There’s no singularly obvious reason for Courtney Ogden’s success. JWS’ 10th-ranked recruit in the Class of 2023, Ogden is confident, focused and patient. She values her coaches, mentors and teammates. She puts in a tremendous amount of work both on the court and in the classroom.

The Stanford-bound guard has everything it takes to become a franchise player at the college level and beyond.

Ogden’s basketball journey began in elementary school. As a third grader, she was the only girl to attend the annual Dell Curry Camp in Charlotte, N.C. In an interview with Jr. NBA’s Elevate Series, she said that, despite her best efforts at the camp, none of the boys would pass her the ball. Ogden’s parents, Christopher and Carla, and Dell Curry himself encouraged her to keep working. If she persisted, they said, she would improve.

The term “Basketball IQ” is regularly thrown around in today’s game to describe athletes who have an elite ability to see plays develop before they unfold and to adapt at a moment’s notice.

Courtney Ogden exemplifies Basketball IQ. As with her commitment to the game, she has polished and developed that skill over time.

Sacrifices are never easy, but Courtney knows what it takes to be great. @UAbasketball @CourtneyP_Ogden

Tap the link for the full Day In The Life: https://t.co/6oNhd2NKhE pic.twitter.com/D4KOi4NhUT

— WSLAM (@wslam) October 10, 2022

One influential teacher in Ogden’s life is trainer Dorian Lee, the CEO of B’Ball 101 who specializes in player development at all levels. Ogden began working with Lee in elementary school. The talented guard is one of thousands of players who have trained with Lee, and his impact is evident in her adaptability on the court.

While training with Lee, Ogden also joined an AAU team before she entered fifth grade.

In the state of Georgia, there’s a clear choice for young girls looking to improve their game on the AAU circuit: Atlanta-based program, Finest Basketball Club. Creator and coach Alfred “Mo” Motton has helped catapult young basketball players to the next level for nearly two decades.

FBC teams have collected hundreds of wins over the years. To play for a program of that caliber, and to shine while doing so, attracts attention no matter how old you are.

So, in the sixth grade, just three years after nobody would pass her the ball at the Dell Curry Camp, Ogden picked up her first Division I offer from then-coach MaChelle Joseph at Georgia Tech.

That same year, she enrolled at the Westminster School in Atlanta, where she played for the JV team as an eighth grader and moved up to varsity as a freshman. That season, she averaged a double-double while shooting 42 percent from the field. As a sophomore, she increased her field goal percentage to nearly 50 percent.

Ogden also excels in her community and in the classroom, prioritizing her education off the court. In 2021, she earned her a spot on the inaugural Jr. NBA Court of Leaders, a youth leadership council that connects student-athletes with opportunities to develop. In school, the senior has studied Mandarin since around the same time she got that first DI offer.

When she gets to college next year, Ogden can continue to grow at one of the world’s top universities and on a team that excels at developing guards while regularly vying for titles.

“Courtney is, plain and simple, a pure and excellent scorer,” Stanford head coach Tara VanDerveer said after Ogden signed with the program. “She’s a very physical player on both sides of the ball, loves to look for her 3-point shot and can knock them down.”

Ogden committed to Stanford in December of her junior year of high school, just months after breaking her ankle during the summer. The injury required surgery, causing her to miss the beginning of the Westminster season. After making a full recovery, Ogden exceeded expectations, averaging 18.4 points, 6.5 rebounds, 2.5 assists, 2.3 steals and 1.2 blocks per game that season.

She was named a 2022 GHSA All-Georgia Honorable Mention and GHSA Class AAA First Team selection in addition to leading Westminster to the state semifinals.

Around the same time, she was also invited to her first USA Basketball roster tryout. Ogden earned a spot on the roster for the U18 Women’s Americas Championship in Argentina, despite being a year younger than most of the other players on the team.

Playing for Team USA is a unique learning experience due to the specific style of play the coaching staff demands. Those who make the roster must demonstrate their adaptability and talent to stick around.

U.S. U18 assistant coach DeLisha Milton-Jones, also currently the head coach at Old Dominion, describes Ogden as a skilled player with good size at the guard spot.

“Courtney is a triple-level scorer with good handles that allow her to penetrate the rim and finish through traffic,” she said.

Ogden and the U18 team, entering the Championship on a nine-tournament gold-medal streak, won gold again in Buenos Aires. Ogden averaged 2.4 points, 3.6 rebounds, 2.2 assists and 1.0 steals in 14.5 minutes across five games as the U.S. went 6-0.

She returned to the States and wrapped up her club career this July at the GUAA U17 Championship, marking the culmination of more than a decade with FBC.

