It’s the little things that make Brea Beal special.

It’s also the big things.

It’s the small action of taking two steps down the block to aid Aliyah Boston in a triple team. And the big commotion caused by blocking not one, but two Hailey Van Lith jump shots in the first quarter.

It’s the blink-and-you-might-miss-it impact Beal has had all season for South Carolina.

Against Louisville on Friday night, Beal made her mark in every way imaginable, finishing with 12 points, three rebounds, three assists, two blocks and two steals to help the Gamecocks to a 72-59 win and a place in the national championship game Sunday.

“She’s so underestimated,” coach Dawn Staley said. “She’s so unassuming. Her personality makes it easy for people to overlook her. Except the people who know what she does every single day.”

A lot more people know now.

Going into the Final Four game, Van Lith, Louisville’s star guard, was averaging 21.5 points in the tournament. Beal, who often draws South Carolina’s most difficult defensive assignment, was tasked with guarding her.

Down 5-0 to start the game, Van Lith started to work on Beal, setting her up for a stepback jumper. The South Carolina junior blocked the shot, and then fielded a pass on the other end from Aliyah Boston for a layup.

Beal was able to limit Van Lith to nine points on 4-for-11 shooting with her relentless defense.

“It’s just the mentality to have every single game,” she said. “You can’t just turn it on and turn it off when you choose to.”

Brea Beal with the block and bucket 😤 #WFinalFour pic.twitter.com/TKVY1N6KzU

— ESPN (@espn) April 1, 2022

Beal blocked another Van Lith jumper before the quarter ended, but the Louisville sophomore still found ways to make an impact. With 1:50 left in the first, Van Lith drove and dished to Olivia Chochran, who finished a layup and was fouled. She missed the free throw, but Van Lith came up with the rebound and Emily Engstler scored on a layup to cut the South Carolina lead down to 15-10.

It was that kind of game. South Carolina would create distance, and Louisville would string together high-energy plays to ensure the Gamecocks were never too far out of reach.

“Louisville did an extremely great job just competing,” Staley said. “We could never put them away because of their fight and their competitiveness, and their ability to hang in there and score and turn us over.”

With 25 seconds left in the first half, Louisville’s fight was apparent. The Cardinals had been down nine, then ahead three, then tied. Going into the final possession, they trailed South Carolina 32-28.

Boston caught the ball in the paint and was swarmed by three Louisville defenders. She faked the shot, and then the ever unassuming Beal stepped to the hoop. Boston dumped the ball to her, and Beal finished to give the Gamecocks a six-point lead going into the half.

While Beal was a quiet impact player, Boston’s performance was much, much louder. The National Player of the Year and Defensive Player of the Year finished with 23 points, 18 rebounds and four assists.

“She’s really good,” Louisville coach Jeff Walz said of Boston. “I mean, it doesn’t take me to tell you what she’s good at. I’ve got a 6-year-old at home that can sit here and watch the game and be like, ‘Damn, she’s good.’”

Engstler was the catalyst for Louisville, keeping the Cardinals within striking distance. When she fouled out with 4:56 left in the game, and her team trailed by nine points, the deficit only grew.

A few minutes later, with the victory sealed, Boston and Beal subbed out and were met with cheers from the South Carolina crowd. No doubt they were cheering for Boston’s monster performance. But they were also cheering for Beal because, as Staley says, those who watch her every day know what she does for the Gamecocks.

South Carolina is one game away from a national title, in no small part because of Brea Beal.

Eden Laase is a contributing writer at Just Women’s Sports. She previously ran her own high school sports website in Michigan after covering college hockey and interning at Sports Illustrated. Follow her on Twitter @eden_laase.

Caitlin Clark made a surprise appearance on “Saturday Night Live” over the weekend, which quickly went viral.

The Iowa star showed up on the show’s Weekend Update segment to playfully call out Michael Che’s history of making jabs at women’s sports.

It started when Che joked that Iowa should replace Clark’s retired No. 22 “with an apron.” 

When Clark entered, Che said that he was a fan. But Clark wasn’t convinced – especially not when co-host Colin Jost brought the receipts of Che’s jabs.

“Really, Michael? Because I heard that little apron joke you did,” she said, before making him read some jokes of her own in retaliation. Clark finished her segment by shouting out the WNBA greats that came before her. She then got in one final dig – bringing Che a signed apron as a souvenir. 

She’s got jokes 😎@CaitlinClark22 on @nbcsnl #Hawkeyes

pic.twitter.com/54khqQw2MR

— Iowa Women's Basketball (@IowaWBB) April 14, 2024

When Che promised to give it to his girlfriend, Clark delivered her last playful dig of the night.

“You don’t have a girlfriend, Michael,” she said.

Afterward, SNL castmember Bowen Yang told People that the 22-year-old and teammates Gabbie Marshall, Kate Martin and Jada Gyamfi – who joined her at Studio 8H – “were so cool.”

