Racing Louisville player Emina Ekic, six former Racing players and one former staff member accused president James O’Connor, former president Brad Estes and the front office of enabling a culture of abuse to flourish at the club, WHAS11’s Tyler Greever reported Wednesday.

Former Racing coach Christy Holly featured prominently in the Sally Yates report on systemic abuse in the NWSL, as the U.S. Soccer-commissioned investigation uncovered claims of sexual abuse leveled against Holly by former Racing player Erin Simon.

Holly groped Simon during a film session, masturbated in front of her and sent her sexually explicit photos, according to the report. Holly was fired for cause in August 2021 after team leadership learned of the alleged abuse, but the Racing Louisville front office did not elaborate publicly on the factors that led to Holly’s dismissal.

Earlier in 2021, three players – Emily Fox, who is still on the Racing roster, and former players Julia Ashley and Noelle Higginson – met with O’Connor and human resources director Erin Wilkins to discuss their concerns with the club environment.

While they noticed some improvements after the meeting, Wilkins revealed the three players’ identities to Holly and others by email in scheduling a follow-up meeting.

“Obviously at that point, trust was broken,” Ashley said. “And I asked HR, ‘What happened there? We had talked about this.’ She (Wilkins) claimed that she didn’t know how to blind copy.”

Former Racing forward Vanessa Kara, who also spoke to WHAS11, pointed to that moment as an early example of the distrust that festered in the first season of the expansion franchise.

“That is a horrible violation of confidentiality and kind of started this culture of we have nowhere safe to go because nobody believes our word,” Kara said.

That atmosphere allowed various abuses to go unchecked for too long, players said, from Holly’s abuse of Simon to the emotional, physical and verbal abuse of players by Holly and other members of the coaching staff.

Some of the players pointed to current Louisville City FC analyst and former Racing assistant coach Gary Curneen and former volunteer coach Clifton Bush as perpetrators of alleged emotional and verbal abuse.

Holly and former Racing director of high performance Brianne Brown also treated injuries with attitudes ranging from cavalier to abusive, WHAS11 reported.

For example, Kara has a benign brain tumor and takes medication to manage it. After a preseason road trip, she was experiencing side effects from the medication, and she recalled Holly belittling her symptoms and taking digs at her throughout the week.

“I was warned not to go [to Louisville] because he creates a very bad culture,” Kara said. “So, in hindsight if I knew the degree to those words, I wouldn’t have gone. But it was the only place I was offered a trial period. So, it’s your dream or is he really that bad? And the answer is yes, he really was.”

All six former members of Racing Louisville who spoke to WHAS11 said O’Connor, who took over as President in early 2022 after Estes stepped down, should no longer be part of the club, and they want to see anyone else who did not listen to players’ concerns removed as well.

Racing Louisville has refrained from commenting on the Yates report as the NWSL and NWSL Players Association continue their own investigation into abuse in the league, but the club did provide a statement to WHAS11 detailing the steps the team has taken in the wake of the Yates report.

“It is our hope that these efforts lead to the positive change we all want to see,” the club said in the statement.” We will listen, learn and act to ensure we maintain the best possible environment for players.”

UCLA-bound high school senior Sienna Betts led the West team to a decisive 104-82 victory over the East in the McDonald's All-American Girls Game held last night at New York's Barclays Center.

The 6'4" forward contributed 16 points, seven rebounds, and two assists, earning MVP honors for her performance. ​

Betts is currently the class of 2025's No. 2 overall recruit. Only Texas-based point guard Aaliyah Chavez, who recently committed to the Oklahoma Sooners, ranks above her.

Betts to join sister Lauren Betts at UCLA next year

Betts's performance is a good indicator of her potential impact at UCLA next year. There, she'll join forces with her sister Lauren Betts, the senior currently leading the Bruins to this season's NCAA Final Four after transferring in from Stanford.

The Betts sisters' arrival is highly anticipated, with Lauren opting to forgo the 2025 WNBA Draft in order to play out her final year of college eligibility alongside her little sister.

“For me, it [committing to UCLA] was a lot about how the coaches care about you off the court, and the coaches at UCLA, they really care about your mental health,” Betts told The Flagler College Gargoyle after committing last year. “Every team that I’ve ever been on, we’ve been a family… So, they really cared about that part of basketball for me, and they showed me that on my visits and when I called to talk to them.”

Betts in good company as McDonald's All-American Game MVP

In Brooklyn, Betts showcased her ability among the sport's best high school talent. Recent McDonald's All-American MVPs have all gone onto fuel prominent NCAA programs, including top-ranked recruits UConn's Sarah Strong, South Carolina's Joyce Edwards, USC's JuJu Watkins, Notre Dame's Hannah Hidalgo, and UCLA's own Kiki Rice and Gabriela Jaquez.

