New York got it done last night, taking down Las Vegas 93-86 in Tuesday’s Aces vs Liberty showdown, becoming the league’s first two-time WNBA Commissioner’s Cup champion.
With Aces superstar A’ja Wilson sidelined, Liberty vets Sabrina Ionescu and Cup MVP Breanna Stewart combined for 51 of New York’s 93 points.
“I’m just really proud of the mindset and the mentality of this team,” Stewart said. “We were going to do whatever it took to get this win.”
Ionescu provided the spark New York needed, after the recently returned guard hit a dagger 3-pointer to seal the win with 15.7 seconds left.
“She’s too good,” Aces head coach Becky Hammon said of Ionescu. “I don’t know if anybody's noticed in this crowd, [but] she likes big moments and big shots.”
“I’ve always continued to have that belief in myself,” said Ionescu. “An injury or two is not going to diminish my understanding of who I am, and the work that I’ve put in to get to where I’m at today.”
Both teams feature in Friday’s ION double-header, as New York hosts league-leader Minnesota at 7:30 PM, before Las Vegas faces Chicago at 10 PM ET.
No. 5 Gotham FC lifted another trophy on Friday, taking down No. 6 Kansas City 2-0 in Columbus, Ohio to win its first-ever NWSL Challenge Cup.
In a sometimes chippy affair, Gotham forward Esthér opened the scoring from the penalty spot just before halftime, before rookie Jordynn Dudley called her own second-half shot to secure the title.
“She’s such a winner, and she has the mentality,” Gotham manager Juan Carlos Amoros said of Dudley. “She does that from a humbling position to put the team first and produces on both sides of the ball.”
With the regular season resuming this weekend, the neutral-site match gave both mid-table teams a head start coming out of the midseason break.
“It gives us a good bite,” said Current defender Izzy Rodriguez. “Coming off of a loss, you don’t like that feeling. So now to carry that into the rest of the season, I think it’ll only help us.”
“A final lives its own life — you never know what to expect,” said Gotham FC defender Guro Reiten. “We punished them in two good moments, and that’s all we needed today.”
Where to Watch the NWSL This Week
The NWSL returns Friday, as No. 4 Washington faces No. 11 Houston at 8 PM ET, live on Victory+.
Golden State is made a statement in Sunday’s Liberty vs Valkyries game, after the 76-67 win over No. 5 New York boosted the No. 3 Valkyries up the WNBA standings.
Golden State held all but two Liberty starters to single-digit scoring. The Valkyries tallied a three-game winning streak behind a balanced defensive effort and guard Kaila Charles’s 13 points off the bench.
“Our biggest thing coming into this three-game stretch was being on the same page,” said Charles. “When we are, we are a really, really great team.”
The result extended New York’s two-game skid. The short-staffed Liberty is struggling to keep up with gritty opponents.
New York forward Satou Sabally is entering concussion protocol, after the Liberty stumbled to its lowest-scoring first half this year on Sunday.
“It’s really the moments when you’re at the lowest,” said forward Breanna Stewart. “We’re obviously not a finished product, but this wasn’t a great showing.”
Where to This Week's Watch WNBA Games
New York next takes on Las Vegas in tomorrow’s 7 PM ET Commissioner’s Cup final (Prime). Meanwhile, Golden State will aim to keep momentum rolling through Saturday’s 1 PM ET clash with Atlanta (CBS).
The Aces got the better of the Wings last night, as No. 2 Las Vegas earned a 99-84 win over No. 6 Dallas to finish the pair’s regular-season Wings vs Aces series on a 1-2 record.
Dallas’s offense has been on a tear despite the setback. Guard Paige Bueckers dropped 25 points on the Aces — days after becoming the fastest-ever player to tally 1000 points in Monday’s 112-110 win over Seattle.
“I think it’s more a testament to who’s helped me get here, the village that helped me get here, the story, the adversity that a lot of people helped me overcome,” Bueckers said.
Las Vegas relied on franchise player A’ja Wilson to keep the Wings contained, as the reigning MVP led all scorers with 32 points and nine rebounds.
“She makes a lot of things look easy out there,” Aces coach Becky Hammon said of Wilson. “I knew she was locked in — she came in in her white tee.”
The Aces also got a welcome 31-point boost from their bench, despite guard Chennedy Carter missing her fifth straight game due to undisclosed illness.
Where to Watch Sunday's WNBA Doubleheader on CBS
Both teams return for Sunday’s CBS doubleheader, as Dallas looks to regroup before facing No. 1 Minnesota at 2 PM ET, while Las Vegas takes on struggling No. 13 Chicago at 4 PM ET.
The Texas Volts snapped a six-game losing streak on Tuesday with a 6-2 win over the Chicago Bandits at Dell Diamond. The victory also set a new AUSL single-game record with five home runs.
The power display started early.
Texas Volts Softball Snaps Losing Streak in Historic Fashion
In the second inning, Volts stars Tiare Jennings and Aliyah Binford went back-to-back on consecutive first pitches. Then Michaela Edenfield connected for her first professional home run in the fifth. Aminah Vega, a AUSL rookie, added a solo shot in the sixth before Binford capped the inning with a two-run blast, her second of the night.
On the mound, Texas Tech standout Nijaree Canady made her first professional home start for the Volts following extended contract negotiations with the league.
After she delivered a clean opening stretch, Binford came on in relief and threw three scoreless innings with three strikeouts. Between her two home runs and her work in the circle, Binford carried the Volts on both sides of the ball.
