The Sky faced their biggest deficit of the game with 8:06 remaining in the fourth quarter Sunday. After Kaila Charles’ jumper extended the Sun’s lead to seven in Game 3 of a WNBA semifinal series tied at one, the Sky needed an answer for Connecticut’s offensive momentum.

Kahleah Copper lamented her lack of energy after Chicago’s loss in Game 2. The Sky’s “emotional leader,” as coach James Wade referred to her after the game, took that feeling into Sunday’s game, leading the Sky’s 86-83 comeback win over the Sun with nine points in the fourth quarter.

“Kah’s energy was infectious,” Wade said. “She was really good everywhere — defensively, offensively, when we needed big plays. Her and [Allie] Quigley made them and it kept us in the game.”

Copper led all scorers with 26 points, tying her season-high, on an efficient 9-for-14 shooting from the field and 3-for-6 from 3-point range. None of those points were more important than in the middle of the fourth quarter, when it looked like the No. 1 Sun might pull away behind DeWanna Bonner’s slick shooting and the latest act in Alyssa Thomas’ comeback tour.

Copper started chipping away at the Sun’s lead with just under seven minutes left in the game.

She hit a long jumper and drove the lane for a layup to pull the Sky within three. After Azurá Stevens gave Chicago a one-point lead with a layup at the 4:10 mark, Copper delivered the dagger, putting Connecticut in a hole it wouldn’t escape.

The 6-foot-1 forward went hard to the basket, beating Jasmine Thomas one-on-one and drawing the foul on the basket to energize her teammates and the crowd at Wintrust Arena. With Copper’s three-point play, the Sky took a 78-74 lead.

LET'S GOOOOOOOO#skytown - 80
Sun- 74
03:28 lef in 4Q pic.twitter.com/YC3mXoG9Vb

— Chicago Sky (@chicagosky) October 3, 2021

“She was the recipient of some of our schemes, but she took advantage of it and had a great night and was really a spark for them,” Sun coach Curt Miller said of Copper. “You see why throughout the regular season she was their leading scorer.”

Copper has been with the Sky since 2017, playing under Wade since he took over as head coach in 2019. It wasn’t until last year during the WNBA’s bubble season that Copper became a full-time starter and her potential was finally on full display. The Rutgers product averaged 14.9 points and 5.5 rebounds per game in 2020, up from her previous season-high averages of 7.1 points and 3.1 rebounds.

Copper, 27, carried that momentum into this season, serving as one of Chicago’s many threats next to Quigley, Courtney Vandersloot and Candace Parker.

“When Kah is like that, it’s hard not to just jump on board with her. It’s so contagious,” Vandersloot said. “She’s obviously a very special athlete, but when she is like that emotionally, she’s so much fun to play with.”

“I love the and-ones, but I think it’s just the little stuff that she does that people don’t notice, like getting through screens really quick, getting that huge defensive rebound where [Briann] January had to foul her,” Parker said. “It’s been really fun and new for me to jump on that energy.”

With the Sky now one win away from the WNBA Finals, Copper is taking her role especially seriously. She and the Sky not only feel like they’re playing their best basketball right now — they also look around the room after a win like Sunday’s and believe they have all the right pieces to win the first championship in franchise history.

“Sloot said something in the locker room just a couple seconds ago about her enjoying my and-one more than me,” said Copper, seated next to Parker and Vandersloot during the postgame press conference. “That is the ultimate leadership. The piece that we need in order to win a championship is celebrating others.

“I’m just trying to do whatever I can out there, just be that person for us.”

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.

USWNT stalwart Alex Morgan will miss at least one week of NWSL action after suffering a left ankle knock in her last club appearance, Wave manager Casey Stoney said on Thursday.

Morgan was helped off the field after rolling her ankle in the later stages of the Wave’s 1-0 loss to the Orlando Pride last weekend, despite the San Diego side being out of available substitutes.

“She's got an ankle injury and she's out for this weekend, and then it'll be week by week from there,” Stoney said, confirming that Morgan’s been ruled out for Saturday’s showdown with NWSL newcomer Bay FC.

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Depending on its severity, Morgan’s ankle issue might have larger ramifications than missing a few weeks of NSWL play. Morgan was added to the team's Gold Cup roster after an ACL injury sidelined young striker Mia Fishel, and she's since made a number of USWNT starts in the team's Gold Cup and SheBelieves wins. A long-term injury could potentially derail the center forward’s Olympic plans.

With her return timeline uncertain, it's possible the injury could also impact Morgan's ability to participate in new head coach Emma Hayes' first U.S. friendlies in June and July.

Morgan's injury concerns aren't uncommon in the U.S. player pool, but add a sense of urgency as Hayes eyes the NWSL for top-performing players in the upcoming weeks. Gotham's Tierna Davidson and Rose Lavelle have also been dealing with injuries: Lavelle has yet to appear for Gotham, while Davidson exited last weekend's match early with a hamstring injury.

Gotham has yet to issue an update concerning Davidson's status.

