When Liz Cambage tied the game with a turnaround 9-footer and headed to the free-throw line with 15.1 seconds left in the Sparks’ home opener against the Minnesota Lynx, it appeared she may be the hero in her Crypto.com Arena debut. The 6-foot-8 Aussie missed the freebie, however, to keep the score deadlocked.

On the ensuing possession, Kayle McBride completed a three-point play with 2.1 seconds remaining after getting fouled on a reverse layup. It proved to be the game-winner, as Jordin Canada missed a desperation 3-pointer with time expiring and the Sparks lost their third straight game, 87-84.

McBride, who landed in Los Angeles from Turkey around 2 p.m. on Monday, poured in a game-high 24 points for the Lynx, hitting four of seven 3-pointers she attempted. Fifteen of the guard’s points came in the first quarter, including nine in the final 50.1 seconds of the frame.

KAYLA MCBRIDE CALLED GAME 😳 pic.twitter.com/oqC6CRiSxS

— Minnesota Lynx (@minnesotalynx) May 18, 2022

Sparks guard Katie Lou Samuelson also came a long way to make her 2022 WNBA season debut Tuesday night, enduring an eight-hour bus ride Friday and a 12-plus-hour flight on Saturday to return from overseas. After winning the Spanish league championship last Thursday, Samuelson tied her career high with three 3-pointers made for Los Angeles on Tuesday.

The former fourth overall draft pick first entered the game at the 5:33 mark of the first quarter, promptly nailing back-to-back 3s and drawing an offensive foul by taking an elbow to her chin.

“For them to make that commitment and play right off the plane, that’s remarkable,” Nneka Ogwumike said of McBride and Samuelson. “And not just play, show out. They both hooped tonight.”

Ogwumike showed out herself, leading L.A. with a season-high 22 points on 9-for-16 shooting from the floor, along with eight rebounds, three assists and zero turnovers.

In the paint, Cambage had her hands full with Minnesota center Sylvia Fowles, who contributed 20 points and 12 rebounds in a game-high 39 minutes before fouling out. Cambage, limited to just 25 minutes due to foul trouble, finished with 12 points, seven boards, three assists and three blocks.

After the Lynx went ahead 51-44 with 6:20 to go in the third, Lexie Brown led the Sparks on an 11-2 run to give them a 55-53 advantage. Making her home debut, Brown sank three 3-pointers and recorded an assist, a block and a steal in the last 5:44 of the quarter. The 27-year-old also forced another Lynx turnover by deflecting McBride’s dribble out of bounds off the Minnesota guard.

Brown hit four of six 3-pointers Tuesday night, with her most important shot of the night evening the score at 82 with 53.3 seconds left in the game.

“My confidence is through the roof,” said Brown, who played for the Lynx from 2019-20.

🎥🎥 pic.twitter.com/OgCsd4B8Hm

— Los Angeles Sparks (@LASparks) May 18, 2022

Two other Sparks newcomers provided boosts in their home debuts. Chennedy Carter, after scoring a combined two points on 1-for-12 shooting in the previous two contests, picked up eight points in 11 minutes, going 4-for-5 from the floor. Jordin Canada, meanwhile, contributed eight points, six assists and three steals.

“My favorite part about playing (at Crypto.com Arena) is seeing new teammates play here for the first time on the Sparks,” Ogwumike said. “It’s intoxicating. We have to honor that and protect home court.”

The Sparks will have to wait until next Wednesday’s matchup with the Phoenix Mercury to get their first win at home, rebranded as Crypto.com Arena from the Staples Center late last year.

In the meantime, the Sparks have their latest disappointing result to digest: a loss to previously winless Minnesota, who got 64 of its 87 points from three players (McBride, Fowles and Moriah Jefferson).

Joshua Fischman is a contributing writer at Just Women’s Sports covering Angel City FC and the Los Angeles Sparks. He has covered basketball for Vantage Sports and Hoops Rumors and served as co-host of “On the NBA Beat” podcast. Joshua received his master’s in Sports Media from Northwestern University’s Medill School of Journalism. Follow him on Twitter @JJTheJuggernaut.

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.