The Stanford Cardinal rarely push the pace. But with 2:50 left in the National Championship, they needed an easy shot. They needed to get their offensive flow back. So Kiana Williams raced down the floor, hoping to out-run the defense for a fast break layup. There was nothing there. The lanes were clogged. She backed it out. The offense looked lost. Timeout. Stanford. 

Trailing 51-50, the Arizona Wildcats seemed to be on the verge of another upset. After a 10-2 run, they owned the momentum. The Cardinal hadn’t scored in the last four minutes. They couldn’t stop turning the ball over and they just couldn’t seem to find an open driving lane. That’s when Tara VanDerveer called a timeout and designed a play for Haley Jones.

By the time Jones caught the ball at the elbow, there were just 8 seconds left on the shot clock and no clear route to the hoop. But somehow, some way, the game felt like it slowed down. Jones collected herself. Jabbed. Dribbled. And spun. Right into the outstretched arms of Arizona guard Bendu Yeaney. Jones hoisted the ball through Yeaney and into the basket. 

And-one. 

HALEY JONES TOUGH AND-1.

(via @StanfordWBB)pic.twitter.com/cF206MHbDy

— Bleacher Report (@BleacherReport) April 5, 2021

For the remaining 2:24 minutes, the Cardinal would not score another point, but Jones’ basket would prove enough to escape with a 54-53 victory and the program’s third National Championship.

After surging to a 16-5 lead in the first quarter, Stanford’s offense struggled to find open shots the rest of the game against Arizona’s pesky defense. On a night when Kiana Williams scored just 5 points and Lexie Hull shot 4-13 from the field, Haley Jones was the stabilizing force. The Cardinal scored just 23 total second half points. Jones scored 13 of them.

When Jones handled the ball, the offense seemed to slow down. When Jones didn’t have the ball, she ran to the block, backed down smaller defenders, and scored easy basket after easy basket. She finished with a team-high 17 points, capping off one of the best six-game stretches of her career, during which she averaged 14.2 points per game and shot 60.6% from the field.

Stanford needed this kind of outing from Jones against Arizona. Offensively, Stanford didn’t play a Stanford kind of game. They shot just 28.6% from three after making 47% of their threes during the five tournament games prior. They coughed up 21 turnovers, significantly higher than their season average of 12.8 per game. They averaged a mere .68 points per possession, their lowest mark all year, a full .10 worse than any other game.

THAT’S THE WAY TO FIGHT BACK pic.twitter.com/FusOVn1gLF

— Arizona Women's Basketball (@ArizonaWBB) April 4, 2021

But Stanford still won. And they won because of the dirty work – dominating the rebounding battle 47 to 29, force-feeding the post, and, especially, clamping down on defense. 

“In the NCAA tournament, this is very physical,” VanDerveer said in her postgame presser. “South Carolina is very physical. Louisville is very physical. Missouri State is very physical. So we got more physical as the tournament went on.” 

Stanford’s number one priority was slowing down Aari McDonald. After McDonald knocked down her first three of the game, it looked like we might see another one of her scoring outbursts. On ESPN, the announcers talked over and over again about Aari’s House – a box around the left block that Stanford players could not, under any circumstances, let McDonald enter. 

McDonald tried. She worked and worked. But no matter how much she zipped and zagged around the court, she couldn’t find any openings. The Cardinal blocked off every lane. And when they didn’t block off those lanes, the outstretched arms of Cameron Brink or Ashten Prechtel cleaned up the mess. It forced McDonald, who shot 34.5% from beyond the arch on the year, into taking nine threes – more than the Wildcats probably would have liked. 

Despite struggling offensively, the Wildcats, as they did all tournament, clawed their way into the game. Aari McDonald got to the free throw line 12 times – her highest total all season – and Bendu Yeaney poked away five steals. But it was former Oklahoma transfer, guard Shaina Pellington, who provided the spark. After scoring a combined 20 points in the five tournament games prior, Pellington dropped 15 points in 30 minutes of play against Stanford. She blazed up and down the floor, scoring coast-to-coast lay-ups and forcing the Cardinal to speed up. 

Sped up or not sped up, Stanford found a way to win – through length, toughness and a whole lot of depth. When Anna Wilson missed a defensive assignment, Cameron Brink backed her up with a block. When Lexie Hull clanked a jump shot, Ashten Prechtel fought for the rebound. When Kiana Williams struggled to hit field goals, Haley Jones took over the game. 

