Naomi Girma made her first appearance for the U.S. women’s national team in April 2022. Less than a year later, she already has established herself as a “no-brainer starter,” veteran forward Megan Rapinoe said.

The 22-year-old is coming off a breakout year in 2022, in which she became a mainstay for the USWNT and won the Rookie of the Year and Defender of the Year awards in the NWSL.

Girma’s first cap and first start for the USWNT came last April against Uzbekistan. She appeared in nine of the team’s next 13 games to close out 2022, starting in seven of them.

So far in 2023, she has started four of the squad’s five games, including Wednesday’s 2-1 win against Brazil to close out the SheBelieves Cup. Rapinoe praise the young star ahead of that match.

“There’s very few players in my whole tenure that have stepped in and it’s just like, ‘Oh yeah, that’s a first person on the team sheet’ type of player every single time,” the 37-year-old forward said.

In considering Girma’s immediate impact on the team, not to mention her intelligence and leadership, Rapinoe compared her to midfielder Julie Ertz. Ertz gave birth to a baby boy last August and looks unlikely to return for the World Cup, and her absence has been felt on both sides of the ball for the squad.

Still, the development of Girma has helped to soften that blow.

The No. 1 overall pick in the 2022 NWSL draft, Girma helped lead a San Diego Wave defense that allowed less than a goal against per game through 22 matches. For the USWNT, she has been a stalwart presence in the center of the backline.

“She can play any kind of ball. She’s a great leader,” Rapinoe said. “She’s just f—ing good. … She’s going to be the future of the team for a long time.”

Megan Rapinoe has high praise for 22-year-old Naomi Girma 🗣 pic.twitter.com/6yLiMkGBD9

— Just Women’s Sports (@justwsports) February 22, 2023

USWNT standout Naomi Girma made her long-awaited WSL debut on Sunday, featuring in a 2-2 Chelsea draw with Brighton before exiting in the game's 59th minute with a lingering leg injury.

The 24-year-old defender became the first women's soccer player to garner a transfer fee of over $1 million in January, with top-flight UK club Chelsea reportedly handing over a record-shattering $1.1 million to NWSL side San Diego in order to ink the star center back.

After a calf issue caused Girma to miss the USWNT’s February international break at the 2025 SheBelieves Cup and also delayed her introduction in London, she finally took the pitch for the Blues on Sunday. Swedish teammate Nathalie Björn replaced Girma after her second-half knock.

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"She's learning about the league, the team and her teammates. As you could see, the first game is never easy because it's a competitive league" said Chelsea head coach Sonia Bompastor after the match. "It was good for us to have her start this game, building minutes and being able to play with the team."

"We’ll need to assess her tomorrow, but it doesn’t look too bad, but we will see," Bompastor added.

Chelsea stays at No. 1 in the 2024/25 WSL standings

Two-thirds of the way through the 2024/25 WSL campaign, Chelsea remains the lone undefeated club in the league, with Sunday's draw seeing the Blues drop points for just the second time all season.

Chelsea now sits five points ahead of Manchester United in the standings, as the elite team hunts a sixth-straight WSL title this season.

As for the Red Devils, a seven-game winning streak has Man U leapfrogging both third-place Arsenal and fourth-place Manchester City to sit in second with six weeks left to play.

More WSL shakeups could be coming, as reports of Man U entering talks to loan Brazil forward Geyse to 2023 NWSL champion Gotham FC also surfaced on Sunday.

With seven WSL matchdays left, the 2024/25 league title is still Chelsea’s for the taking, but as injuries mount and rosters fluctuate, there’s still plenty of time to dethrone the reigning UK champs.

No. 4 USC is taking over the Big Ten, claiming both the regular-season conference title and the Big Ten tournament’s No. 1 seed after Saturday's dominant 80-67 win over No. 2 UCLA.

To book their first conference title since 1994, the Trojans looked to star sophomore JuJu Watkins, who posted 30 points against the Bruins — 23 of them in the first half alone.

Meanwhile, the Trojan defense stifled UCLA standouts like guard Kiki Rice and center Lauren Betts, limiting them to just 16 and 11 points, respectively.

For most of the 2024/25 NCAA basketball campaign, UCLA has outranked USC. However, the Trojans have comfortably owned the pair's head-to-head competition, handing the Bruins their only two losses on the season.

USC's four-game winning streak against UCLA dates back to last season. Subsequently, Watkins has scored at least 30 points in each of those Trojan victories. She finishes the 2024/25 regular season with an impressive 68 points in USC's two wins over the Bruins.

"I think I would be remiss to say playing UCLA doesn't motivate me extra," a smiling Watkins said after Saturday's regular-season finale.

"She's 19 years old. Her talent is off the charts," USC head coach Lindsey Gottlieb said about the likely National Player of the Year frontrunner. "But it's her humility and the stuff you can't teach, the inner drive."

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Watkins helps USC book Big Ten tournament bye

The Trojans are riding high into this week's Big Ten basketball tournament, which tips off in Indianapolis on Wednesday and will ultimately determine the team who'll book the conference's lone automatic bid into March Madness.

As the conference's top seeds, both USC and UCLA earned byes through the 15-team competition's first two rounds, meaning they will begin their tournament campaigns in Friday's quarterfinals.

Should both live up to their seedings, the duo will meet again in Sunday's championship game, where both Big Ten hardware and the NCAA tournament's top seeds will be on the line.