The McDonald's All-American Game has a storied history of highlighting promising players, with past MVPs subsequently laying the foundation for future superstars.

Less than a day after Notre Dame’s Olivia Miles shocked the women’s basketball world by opting to enter the transfer portal rather than declare for the 2025 WNBA Draft, the Irish’s transfer fall-out has continued.

Sophomore guard Emma Risch and freshman forward Kate Koval have also entered the portal, with Koval — who started in 10 games this season — leading the Irish in blocks.

Between transfer moves and graduating seniors, sophomore guard Hannah Hidalgo remains Notre Dame’s only returning starter — a sharp turn for an Irish squad ranked No. 1 in the country just six weeks ago.

Other top NCAA programs see transfer portal movement

Notre Dame isn’t the only top-tier program experiencing a roster shakeup after exiting the 2025 NCAA tournament.

LSU sophomore forward Sa'myah Smith entered the transfer portal after the Tigers’ season ended in Sunday’s Elite Eight. USC sophomore guard Aaliyah Gayles subsequently followed suit after the Trojans fell to UConn on Monday.

Schools like TCU have become national contenders via the transfer portal, with the Horned Frogs recruiting both Hailey Van Lith and Sedona Prince ahead of their first-ever Elite Eight run. Former Kentucky center Clara Silva is the latest transfer to commit to TCU, as the team comes off their best tournament finish in school history.

The modern era of NCAA roster-building is upon us, with top players taking the reigns as ambitious teams scramble to fill offseason gaps.

The NWSL is looking to sign a new Sunday night TV deal, according to a Sports Business Journal report published this week.

The league is targeting a two-year deal starting in 2026, with both new and existing TV partners interested in picking up additional NWSL games.

NWSL looks to build on multimillion dollar TV deal

The NWSL is currently two years into a four-year, $240 million TV partnership with ESPN, Prime, ION, and CBS Sports. However, the current contract doesn’t cover the entire schedule. And with league expansion planned for 2026, even more inventory is on the way.

SBJ notes that the market for this season’s lineup has been strong. In fact, all four media partners have already sold out all their 2025 advertising slots.

“You cannot find a place to spend right now,” IMG’s Hillary Mandel said at a recent Business of Soccer event hosted by SBJ. “We know what’s motivating interest is the fact that there’s no place to invest. That’s a phenomenal story in such a short period of time."

ESPN spotlighted for TV network-owned Sunday lineup

ESPN could be a prime candidate for a Sunday package, with the network set to move on from Sunday Night Baseball after the 2025 MLB season.

The NWSL has traditionally leaned into network-owned nights, with Prime airing Friday night matchups and ION running Saturday double-headers.

The NWSL’s most recent contract subsequently added serious value to the league. And the returns have networks coming back for more, setting up a potential bidding war and easing growing pains as new teams join the fold.

UCLA will hit the court for their first-ever NCAA Final Four on Friday, but as they extend the most successful season in program history, the Bruins have looked anything but green.

“We said talent was going to be our floor,” UCLA head coach Cori Close said after Sunday’s Elite Eight win over LSU. “Our character, our chemistry, our habits were going to be our ceiling.”

With just two losses on the season, UCLA’s status as a first-rate NCAA title contender has actually been years in the making.

Roster-building paves the way to the Final Four

In 2022, the Bruins signed the No. 1 recruiting class in the country, stacking their roster with top high school standouts Gabriela Jaquez, Kiki Rice, and Londynn Jones.

UCLA then upped their game even further last year, when 2022 No. 1 overall recruit Lauren Betts transferred in from Stanford — a move that fueled the Bruins all the way to the Sweet 16 with the promise of even greater success.

“Everyone came to UCLA for this reason: to do something we haven't done in a really long time,” Jaquez said on Sunday. “[I’m] just really proud of my teammates, the staff, the coaches, just continuing to get better every day and grow from each season prior.

With Lauren Betts at center, UCLA leans on depth

As one of the most dominant post players in college basketball, Betts is at the literal center of every UCLA performance. But that doesn’t mean the Bruins lack the depth it takes to handle a team like Final Four opponent UConn.

“When we have a deep team, I don’t have to be in the game at all times,” Betts said. “I have a team full of players who are just amazing and talented in their own right, and they put in the work.”

All in all, UCLA is coming into their own after developing much of its squad from the ground-up. Now it's time to make the case that patient roster-building can pay off on NCAA basketball’s biggest stage.