“We had to toughen up. We had to dig in,” VanDerveer said after the game. “I’m really proud of our team for doing that. Whether it was Anna trying to take a charge, whether it was Lexie, whether it was Haley or Key [Kiana Williams]. We had a lot of people on the ground. We had to battle.” 

And battle they did, until the final horn, when McDonald’s last shot bounced off the rim, and the Stanford Cardinal became national champions.

The moment our dreams came true.#GoStanford pic.twitter.com/k7e5oLPDum

— Stanford Women’s Basketball (@StanfordWBB) April 5, 2021

Zimbabwean swimming legend Kirsty Coventry made history on Thursday, when she became both the first woman and first African ever elected president of the International Olympic Committee (IOC).

At 41-years-old, Coventry will also be the youngest president in the organization's 131-year history and the 10th individual to ever hold the office.

"As an nine-year-old girl, I never thought I would be standing up here one day getting to give back to this incredible movement of ours," the five-time Olympian said in her remarks.

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An extensive Olympic resume, in and out of the pool

The Auburn University grad and seven-time Olympic medal-winner — including back-to-back golds in the 200-meter backstroke at the 2004 Athens and 2008 Beijing Games — retired from competition after the 2016 Rio Olympics.

At that time, Coventry was already three years into her IOC membership, after initially joining as part of the governing body's Athletes' Commission. She joined the Executive Committee in 2023.

"I will make all of you very, very proud and hopefully extremely confident in the decision you have taken," Coventry said to her fellow members in her acceptance speech. "Now we have got some work together."

That work that awaits Coventry in her eight-year mandate will include navigating the 2028 LA Games and selecting a host for the 2036 Summer Games.

Her first Olympic Games at the helm, however, will be the 2026 Winter Olympics in Italy, giving her less than a year to prepare before the Opening Ceremony kicks off.

Coventry to continue IOC efforts to promote gender equity

Coventry will have a few months to adjust before assuming her new office on June 23rd, when she will succeed her mentor, 71-year-old Thomas Bach.

Bach will have served the IOC's maximum 12-year tenure in the role when he steps down, having led the governing body to stage the first-ever Olympic Games with equal numbers of women and men competing — a mark captured at the 2024 Summer Games in Paris.

With gender equity as a driving force in his leadership, Bach also increased the number women serving as both IOC members and in the organization's leadership roles, with women comprising seven of the body's 15-person executive board.

Coventry is one of those seven women, and Bach specifically hand-picked her as his successor.

The legacy she inherits isn't lost on Coventry, both in the efforts of Bach and in the women who paved the way — perhaps none more directly than IOC member Anita DeFrantz, a 1976 Olympic bronze medal-winning rower for Team USA and the only other woman to ever run for IOC president.

Recognizing the election's historic significance, 72-year-old DeFrantz overcame significant health issues to travel to Greece in order to vote for Coventry — with her ballot securing the exact number of votes Coventry needed to win.

"I was really proud that I could make her proud," an emotional Coventry said.

The NCAA is leveling the playing field, with Women’s March Madness teams in line to receive their first-ever prize payouts based on tournament performance — a mechanism the men’s tournament has enjoyed since 1991.

Sparked by 2021's landmark NCAA gender equity review, the NCAA will distribute a total of approximately $15 million to individual conferences based on how many games their teams play, with each March Madness performance "unit" worth about $113,000.

This year's inaugural $15 million purse represents 26% of the competition's $65 million media rights valuation — putting it proportionally on par with the percentage allocated to the men's fund.

That overall prize pool will jump to $20 million in 2026 and $25 million in 2027, before switching to a successive 2.9% increase per year.

"We are all playing in the same March Madness," said UNC Greensboro head coach Trina Patterson, whose No. 16-seed Spartans will face No. 1-seed USC in the first round on Saturday. "The treatment for the men and women should be equal. We get a unit!"

March Madness teams get additional NCAA tournament perks

While the performance payouts are new this year, women's March Madness teams also receive perks like charter flights throughout the tournament, which can make all the difference for smaller programs eyeing an upset.

"Everyone is so excited about the experience. Going from the bus directly to the plane, everyone was so happy," March Madness debutante William & Mary head coach Erin Dickerson Davis told ESPN ahead of her No. 16-seed team’s First Four victory on Thursday.

Columbia junior Perri Page, whose No. 11-seed Lions defeated Washington in their own First Four matchup on Thursday, echoed Davis' sentiment, saying, "It was cool going to the charter, and we've been taking it all in."

"We've been enjoying the whole season," the forward added, noting "It's great we can make money for the school now."