How to watch USC in the Big Ten basketball tournament

The Big Ten basketball tournament's 14 games will air across three broadcasters, with Peacock covering Wednesday's opening round.

Rounds will air live on BTN Thursday through Saturday, before CBS hosts Sunday's 4:30 PM ET Big Ten championship game.

The weekend’s NCAA basketball action saw the field settle into their conference tournament seeds — and pick up some 2024/25 regular-season hardware along the way.

With Sunday wins over unranked Florida and No. 15 Kentucky, respectively, No. 1 Texas and No. 6 South Carolina finished regular-season play tied atop the SEC table, prompting a coin flip that saw the Gamecocks claim the conference tournament’s No. 1 seed.

No. 3 Notre Dame and No. 9 NC State similarly split regular-season honors in the ACC after Sunday victories over No. 25 Louisville and unranked SMU. With a head-to-head victory over the Irish last month, however, NC State exits the regular season as the conference’s No. 1 seed.

Upsets shake up projected 2024/25 NCAA tournament seeds

Buoyed by this season's surging parity, half of the teams featured in the NCAA’s most recent Top 16 seeding projections have lost at least one game since last week’s rankings update.

Following the trend this weekend were six AP Top 25 teams, as Big Ten standouts No. 2 UCLA and No. 12 Ohio State fell to lower-ranked conference foes, while No. 7 LSU, No. 8 UNC, No. 11 Tennessee, and No. 14 Kansas State all stumbled at the regular-season finish line with Sunday losses against unranked opponents.

Last week's setbacks could put top teams like UCLA and Notre Dame in jeopardy of losing their projected NCAA tournament No. 1 seeds.

As a result, elite squads must now bank on strong conference tournament performances to bolster their regular-season records.

Boosted by their first-ever Big 12 regular-season championship, No. 10 TCU could now push past the SEC's Flau’jae Johnson-less LSU in the NCAA tournament committee's rankings, thanks in part to the Tigers’ Sunday upset loss to unranked Ole Miss on Sunday.

Similarly, Big Ten No. 3-seed Ohio State will have to use the conference tournament to bolster their prospects after Sunday’s overtime loss to No. 19 Maryland.

With parity-fueled upsets raising this week's stakes, most major Division I tournaments will tip off on Wednesday, as both conference hardware and national tournament odds hang in the balance.

Three Top 10 NCAA basketball teams suffered big upset losses on Thursday, shifting late-season momentum to the sport's underdogs ahead of next week’s conference tournaments.

No. 3 Notre Dame fell 86-81 to No. 24 Florida State, marking the Irish's second straight loss since reaching No. 1 in the AP Poll on February 17th.

"Just really frustrated with our performance defensively tonight," Notre Dame coach Niele Ivey after last night’s game. "I didn’t think that we were locked in for four quarters."

No. 7 LSU and No. 8 UNC also saw tough results, with the Tigers falling in a narrow 88-85 overtime battle to No. 20 Alabama while the Tar Heels stumbled 68-53 to in-state rival No. 16 Duke.

Even No. 1 Texas faced some adversity, eking out a 68-64 win after unranked Mississippi State pushed the Longhorns to the brink.

All in all, as the hyper-competitive 2024/25 women's college basketball season draws to a close, building exhaustion, waning focus, and minutes management are inducing game-changing upsets — putting the country’s top teams firmly on notice.

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Conference titles on the line in final NCAA games

While most of Thursday's upsets affect seedings further down conference tables, Notre Dame's loss puts the Irish in danger of losing the ACC tournament’s No. 1 seed right at the finish line.

Notre Dame now sits alongside No. 9 NC State atop the conference table, with the Wolfpack holding a potential tie-breaking head-to-head advantage over the Irish. The only way Notre Dame can now book the top ACC tournament spot is with a win over No. 25 Louisville plus an NC State loss against unranked SMU this Sunday.

Even more, Notre Dame could now lose their projected top-seeded entry into the 2025 NCAA tournament.

Along with the ACC trophy, regular-season titles in the SEC, Big 12, and Big Ten will now come down to weekend finales. The Big East's No. 5 UConn stands alone as the only major conference team to have already secured their title.

Similar to the ACC, the No. 1 SEC seed relies on a pair of Sunday games featuring the conference's two top contenders: No. 1 Texas and No. 6 South Carolina.

The Big 12 and Big Ten, however, finish the season with table leaders meeting in winner-take-all finals this weekend. The Big Ten title will be decided in Saturday's clash between No. 4 USC and No. 2 UCLA, before No. 10 TCU and No. 17 Baylor will battle for the Big 12 trophy on Sunday.

In the pair's first rounds earlier this season, USC and TCU emerged with wins over their respective conference foes.

How to watch top women's college basketball games this weekend

The country's best NCAA teams are all aiming to take care of conference business this weekend, pushing for top seeds and eyeing deep postseason runs.

Saturday's spotlight belongs to No. 4 USC and No. 2 UCLA, with the crosstown rivales' rematch determining the Big Ten title. USC tips off against UCLA at 9 PM ET, live on Fox Sports.

Then, Notre Dame kicks off ESPN's Sunday coverage with a decisive game against No. 25 Louisville at 12 PM ET.

Sunday's DI finale belongs to the Big 12, where No. 10 TCU takes on No. 17 Baylor at 6:30 PM ET, airing live on FS1.