“She's so charming and witty,” Yang said. “They were just the most stunning, noble people.

“Athletes just have this air about them. They know they're amazing. I mean, these are people who have numeric attachments and values to their performance. That's something that comedians never have.”

The Portland Thorns continue to struggle to start the NWSL season, falling 2-0 to the North Carolina Courage over the weekend to remain winless through their first four games. 

It’s uncharted territory for Portland, who has never started the NWSL regular season without a win in four games before.

Following the loss, defender Becky Sauerbrunn voiced her frustrations with the start. 

“It’s hard to find a lot of encouraging things, but what I find encouraging is that people are frustrated,” she said. “People are pissed off that we’re not doing well. We care, and I think that’s really important.” 

She also added that while the team will reflect individually, “there’s going to be no finger pointing.”

“We’re going to look at ourselves and figure out what we should have done, or I should have done better,” she said. “There is a list of things that I could have done better, and I’m going to make sure I know every single thing and watch this game back.”

The Thorns currently sit at the bottom of the league table with just one point, having allowed 10 goals – tied for the worst in the league. They’ve yet to lead in a match. And as questions grow, attention turns to head coach Mike Norris. 

Norris is in his second year as head coach of the club after leading the team to a second-place finish in the regular season last year. When asked about the possibility of pressure growing after the unprecedented start, Norris said that the pressure has been there “from day one.”

“I cannot be driven by my day-to-day and the longer vision of the pressure of the job,” he said. “We’ve got a belief in how we want to play, how we operate. We’ve got to stick with the process of that. While we do it, we have to review and see what is working, what’s not working.

“I’ll be showing up for the team and being there for what they need from me as we approach getting back together as a group next week.”

Maria Sanchez, who signed one of the biggest deals in NWSL history just four months ago, has reportedly requested a trade from the Houston Dash. 

ESPN was the first to report the news, which was confirmed by multiple sources.

In a statement to ESPN, the team said: “​​Maria Sanchez is under contract, a choice she made in free agency at the end of 2023." 

In December, Sanchez signed a new three-year contract with the Dash worth $1.5 million including bonuses and an option year. At the time, it was the largest contract in NWSL history – something that was eclipsed by multiple contracts in the following months. 

The winger was a restricted free agent in the offseason, meaning that Houston could match any offer from another team and retain her rights. Should the team trade Sanchez, her contract would remain as it has been signed with the league. That limits the number of teams that could take on her contract. 

In three starts with the Dash this season, Sanchez has zero goals and an assist. The Dash are 1-2-1 through four games and have allowed a league-worst 10 goals.

The team hired a new coach, Fran Alonso, in December. Earlier this year, former goalkeeper coach Matt Lampson was fired for violating the league’s Coach Code of Conduct and Anti-Fraternization policy. 

Both the NWSL trade window and transfer window close at midnight ET on Friday.

Canada got its revenge on Sunday, winning the 2024 IIHF Women’s World Championship and taking down the U.S. in a 6-5 overtime classic.

Marie-Philip Poulin, a longtime star for Canada, got her first two goals of the tournament, while Danielle Serdachny had the game-winner. 

GOLD FOR CANADA! DANIELLE SERDACHNY WINS IT IN OVERTIME! #WomensWorlds pic.twitter.com/fHmqUmHoGw

— TSN (@TSN_Sports) April 15, 2024

"I hate to say you're not trying to rely on it, expect it, but I know I've grown to expect it," Canada coach Troy Ryan said of Philip-Poulin. "Tonight was just a whole other level. I could see in her eyes every time we called her name that she was ready to go. It's just special."

The win came after Canada lost 1-0 to the U.S. in the group stage of the tournament. On Sunday, the two teams met for the 22nd time in 23 tournaments in the gold medal game – and the action between the two teams delivered. 

Among those scoring for the U.S. were Megan Keller, Alex Carpenter, Hilary Knight, Laila Edwards and Caroline Harvey. Julia Gosling, Emily Clark and Erin Ambrose had the other three goals for Canada, giving them their 13th World title after falling to the U.S. in last year’s title game in Toronto. 

This year’s game was held in New York, and it was the second-highest scoring final between the two teams. The U.S. won a world championship 7-5 in 2015. 

"Oh man, that feels good to win it on U.S. soil," Canada goalie Ann-Renee Desbiens said after the game. "We owed it to them and owed it to ourselves to win that one."

Canada also denied Knight a record 10th World Championship win, although she did become the most decorated player in women’s world championship history with 14 medals. After the game, Poulin gave Knight a hug on the ice. 

"We just said 'that was unbelievable,'" Poulin said.

U.S. coach John Wroblewski echoed the sentiment that it was an outstanding game after being asked about ending the game on a power-play after leaving too many players on the ice. 

"Instead of talking about the isolated events of tonight's game, I think that normally that's an interesting storyline,” he said. “But I think the entity of an amazing 6-5 game is an amazing hockey game that took place."