Before taking the court for Game 2 of the semifinals against the Connecticut Sun, Candace Parker and Allie Quigley took a moment to reflect on their careers.

The two veterans have 28 years of WNBA experience between them, and last year they won a title together. The difficulty of capturing a championship isn’t lost on them.

“It took her eight years to get to the Finals,” Parker said. “It took me eight years to get to the Finals. You have an opportunity, this team has an opportunity. We can’t not seize the opportunity.”

Two games into the best-of-five semifinals series, Parker has grabbed the opportunity with both hands.

In Chicago’s Game 1 loss Sunday, she was a high-voltage bright spot, finishing with 19 points, 18 rebounds, six blocks, five assists and four steals. And in Game 2 on Wednesday night, she willed the Sky to an 85-77 win with 22 points, four rebounds, four assists and three blocks.

Parker has been a key piece to the Sky’s success all season, but she’s reached a new level in the postseason. Her points per game are up from 13.2 in the regular season to 16.8 in the playoffs, and her rebounding average has increased from 8.6 to 11.4.

While Parker tries to bring the same level of intensity to every contest, she admits that the playoffs have always added an extra spark to her game.

“This time of year is my favorite,” she said Wednesday, her face lighting up. “It’s so much fun. I remember in college, coach (Pat Summitt) getting mad at me in the regular season because I just couldn’t wait to get to the NCAA Tournament. And it’s the same with the WNBA playoffs.”

What’s more, the NCAA Tournament and the WNBA Finals appear to love her back.

At Tennessee, Parker won back-to-back NCAA titles in 2007 and 2008. And though it took her eight years to reach her first WNBA Finals with the Sparks, Parker now has two championships and a Finals MVP trophy to her name.

But the 14-year pro wants at least one more, and the first step to securing a third WNBA title is getting past the Sun in the semifinals.

Game 1 proved to be a wake-up call for the Sky despite a dominant individual performance from Parker. Chicago lacked the balance it has had all season, with just three reaching double-digit scoring — Parker (19), Kahleah Copper (13) and Emma Meesseman (10).

In Game 2, Parker was a force once again, but so were the rest of her teammates. All five Sky starters finished in double figures and Chicago shot 50.8 percent from the field and 40 percent from 3-point range, a huge increase from the 35.3 percent from 2 and 26.7 percent from 3 they posted on Sunday.

“I don’t think we had the right mentality in Game 1,” Parker said. “I think we were relaxed in shootaround and in film. That whole day I didn’t think we had the right mentality, and it showed.”

On Wednesday, the Sky looked like themselves from the start. And by the end of the first quarter, they held a 10-point advantage.

They made extra passes, cut hard to the rim and found open shooters. When the Sky are playing their game, it’s a beautiful brand of basketball.

The Sun get no joy out of that beauty. It’s a cause for concern as the series heads to Connecticut for Game 3 on Sunday.

Curt Miller has preached the importance of his team creating a messy, chaotic game. To win the series, the Sun need to stop Chicago’s offensive flow, something they failed to do in Game 2.

“They were getting everything they wanted,” Sun guard Natisha Hiedeman said. “We didn’t come out with the same energy. We were stagnant a little bit.”

After Parker’s heroic effort in Game 1, the Sun put an emphasis on guarding her. But like the rest of the Sky, she got everything she wanted.

We have no words.#skytown pic.twitter.com/mj3knXWxBk

— Chicago Sky (@chicagosky) September 1, 2022

And when Parker gets going, it’s bad news for opponents. That’s something Sun coach Curt Miller knows well. He was an assistant for the Sparks in 2015, a year before he became the head coach for Connecticut and six years before Parker left the team in free agency to join the Sky.

Parker was already in the prime of her career and just one season away from winning her first WNBA title, but according to Miller, the Parker he sees today at 36 is in some ways a better version than the Parker he coached at 29.

“Her fitness and strength, and the intangibles that she’s added late in her career is impressive,” he said. “She is really fit and plays with a really high motor. She’s physical. She just doesn’t take plays off anymore, and it is just impressive to watch.”

Parker recorded her 25th 20-point playoff game on Wednesday, adding another accolade to an already long list of accomplishments. In the postgame press conferences, reporters did their best to glean information about Parker’s greatness from her teammates.

“She’s had so many different great games,” Meesseman said. “And even if she’s having less stats, she is still doing so many great things on the court, like being a great leader. So, I don’t think there are enough words.”

Then, Meesseman cracked a smile: “I think that’s your job,” she said to reporters, “To find the words.”

But what can you write that Parker hasn’t already said on the court?

Eden Laase is a Staff Writer at Just Women’s Sports. Follow her on Twitter @eden_laase.

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.