When the Las Vegas Aces played the New York Liberty, it was supposed to be the game of the season. Supposed to be a drag-it-out, fight to the finish. Supposed to be a preview of the WNBA Finals to come — and maybe it was.

But instead of a down-to-the-wire contest, it was a blowout. The Aces completely dominated the Liberty with a 98-81 victory. The game was billed as the “Battle of the Superteams,” but it wasn’t a battle, and there weren’t two superteams on the court. There was just one team that was much, much better than its opponent.

Which begs the question, “Can anyone beat the Aces?”

In a single game, sure. The Connecticut Sun already did it, handing the Aces their lone loss of the season. But in a playoff series, it’s hard to imagine anyone stringing together enough wins to stop Las Vegas from repeating as WNBA champions.

Let’s start with the obvious: the roster. The reason the Aces fall into the superteam category is because their starting five is that of an All-Star Game. MVP A’ja Wilson, former MVP Candace Parker, Finals MVP Chelsea Gray, Most Improved Player Jackie Young and All-WNBA First teamer Kelsey Plum. A simple list of those names is impressive, but it’s how they come together that makes Las Vegas so dominant.

The win over New York proves it’s not enough to have stars on the court. The Liberty have their own awe-inducing starting lineup with former MVPs Breanna Stewart and Jonquel Jones, WNBA assists leader Courtney Vandersloot, former Most Improved Player Betnijah Laney and All-WNBA second-teamer Sabrina Ionescu.

Here’s the difference: New York looked like an All-Star team, and Las Vegas looked like a championship team.

The Liberty still look like a collection of stars playing on the court but not playing together, while the Aces are a unit, dripping with team chemistry.

They know how to feed the hot hand — it’s why Wilson, Plum, Young and Gray routinely rotate as the team’s leading scorer in any given game — and how to exploit defensive matchups.

Against the Liberty, Plum’s 18 points led the way, as the Aces focused on guard play and beating defenders off the dribble. Plum and Young were able to break down their defenders with quick first steps, while also using switches on screens to their advantage. The Liberty couldn’t stay in front, which created lanes for attacking and, in turn, opened up the entire offense.

In other situations, the Aces can use Wilson as their anchor and run offense through last season’s MVP. They have options, and they know when to use them.

Big sis @Candace_Parker with the breakout pass to lil sis @_ajawilson22 is what you need on your timeline#PhantomCam x @LVAces pic.twitter.com/FIvoJ1i6TU

— WNBA (@WNBA) June 30, 2023

Then there’s the defense. Becky Hammon has been very vocal about wanting more out of her team on the defensive end, and she’s getting it. The Liberty are averaging 87.5 points per game this season — second in the league behind the Aces — but Las Vegas held them below that average on Thursday night.

Individually, the Aces also contained Stewart and Ionescu to outputs well below their season averages. Stewart scores 22.1 points per game and is nearly impossible to stop, but Vegas held her to 16 points. And Ionescu reached less than half her season average of 15.3, contributing seven points in the loss.

That’s been a theme this season: The Aces hold their opponents to 77.7 points per game, which is second in the league. That, combined with their explosive offense, has Vegas winning their games by a WNBA-leading average of 15.5 points.

Of course, it is possible to beat Las Vegas. The Sun did it, with a 94-77 win in their second meeting of the season on June 4. In that game, two major statistics stand out.

First, the Sun kept Vegas off the glass. Averaging 34.8 rebounds per game this season, the Aces pulled down just 26 in that loss compared to 34 from the Sun. But rebounding isn’t actually one of the Aces’ major strengths. They are 7th out of 12 teams in that category, so keeping them off the boards doesn’t mean an automatic chance at victory. In fact, Las Vegas recorded just 27 rebounds against the Liberty.

The biggest factor in the Sun’s victory was DeWanna Bonner, who scored a career-high 41 points on 5-for-7 shooting from beyond the arc. Four players have scored over 40 points in a game this season — Jewell Loyd, Arike Ogunbowale, Stewart and Bonner — so it’s not exactly a common feat. The Sun needed a superhuman performance to top Las Vegas, and that’s not something that teams can conjure up on a nightly basis.

So, yeah, the Aces are beatable. But just barely.

The Liberty game only served to prove that Las Vegas is by far the best team in the WNBA, and it’s going to take a special string of games for anyone to stop the defending champs from repeating.

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

The Tour de France Femmes confirmed its course for 2026 this week, setting up next year's event as the longest iteration of the race in the women's tour history.

The 2026 course will run in nine stages starting in Lausanne, Switzerland, on August 1st and continuing through the finish line in Nice, France, on August 9th.