Though Ogden’s squad fell in the title game after four overtime periods, she and her teammates — including Alabama signee Essence Cody, UNC signee Reniya Kelly and 2024 standouts Jaloni Cambridge and Zamareya Jones — demonstrated just how effectively FBC prepares and develops its players for the next level.

Ogden continued to shine at the Elite 24 game in Chicago, where she put on a show alongside other dynamic five-star recruits.

.@CourtneyP_Ogden went OFF in the first half 😤 pic.twitter.com/JJxlDq7nmV

— Girls UAA (@UANextGHoops) August 12, 2022

She was also selected as one of nine athletes — and the only girls’ basketball player — to participate in UA Next’s The Workout. The Workout is an annual performance development weekend at Under Armour’s headquarters designed to push invited participants from a variety of sports through different workouts and activities, demonstrating what college athletics has in store.

And now, the 1,000-point scorer has begun her final season in a Westminster jersey as one of 10 student-athletes named to the 2022-23 Naismith Girls’ High School Player of the Year Preseason Watchlist.

The Westminster Wildcats have started the 2022-23 season 8-4 and resume play in the New Year. Ogden leads the team in scoring (21.3 points per game), rebounds (10.7) and steals (2.5).

Caroline Makauskas is a contributing writer for Just Women’s Sports. She also covers a variety of sports on her TikTok @cmakauskas. Follow her on Twitter @cmakauskas.

The fourth major championship of the 2025 LPGA season teed off on Thursday, as golf's best gathered to compete for the $8 million overall purse at the Evian Championship in Évian-les-Bains, France.

Along with eight other past champions, 25-year-old Japanese golfer and world No. 16 Ayaka Furue entered this week's edition looking to defend her 2024 title, finishing the opening round at four-under-par to sit in a respectable nine-way tie for seventh place.

No. 17 Céline Boutier, the 2023 champion, trailed Furue by one stroke, with the Frenchwoman heading into Friday's second round tied for 16th with six other golfers, including the US's No. 35 Megan Khang.

Currently leading the US contingent are No. 36 Andrea Lee and No. 38 Jennifer Kupcho, whose six-under opening round has them tied with three others at the top of the 2025 Evian Championship leaderboard.

Two strokes below the leaders — and clustered in that seventh-place tie with Furue — is world No. 1 Nelly Korda, making a solid start by finishing the day with four straight birdies.

Korda is hunting both a third career major title and her first win of the 2025 LPGA season this week.

"Overall, a couple parts of my game helped me and rescued me, and the other parts let me down," said Korda, following her opening round play. "That's golf. Just going to try and figure it out on the range."

Should Korda, or the other US contenders, finish the weekend atop the field, the US could see its first Evian champion since Angela Stanford in 2018.

How to watch the 2025 Evian Championship

The 2025 Evian Championship runs through Sunday, with live coverage airing on the Golf Channel.

With one-third of the group stage left to play, the 2025 Euro has already shattered tournament records in both attendance and viewership.

The crowds in Switzerland broke the women's European Championship group-stage attendance record with a combined 287,438 fans packing stadiums through the first two matchdays — with four more days and eight games left before the knockouts.

Plus, this year's Euro has smashed the record attendance for a match not featuring the host nation — and done it twice.

First, No. 2 Spain's 5-0 opening win over No 22 Portugal set a new mark with a crowd of 29,520 in Bern on July 3rd, before No. 3 Germany's 2-1 defeat of No. 12 Denmark blasted that record when 34,165 fans packed Basel's St. Jakob-Park on Tuesday.

Attendance has already surpassed the final combined total of every previous edition except the 2022 tournament, with this year on track to fell host England's mark, as well.

This year's crowds are even more impressive considering Switzerland's venues are significantly smaller than many used in England's edition, with London's 90,000-seat Wembley Stadium — the site of the 2022 final — dwarfing the 34,250 capacity of the largest Swiss venue.

Even outside of Europe, the continental championship is making history.

Boosted by the first-ever non-cable Euro media deal in the US, the tournament earned its best-ever group-stage, English-language viewership in the States this week, with Fox platforms reporting that the the first 10 2025 matches saw a 123% increase over the 2022 edition.

Even more, No. 10 France's 2-1 opening win over defending champions No. 5 England garnered 690,000 viewers on Saturday, blasting the previous average first-round viewership by an astounding 329% to become the most-watched English-language group-stage Euro match in US broadcast history.

With historic attendance and viewership, the sky's the limit for the 2025 Euro.

The third and final round of 2025 Euro group-stage matches begins on Thursday, when some teams will battle for survival while other tournament frontrunners rest easy having already secured their spots in the knockouts.