This week, legendary Brazilian superstar Marta announced that she’ll retire from the national team at the end of 2024.

In an interview with CNN Esportes published Thursday, the iconic footballer confirmed that she would be hanging up her boots regardless of whether or not she ends up making Brazil's 18-player roster for the 2024 Paris Olympics. 

“If I go to the Olympics, I will enjoy every moment, because regardless of whether I go to the Olympics or not, this is my last year with the national team,” she said. “There is no longer Marta in the national team as an athlete from 2025 onwards.”

Marta will retire as a giant of the women's game, having appeared in five Olympics and multiple World Cups. When discussing her retirement, she stressed confidence in the rising generation of Brazilian players, noting that she was, “very calm about this, because I see with great optimism this development that we are having in relation to young athletes." 

The statement echoes back to a plea she made during the 2019 FIFA Women’s World Cup after Brazil lost to France 2-1 in the Round of 16. “It's wanting more. It's training more. It's taking care of yourself more. It's being ready to play 90 plus 30 minutes. This is what I ask of the girls,” she said then, addressing the young players following in her footsteps. 

In 2023, she signaled a farewell to World Cup competition with the same sentiment, telling media, “We ask the new generation to continue where we left off.”

If selected for the 2024 Olympic team, Marta has a shot at extending her own consecutive-scoring record with the ability to score in an unbelievable sixth-straight Olympic Games. She currently stands as Brazil’s top goalscorer, racking up 116 career goals in 175 matches, as well as the leading goalscorer in any World Cup, women’s or men’s, with 17 to her name. 

Marta will continue to play for the NWSL’s Orlando Pride through at least the end of 2024. The longtime forward and club captain has already contributed to multiple goals this season.

U.S. Soccer announced Tuesday that the USWNT will play their last home game on July 16th in the lead-up to the 2024 Summer Olympic Games in Paris.

The 2024 Send-Off Match against Costa Rica will take place at Washington, DC’s Audi Field — home to both the Washington Spirit and DC United — at 7:30 p.m. ET on Tuesday, July 16th. The friendly rounds out a four-game Olympic run-up campaign under incoming head coach Emma Hayes’ side, with the last two set to feature the finalized 2024 U.S. Olympic Women’s Soccer Team roster.

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Hayes will appear on the USWNT sideline for the first time this June, helming the team as they embark on a two-game series against Korea Republic hosted by Dick’s Sporting Goods Park in Commerce City, Colorado on June 1st followed by Allianz Stadium in St. Paul, Minnesota on June 4th. 

The team is then scheduled to meet a talented Mexico squad on July 13th at Gotham FC’s Red Bull Arena in Harrison, New Jersey, where the Olympic-bound lineup will attempt to rewrite February’s shocking 2-0 loss to El Tri Femenil in the group stages of this year’s Concacaf W Gold Cup. And while clear roster favorites have emerged from both of this year’s Gold Cup and SheBelives Cup rosters, a spate of recent and recurring injuries means making it to the Olympics is still largely anyone’s game.

Broadcast and streaming channels for the USWNT's final July 16th friendly at Audi Field include TNT, truTV, Universo, Max, and Peacock.

The USA Basketball Women's National Team is still considering Caitlin Clark for a spot on the Paris Olympics squad, says selection committee chair Jennifer Rizzotti. 

On Monday, Rizzotti told the AP that the committee will be evaluating the college phenom’s Olympic prospects by keeping a close eye on her first few weeks of WNBA play with Indiana.

The move is somewhat unconventional. While Clark was invited to participate in the 14-player national team training camp held earlier this month — the last camp before Team USA’s roster drops — she was unable to attend due to it coinciding with Iowa’s trip to the NCAA Women’s Final Four.

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Judging by the immense talent spread throughout the league in what might be their most hyped season to date, competition for a piece of the Olympic pie could be fiercer than ever before.

"You always want to introduce new players into the pool whether it's for now or the future," said Rizzotti. "We stick to our principles of talent, obviously, positional fit, loyalty and experience. It's got to be a combination of an entire body of work. It's still not going to be fair to some people."

Of course, Clark isn’t the first rookie the committee has made exceptions for. Coming off an exceptional college season that saw her averaging 19.4 points, 8.7 rebounds, and 4 assists per game for UConn, Breanna Stewart was tapped to represent the U.S. at the 2016 Olympics in Brazil less than two weeks after being drafted No. 1 overall by the Seattle Storm. Eight years prior, fellow No. 1 pick Candace Parker punched her ticket to the 2008 Games in Beijing just two weeks after making her first appearance for the L.A. Sparks.

In the lead-up to Paris’ Opening Ceremony on July 26th, USA Basketball Women’s National Team is scheduled to play a pair of exhibition games. They'll first go up against the WNBA's finest at the July 20th WNBA All-Star Game in Phoenix before facing Germany in London on July 23rd.

While an official roster announcement date hasn’t yet been issued, players won’t find out if they’ve made this year’s Olympic cut until at least June 1st.