021 NCAA titles, is now the only woman to coach two different schools to an outdoor track and field national championship.

"I love these kids. They teach me more about me than I teach them about anything," said an emotional Smith Gilbert during the trophy ceremony. "They worked so hard, and they believed in themselves, and we did it."

Trio of NCAA records crumble at championship meet

While first-time champion Georgia was making team program history, a trio of NCAA women were busy shattering national track and field records this weekend.

First, Washington sophomore Hana Moll became the national pole vault champion with a new NCAA record leap of 4.79 meters on Thursday.

Notably, this was the third time this season that the collegiate pole vault mark was cleared by a Huskie, with Moll's twin sister Amanda breaking the record twice last month.

Then on Saturday, two records fell, with Alabama sophomore Doris Lemngole earning her second straight 3,000-meter steeplechase title in 8:58.15 — the fastest time in NCAA history.

Michigan senior Savannah Sutherland, a 2024 Olympian for Team Canada, closed out the 2025 NCAA record-breaking by dethroning a legend, smashing the 400-meter hurdles mark previously held by now-two-time Olympic individual champion Sydney McLaughlin-Levrone.

Sutherland's 52.46-second race was 0.29 seconds below McLaughlin-Levrone's collegiate record — and a full 0.8 seconds below Sutherland's own personal best.

The Kansas City Current continues to hold court atop the NWSL standings, earning their fifth straight win after a brief two-game skid by defeating No. 7 Racing Louisville 4-2 on Saturday.

The Current pounced early, going up 3-0 ahead of the match's 20-minute mark before sealing the win with a second-half stoppage-time goal from star striker Temwa Chawinga.

KC is currently winning the race to stay ahead of 2024 Shield-winner and champions Orlando, who won their third straight match after a second-half dagger by Barbra Banda lifted the No. 2 Pride over No. 9 Bay FC 1-0 on Friday.

View this post on Instagram

A post shared by Just Women’s Sports (@justwomenssports)

Elsewhere, the San Diego Wave regained their grip on third place with Friday's 3-2 victory over the No. 12 Houston Dash, while the No. 5 Portland Thorns began to encroach on Washington's fourth-place standing with a 2-0 win over the Spirit on Sunday.

The top four teams weren't the only ones moving this weekend, as Gotham earned their first regular-season points since early May with Friday's 3-0 win over the last-place Utah Royals — despite two red card offenses limiting their late-game on-field roster to nine.

Along with boosting the Bats back above the playoff line into eighth place, the victory saw NY/NJ forward Esther pull ahead of Chawinga and Banda in the 2025 Golden Boot race, with her two-goal showing putting the Spanish national at nine goals on the season.

While no team is immune to the midseason blues, this weekend's widening eight-point gap between first and fourth place on the table is separating the contenders from the pretenders.

Indiana Fever superstar Caitlin Clark returned with a bang on Saturday, coming off a quad strain to score 32 points and hand the reigning champion New York Liberty their first loss of the 2025 season.

Despite Liberty guard Sabrina Ionescu’s game-leading 34 points, the Fever guard finished the 102-88 victory having contributed to 54 of her team's overall points as either a passer or a shooter, notching nine assists and eight rebounds while sinking 50% from behind the arc.

"Don't we always expect that kind of game from Caitlin?" Fever head coach Stephanie White asked after beating the Liberty.

Despite filling some key roster gaps over the offseason, the dreams of an Indiana title run appear to hinge on Clark being healthy and available, with the Fever sputtering to a 2-3 record during her five-game absence.

"Emotionally, it's a relief, it's a lift," White said. "This group, they stay together. They draw strength from one another; I draw strength from them. Every single day we take one step forward together, we're building trust."

View this post on Instagram

A post shared by Just Women’s Sports (@justwomenssports)

Angel Reese scores career-first triple-double

Clark's fellow 2024 draftee Angel Reese also hit a milestone this weekend, becoming the second-youngest player to ever record a triple-double, notching the first of her WNBA career in the Chicago Sky's 78-66 win over the Connecticut Sun on Sunday.

"I think some of the best players in the world, if their shot is not falling, they try to find other ways to get the team together and stay involved," Reese said afterwards. "I'm just super excited, and then to add it with a win just feels really good."

With 2025 WNBA All-Star voting officially underway, this stretch of the season gives individual standouts even more incentive to step into the spotlight and shine.

The third-place Atlanta Dream are storming up the WNBA standings, winning their last three games by an average margin of 23.6 points after routing the Washington Mystics 89-56 on Sunday.

Atlanta guard Rhyne Howard opened the weekend by tying the WNBA record for three-pointers made in a single game, recording nine baskets from behind the arc as the Dream took down the Chicago Sky 88-70 on Friday.

View this post on Instagram

A post shared by Just Women’s Sports (@justwomenssports)

Offseason pick-up Brittney Griner has also been busy, passing WNBA legend Lisa Leslie for No. 2 on the league's all-time career blocks list following this weekend's Atlanta victories.

While the Dream have made the playoffs in each of the last three seasons, a few key roster additions plus a new coaching hire have Atlanta entertaining a shot at a first-ever championship bid.

The momentum shift has largely been on offense, with the Dream hitting a franchise-record 18 three-pointers while guard Allisha Gray put up a career-high 32 points on Sunday.

Also quietly climbing the WNBA's ranks is the only other team currently on a three-game winning streak, the Golden State Valkyries.

Bolstered by a 76-70 Saturday win over the always-dangerous Seattle Storm, the 2025 expansion side secured a 5-5 season record to claim sixth place on the league table this weekend.

How to watch the Atlanta Dream on Tuesday

Nearly the entire league is in action on Tuesday, as 12 of the 13 teams will face off on WNBA courts.

The Dream will have their work cut out for them as they face the 2024 champion Liberty at 7 PM ET, taking on a New York side eager to bounce back from their first 2025 loss.

As for the Valkyries, Golden State will visit Paige Bueckers and the Dallas Wings at 8 PM ET.

Both games will air live on WNBA League Pass.