Of the competition's 16 teams, four punched their tickets to the quarterfinals in their second matches, with four others conceding elimination.

World No. 16 Norway led the charge to the European Championship knockouts, becoming the first team to advance by topping Group A last Sunday.

No. 2 Spain followed suit with a dominant 6-2 Monday win over No. 20 Belgium to top Group B, while No. 3 Germany and No. 6 Sweden wrapped up Group C by notching their second Euro wins on Tuesday.

On the other hand, Belgium, No. 12 Denmark, No. 14 Iceland, and No. 27 Poland saw their 2025 Euro hopes end this week, as two losses plus other group results snuffed out any chance to advance.

The remaining third group-play matches will now decide the second Group A and B teams to make the quarterfinals, with host No. 23 Switzerland and surprise contender No. 26 Finland squaring off for the Group A spot on Thursday.

While No. 13 Italy can lock up a knockout berth with a win or a draw against Spain on Friday, No. 22 Portugal is not out of the Group B running just yet — though their path to advance is tough, requiring an Italy loss plus a high-scoring win over Belgium.

"Group of Death" comes down to final day of group play

The 2025 Euro's notorious "Group of Death" still has everything to play for, as all four teams in the hyper-competitive Group D could still technically advance — though some have wildly clearer paths than others.

No. 10 France sits in the lead with six points, while defending champions No. 5 England and the No. 11 Netherlands will go into Group D's third matchday on Sunday tied with three points apiece.

The Dutch have arguably the toughest task on Sunday, likely needing a goal-heavy win over Les Bleues to keep their Euro dream alive, while a draw would see France secure their quarterfinal spot.

After saving their back-to-back title campaign with a 4-0 thumping of the Netherlands on Wednesday, the Lionesses will face No. 30 Wales to close out the group stage, advancing with a defeat of their UK rivals plus either a goal differential lead over the Dutch or a Netherlands loss.

"We bounced back from the previous game and showed we were more than capable [of] showing the world what we can do," England goalscorer Lauren James told the BBC after Wednesday's win.

As for the Euro debutants, Wales saw Seattle Reign midfielder Jess Fishlock score their first major tournament goal in team history in their Wednesday loss to France, keeping spirits high despite trailing in Group D with two tournament losses.

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That said, a massive Sunday win over England plus a French implosion against the Dutch could statistically, if improbably, see the Dragons sneak through.

All in all, the 2025 Euro group stage has presented mostly straightforward results in the early stages, but there's still room for a few more twists and turns before the knockouts.

How to watch the final 2025 Euro group-stage matches

Each group will take the 2025 Euro pitch for their final first-round matches on consecutive days.

All matches will kick off at 3 PM ET:

• Thursday, Group A: No. 26 Finland vs. No. 23 Switzerland, No. 16 Norway vs. No. 14 Iceland

• Friday, Group B: No. 22 Portugal vs. No. 20 Belgium, No. 13 Italy vs. No. 2 Spain

• Saturday, Group C: No. 27 Poland vs. No. 12 Denmark, No. 6 Sweden vs. No. 3 Germany

• Sunday, Group D: No. 5 England vs. No. 30 Wales, No. 11 Netherlands vs. No. 10 France

Live coverage of 2025 Euro matches will air across Fox Sports platforms.

Locked up in a mid-table traffic jam with 9-10 season records alongside the No. 7 Indiana Fever, the No. 8 Washington Mystics and No. 9 Las Vegas Aces will aim to break their WNBA standings tie during their Thursday night clash.

With both teams currently hugging the league's playoff line, the Aces and Mystics are on very different trajectories as the 2025 WNBA season nears its halfway point.

Just two years removed from earning back-to-back championships, Las Vegas has struggled to create a foothold in the 2025 standings — a task that seems even more difficult with 2024 MVP A'ja Wilson's recent wrist injury, with her likely absence looming large over Thursday's matchup.

On the other hand, Washington appears to be surging ahead of schedule, as a pair of All-Star rookies are exceeding expectations as the Mystics continue their controlled rebuild.

In Thursday's other game, No. 1 Minnesota will look to right the ship as their West Coast road trip continues:

• No. 1 Minnesota Lynx vs. No. 11 LA Sparks, 3 PM ET (WNBA League Pass): There's no rest for the league leaders after a disappointing loss to No. 2 Phoenix on Wednesday, with the Lynx facing a grueling back-to-back tilt against the Sparks in LA.

• No. 9 Las Vegas Aces vs. No. 8 Washington Mystics, 7:30 PM ET (Prime): With playoff spots on the line, Las Vegas will want to prove their quality against a Washington team taking everything one game at a time.