Prior to the Volts performance on Tuesday, the previous AUSL single-game home run record was four, a mark originally set by the Talons against the Blaze and later equaled by the Bandits.
The win gives the Volts some momentum heading into tonight's series finale against Chicago.
New York came out on top last night, as the No. 4 Liberty downed the No. 3 Aces 87-76 in a sneak peek of next week’s Liberty vs Aces WNBA Commissioner’s Cup final.
New York’s Sabrina Ionescu registered a season-best 16 points, 10 rebounds, and four assists as she continues her return from injury.
“I’m just better and better every day,” she said postgame. “My body’s feeling better, getting back into the rhythm of playing competitive basketball.”
The Liberty is now a half-game behind Las Vegas in the WNBA standings, relying on depth and superstar power to shake off two tight losses.
Two-time MVP Breanna Stewart and four-time MVP A’ja Wilson squared off in the matchup, as Stewart edged her frontcourt counterpart with 20 points and six rebounds to Wilson’s 16 points and nine rebounds.
“We’ve kind of been going back and forth and going at it for years now,” Stewart said of Wilson. “Anytime we do it, we know it’s a big moment.”
Both teams return tomorrow at 10 PM ET, as the Aces face the Wings (NBA TV) while New York takes on Seattle (WNBA League Pass).
Las Vegas cruised past Golden State 92-73 in Sunday's Valkyries vs Aces clash, leaning on a 21-point performance from Jackie Young.
Young shot 9-for-12 from the field, made three 3-pointers, and didn't commit a turnover in the matchup. She also dished out five assists, passing Becky Hammon for second on the Aces' all-time assists list with 1,136. Only Chelsea "Point Gawd" Gray sits ahead, with Gray tallying nine more assists Sunday to push her career total to 1,179.
A'ja Wilson contributed 19 points and nine rebounds for the Aces, while Gray added 15 points alongside her nine assists. NaLyssa Smith and reserve Jewell Loyd each chipped in 14 points to bolster a balanced offensive attack.
The 12-4 Aces have now won eight of their last nine games. Sunday's victory continued a stretch of dominance that has Las Vegas firmly entrenched among the WNBA's elite.
Cecilia Zandalasini led the Golden State Valkyries with 12 points, but cold shooting doomed the visitors. The Valkyries missed 19 of their first 20 attempts from beyond the arc, subsequently falling to 10-7 on the season.
Miyu Yamashita topped the Meijer LPGA leaderboard on Sunday, scoring a stunning playoff victory over Lottie Woad at Blythefield Country Club.
Woad held a one-shot lead heading into the par-5 18th in regulation. The 22-year-old former Florida State star subsequently lipped out a three-foot putt for the win, forcing the playoff.
Yamashita sealed the title by getting up and down for birdie on the first extra hole. The 4-foot-11 Japanese star — the shortest player on the LPGA tour schedule — fired a closing 8-under 64 to come from five back, finishing at 17-under.
"I honestly didn't expect it to end up in a playoff," said the 24-year-old, after entering the week at No. 8 in the LPGA rankings.
The win marks Yamashita's third title. She previously captured the 2025 AIG Women's British Open.
Wei-Ling Hsu and Yan Liu tied for third, with Hsu posting one of the day's best scores at 67. Rookie Riley Smyth made her first cut of the season in her 10th start, tying for 12th.
The KPMG Women's PGA Championship — the season's third major — is the next stop on the LPGA Tour schedule.
Nneka Ogwumike drained a buzzer-beating 3-pointer to lift LA past New York 98-97 on Sunday, completing a 17-point Liberty vs Sparks comeback in front of the home crowd.
With eight seconds left and LA trailing by two, Erica Wheeler drove down the court and kicked the ball out to Ogwumike beyond the arc. The WNBA veteran released the shot, which subsequently splashed through as time expired.
The Liberty controlled most of the game after the first quarter, building a 17-point lead in the third. The Sparks chased them down in the fourth, with Ogwumike scoring eight of her 24 points in the final two minutes.
Before the game-winner, Breanna Stewart missed one of two free-throws to leave the door open. Ogwumike walked through it.
"It's Nneka, man. She's going to be [in the] Hall of Fame. She's presidential. I knew it was going in, man," Wheeler said postgame.
The Liberty vs Sparks matchup headlined the WNBA's 30th anniversary celebration. Sunday also marked a "Court Origins" night honoring the league's original franchises, with legends Lisa Leslie and Kym Hampton in attendance.
Ogwumike led all scorers with 24 points, while Rae Burrell added 19 off the bench. The Sparks are now 8-for-8 on the season.
Naomi Osaka, Qinwen Zheng, and Anna Kalinskaya all advanced to the second round of the 2026 Bad Homburg Open on Monday, while former champion Diana Shnaider suffered a first-round upset.
Naomi Osaka opened her grass-court campaign with a 6-4, 6-1 victory over Poland's Magdalena Frech. The match carried over from Sunday after rain suspended play, where Osaka led 5-4 in the first set. The four-time Grand Slam champion subsequently needed just one hour and 34 minutes to seal the win, taking seven of the final eight games.
Osaka now faces either Elise Mertens or Alexandra Eala in the second round. Her best grass-court result remains a 2018 Nottingham semifinal loss to Ash Barty.
In the day's biggest upset, world No. 25 Clara Tauson knocked out seventh-seeded Diana Shnaider 6-4, 6-4 in 1 hour and 45 minutes. The Dane converted four of 10 break points to snap a seven-match losing streak.
Diana Shnaider — the 2024 Bad Homburg Open champion — has now lost both of her opening-round grass-court matches this year.