Cyclists will cover a total of 1,175 kilometers, with 18,795 meters of climbing.

The course will feature three flat stages and three hilly stages as well as two mountain stages and one individual time trial, with riders tackling Mont Ventoux — an iconic climb from the men's event — for the first time.

Though 2026 will only by the fifth edition of the modern Tour de France Femmes, the race will make its debut in a standalone time slot one full week after the men’s race ends, with recent record viewership fueling the move to separate the races rather than continue the previous tactic of scheduling the two events back-to-back.

"We no longer need men for the Tour de France Femmes to exist,"  said race director Marion Rousse at Thursday's course unveiling. "There's no need to have the men's race as a platform to launch the women's race. Now people are waiting to see us."

"People have embraced us," Rousse continued. "The new dates, separate to the men, prove it."

This weekend's slate of international soccer features more than one blockbuster matchup, as some of the summer's top performers, including England and Brazil, begin the long process of preparing for the 2027 World Cup.

Reigning UEFA Women's Euro champions England will be hosting 2025 Copa América Femenina winners Brazil at the Etihad Stadium in Manchester on Saturday, when the Lionesses officially kick off their four-game Homecoming Series to close out 2025 play.

The match between world No. 4 England and No. 7 Brazil will serve as the first of the series of friendlies that will span the final two international breaks of the year, with the Lionesses closing out the opening pair of games against No. 15 Australia on Tuesday.

Elsewhere, while England fans will be enjoying the team's victory lap after their second-straight Euro title, other top UEFA competition are honing in on 2025 Nations League play.

Behind a long-range goal from winger Klara Bühl, No. 5 Germany snagged a narrow 1-0 victory over No. 6 France on Friday morning, taking the lead in the pair's two-leg semifinal.

The second Nations League semifinal round kicks off at 2 PM ET on Friday, when No. 1 Spain faces No. 3 Sweden live on Prime.

How to watch England vs. Brazil this weekend

England takes on Brazil at 12:30 PM ET on Saturday, with live coverage streaming on Prime.

The Wings have found their next sideline leader, as multiple reports on Thursday linked longtime University of South Florida (USF) head coach Jose Fernandez to the open position in Dallas.

Fernandez is still finalizing his contract with the WNBA team, with the 53-year-old exiting USF having led the Bulls for 25 years, making 10 NCAA tournament appearances along the way.

Calling his impact "profound," USF athletics CEO Rob Higgins acknowledged that Fernandez is leaving for a WNBA position in a Thursday statement.

"While this is a bittersweet moment for our program, it is a well-deserved opportunity for Jose," said Higgins. "We are incredibly proud of him."

Replacing Chris Koclanes after one year, Fernandez will become the fifth Dallas head coach in seven seasons, with the Wings trying to build a title-contending roster around 2025 WNBA Draft overall No. 1 pick and reigning Rookie of the Year Paige Bueckers.

Fernandez will also be the third WNBA hiring out of the college ranks in the last two years, joining Atlanta Dream boss Karl Smesko (FGCU) and LA Sparks manager Lynne Roberts (Utah).

Hoping to improve on a 13th-place 2025 finish — and make the WNBA Playoffs for the first time since 2023 — Dallas could claim a second straight No. 1 draftee next year, with the Wings entering 2026 with the highest odds to snag the top pick in the league's draft lottery.

The WNBA league office and the Players Association (WNBPA) exchanged escalating public statements this week, as both sides dispute terms surrounding a key issue in the ongoing CBA negotiations: revenue sharing.

"When the players opted out [of their CBA] a year ago, they made it clear they wanted a salary system that values their labor and allows them to grow with the business they are very clearly driving," WNBPA executive director Terri Jackson told ESPN in a statement this week, citing the vast disparity in revenue sharing percentages between the WNBA and the NBA.

Jackson continued by claiming that the WNBA intends to "run out the clock" and double down on a model that "intentionally undervalues the players."

Days ago, NBA commissioner Adam Silver said publicly that "[Revenue] share isn't the right way to look at it," pushing instead for salary increases in "absolute numbers."

WNBA leadership, however, denied that their current offer to players omits all revenue sharing, with the league calling the WNBPA's claim "incorrect and surprising," while indicating that an uncapped revenue sharing model "directly tied to the league's performance" is on the table.

"It is frustrating and counterproductive for the union to be making misrepresentations about our proposals while also accusing the league of engaging in delay," the WNBA's statement continued. "That is simply not true."

With both parties not seeing eye to eye, a resolution before the October 31st CBA deadline appears unlikely, though a formal request for an extension on negotiations is not currently in the cards.