There was something about being down eight points going into the fourth quarter of a do-or-die game that awoke the bear in Diana Taurasi.

After scoring just 10 points through three quarters, the 39-year-old delivered 14 in the fourth to lead the No. 5 Mercury to an 87-84 win over the No. 2 Aces in Game 5 of the WNBA semifinals on Friday.

After the game, before Phoenix head coach could even hear the end of the question about what gave Phoenix the win, she said, “Diana making shots. She gave us hope.”

On a fractured foot and a sprained ankle, Taurasi hit back-to-back 3-pointers to start the fourth quarter. Those buckets helped Phoenix finally re-gain the lead over Las Vegas, who had been ahead by 10 points through much of the third.

In the last two minutes of a tie game, the 6-foot point guard blocked a layup attempt by 6-8 Liz Cambage and immediately followed that with another 3-pointer.

“In these moments, you just can’t care anymore,” Taurasi nonchalantly said of her performance after the game.

"SHE'S THE GOAT!"

Brittney Griner had to video bomb Diana Taurasi's interview with @ROSGO21 😅 pic.twitter.com/mltIh34AMu

— ESPN (@espn) October 9, 2021

The Mercury made it through 16 games this season without their star, getting Taurasi back only recently, in the second round of playoffs against the Seattle Storm.

“It shows what happens when she’s on the court,” Brondello said. “That’s how special she is. We knew if we could just get her healthy, get her back, good things would happen.”

Taurasi wasn’t the only injured Phoenix player. Kia Nurse is out for the rest of the season after tearing her ACL in Game 4, and Sophie Cunningham, who played a big role in getting the Mercury through the first round of playoffs, sat out of Friday’s game with a calf injury.

Brondello hopes Cunningham will be back on Wednesday for Game 2 of the Finals at the latest.

‘I’ve got so much respect for Shey’

Taurasi saved the Mercury in the fourth quarter, but giving Phoenix momentum in the first half was Shey Peddy, who took on a bigger role in the absence of Nurse and Cunningham. Finishing the game with a playoff-high 15 points, the 32-year-old led Phoenix to a 20-14 lead in the first 10 minutes with seven points and strong defense.

“She’s resilient, to be quite honest,” said Brondello. “She fits in, wherever you need her.”

Averaging 5.4 points per game this season, the guard came to the Mercury in August 2020 after getting waived by the Washington Mystics. She was drafted 23rd overall by the Chicago Sky in 2012 and subsequently cut in three WNBA training camps — 2012 by the Sky, then 2013 and 2019 by the Mystics — and didn’t make her WNBA debut until June 2019 with Washington.

Teammate Skylar Diggins-Smith’s eyes filled with tears when talking about Peddy during the postgame press conference.

“I’ve got so much respect for Shey,” she said through tears. “Her story is just so inspiring. She just works so hard … Even when my confidence is down, she pushes me. She’s just a great teammate.”

Patience is a virtue! 🙏🏾 https://t.co/VKO8mz5mef

— Shey Peddy (@SheyP11) October 9, 2021

Diggins-Smith is heading to her first WNBA Finals after eight years in the league, contributing 14 points and eight assists against the Aces on Friday.

Brittney Griner had a team-high 28 points, along with nine rebounds, to continue her dominant playoff run. She added the most important block of the night in the final two seconds of the game to keep the Aces from tying the game at 84.

The Mercury will face the Chicago Sky in a rematch of the 2014 WNBA Finals, which Phoenix won in three games with Taurasi and Griner. Neither team has been in the Finals since then.

Game 1 of the best-of-five championship series tips off Sunday at 3 p.m. ET on ABC, Sportsnet and NBA TV.

Jessa Braun is an editorial intern for Just Women’s Sports. She is also the Head of North American Content for the Women’s Sports Alliance. You can find her on Twitter @jessabraun.

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.

For the first time in history, three different WNBA teams have completely sold out of season ticket plans well before the league's May 14th kick-off.

Call it the Caitlin Clark effect, attribute it to this year’s tenacious rookie class, or look to the skyrocketing visibility of veteran players across the board. But no matter the cause, facts are facts: Tickets to the 2024 WNBA season are selling like never before. 

On Monday, the Dallas Wings became the third team to sell out of season ticket memberships in the league’s 27-year history. The announcement from Arlington came shortly after the Atlanta Dream issued their own season ticket sell-out statement, also on Monday, and almost seven weeks after the back-to-back WNBA Champion Las Vegas Aces made headlines by becoming the first-ever WNBA team to sell out their season ticket allotment.   

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According to the Wings, season ticket memberships will fill nearly 40% of the 6,251 seats inside their home arena, College Park Center. The club also said that their overall ticket revenue has ballooned to the tune of 220% this year, spanning not just season tickets but also a 1,200% increase in single ticket sales. There’s currently a waitlist to become a Dallas season ticket holder, a status that comes with extra incentives like playoff presale access and discounts on additional single-game tickets. 

In Atlanta, season tickets aren't the only thing flying off the shelves. The Dream also announced that they broke their own record for single-game ticket sales during a recent limited presale campaign. Sunday was reportedly their most lucrative day, with five different games totally selling out Gateway Center Arena. Individual tickets for all upcoming matchups will hit the market this Thursday at 8 a.m., while a waitlist for season ticket memberships will open up next Tuesday at 10 a.m.

"Excitement around women's sports, particularly basketball, is at an all-time high and nowhere is that felt more than here in Atlanta," Dream president and COO Morgan Shaw Parker said in the team’s statement. "We’ve continued a record-setting growth trajectory over the past three years under new ownership — both on and off the court — and 2024 is shaping up to be our best season yet."

As of Tuesday, season ticket sales revenue for Caitlin Clark’s hotly anticipated Indiana Fever debut haven’t yet been announced by the club. But if these numbers are any indication — not to mention the explosive demand for Fever away games felt by teams around the country — it won’t be long before we see some scale-tipping figures coming out of Indianapolis.

25-year-old American pro golfer Nelly Korda secured her spot in LPGA history on Sunday, notching her fifth-straight title at this weekend's Chevron Championship in The Woodlands, Texas.

Ranked No. 1 in the world by Rolex Women’s World Golf Rankings, Korda joins Nancy Lopez (1978) and Annika Sörenstam (2005) as just the third LPGA player to rack up five consecutive tour wins. She is also the third No. 1-ranked player to capture The Chevron Championship victory since the rankings debuted in 2006, accompanied by Lorena Ochoa and Lydia Ko.

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The Florida native shot three-under 69 in Sunday's final, besting Sweden's Maja Stark despite Stark's valiant come-from-behind attempt in the 18th. Korda finished with a four-day total of 13-under 275, celebrating her two-stroke win by cannonballing into Poppie's Pond, much to the crowd's delight. She left The Club at Carlton Woods with $1.2 million from an overall purse of $7.9 million.

It wasn't long ago that the two-time major champion's current winning streak seemed unimaginable. After maintaining her No. 1 position for 29 weeks, Korda underwent surgery to remove a blood clot from her left arm in 2022. She returned to the course not long after, but failed to win a single tournament in 2023 before seeing a surge in form during the first four months of 2024. As of today, she hasn't lost a tournament since January.

Korda will attempt a record sixth-straight win at next week's JM Eagle LA Championship at Wilshire Country Club in Los Angeles, where she'll vie for a cut of the $3.75 million purse.