"It should have always been that way. Women's basketball has been fighting for equality for a very long time," said Davis. "I've been in this business for many, many years. I played college basketball. It's a long time coming."

"You got to start somewhere, and I think we've been so far behind," added Columbia head coach Megan Griffith.

"This is more like the whipped cream. I think the cherry on top is going to keep coming — but it's really good so far."

Less than two months before the season tips off on May 16th, the WNBA dropped its full 2025 national broadcast slate on Thursday, rewarding last year’s most in-demand teams with a significant uptick in screen time.

Fueled by the fan fervor around 2024 Rookie of the Year Caitlin Clark, the Indiana Fever will see a league-record 41 of their 44 regular-season games aired nationally this season.

That tally includes all five Fever matchups against regional rival Chicago, after the pair's June 23rd game averaged 2.3 million viewers — becoming the most-watched game of the 2024 regular season.

Just behind Indiana in earning significant national broadcast coverage are two-time WNBA champs Las Vegas, who will see 33 of their games aired across the country. As for the reigning champions New York Liberty, they trail the Aces by just one game, with 32 of their 2025 season games garnering national attention.

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Record WNBA ratings spur big broadcast moves

Thanks to 2024’s monster ratings, big-name networks are increasingly recognizing the WNBA as a profitable summer product, with broadcasters expanding their coverage as the league prepares for its 11-year, $2.2 billion media rights contract to kick in next year.

With the 2025 WNBA season expanding from 40 to 44 games per team, ION is leading all broadcasters with 50 regular-season games, with ABC/ESPN, CBS Sports, NBA TV, and Amazon Prime all taking a piece of the pro women's basketball league's pie.

Broadcasters are also moving games off of their sports-specific networks and onto flagship cable channels, with a record 13 matchups — a full half of Disney Networks' 26 regular-season games — set to air on ABC, including the 2025 WNBA All-Star Game.

The league will also see its first-ever regular-season games earn primetime broadcast TV slots, with CBS Sports elevating two of its 20 games — the June 7th and August 9th battles between the Chicago Sky and the Indiana Fever — to its flagship network, CBS.

As the WNBA shoots for an even more impactful 2025 season, broadcasters are helping to boost the charge, offering increased access to the league’s brightest stars and biggest games.

The NCAA tournament tips off in earnest with the bracket's 64-team first round on Friday, as eager March Madness fans look beyond the chalk to eye the competition's underdogs after a rollercoaster 2024/25 basketball season.

Early upsets aren’t exactly the norm in the women’s tournament. Only one lower seed won their first-round matchup in 2024, and no team below a No. 3 seed has ever gone the distance, but in a season of increased parity, a few lower-rated squads are rounding into underdog form.

Breaking down potential March Madness bracket-busters

For potential March Madness upset instigators, late-season momentum late season momentum is the name of the game — a dangerous factor in any single-elimination tournament.

Even without superstar grad Caitlin Clark, No. 6-seed Iowa capped their regular season on a high before narrowly losing to No. 4-seed Ohio State in the Big Ten tournament's quarterfinals. Should they advance past No. 11-seed Murray State in their first-round Saturday matchup, the Hawkeyes are poised to give No. 3-seed Oklahoma a run for their money in the second round on Monday.

Entering as a No. 10-seed, Ivy League tournament champs Harvard will have their hands full against No. 7-seed Michigan State on Saturday, but Crimson senior Harmoni Turner and her season-average 22.5 points per game could tilt the scales in Harvard's favor.

After edging out first-round opponent No. 11-seed Iowa State, No. 6-seed Michigan is playing like an upset contender. Now a potential second-round matchup against No. 3-seed Notre Dame — fresh off a recent losing skid — awaits the young squad. 

With the brackets locked and the teams loaded, the prospects of twists and turns make the first two rounds of the NCAA tournament especially exciting — even if this year’s frontrunners appear destined for Tampa.

How to watch Women's March Madness games this weekend

The Big Dance officially begins at 11:30 AM ET on Friday, when No. 11 Iowa State tips off against No. 6 Michigan on ESPN2.

Saturday's slate will complete the 2024/25 NCAA tournament's first round, with No. 6 Iowa beginning their Madness run against No. 11 Murray State at 12 PM ET on ESPN.

No. 10 Harvard will start dancing a few hours later, with the Crimson facing No. 7 Michigan State at 4:30 PM ET on ESPNews.

All games in the 2025 March Madness tournament will have live coverage across ESPN networks.