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Sheryl Swoopes gets back to her roots

(Mary Kate Ridgway/NBAE via Getty Images)

Sheryl Swoopes loves to garden. And not in the stereotypical, retiree sense. She’s the real deal. A Hall of Farmer, if you will. She and her husband have their own homestead. If they eat it, they grew it. Scarlet kale, buttercrunch lettuce, broccoli, onions, peppers, collard greens, green beans — and that’s just the salad bar.

“It never was something I thought I could do,” Swoopes tells Just Women’s Sports. “But to be able to walk out my back door every morning, walk to my garden and see what a tiny little seed has produced…”

She hesitated, letting out a deep breath.

“It gives me a sense of accomplishment, honestly, that I’ve never felt through playing basketball.”

The basketball court used to be the safe haven for the three-time Olympic gold medalist. But now, at 51, Swoopes has traded in her Nikes for rain boots and yellow-daisy Crocs. Her hands that used to whip the ball back and forth for a killer crosser, now house gardening gloves so the thorns won’t prick during harvest.

“It kind of takes me back to my childhood,” Swoopes says. The vast acres of land in her hometown of Brownsfield, Texas, with a population of less than 10,000, seem to stretch on endlessly. Deliveries come via tractors. The nearest Target is a 40-minute drive away. Swoopes originally dreamed of being a Dallas Cowboys cheerleader or even a flight attendant. But growing up hooping with her brothers outside, basketball ended up being her ticket out of Terry County.

And yet, she came back home.

“I’ve lived in the big city,” Swoopes says, listing the places she resided during her pro career. “Houston, Chicago, Seattle — I’ve done that.”

But this Texas gal is quick to remind you that she’s a farm girl at heart. Brownfield planted the seed from which the Sheryl Swoopes that we know and love sprouted. Air Swoopes. The Female Michael Jordan. The first-ever player signed to the WNBA.

The city’s center has roots that touch a number of milestones in Swoopes’ career. It’s less than a mile away from Brownfield High School, where Swoopes won the 1988 state title. It’s 29 miles away from South Plains College, the JUCO where Swoopes still holds the record for the most points scored in a season (1,620). It’s 37 miles away from Texas Tech University, where she won the 1993 NCAA championship and her record of 47 points in the title game still holds strong. And it’s 500 miles away from Compaq Center, the former Houston Comets’ arena, where she celebrated six All-Star selections, four consecutive WNBA championships from 1997 to 2000 and three MVP awards.

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Swoopes in Game 3 of the 1999 WNBA Finals, leading to the third of her four titles with the Houston Comets. (Nathaniel S. Butler/NBAE via Getty Images)

Being back home in Brownfield, tending to her garden, is right where Swoopes wants to be.

“I get excited when I talk about it,” she says. Her smile is so big, you can hear it in her voice over the phone. “But the real thing is,” Swoopes adds, “now, it’s not just about me.” Gardening and homesteading are things she and her husband, Chris Tellison, enjoy doing together.

“It’s prideful,” says Tellison, who grew up in inner-city Houston. “When you sit down, eating greens and you grew them, there’s a sense of pride. There’s a sense of fulfillment.”

Neither of them has prior experience, but throughout this process, they’re learning together. “It’s a passion we both have,” Swoopes says, “to continue to educate ourselves as much as trying to educate everybody else.”

And they’re not keeping the newfound knowledge to themselves. Swoopes has turned their passion into a nonprofit. They cooked up the name “Back to Our Roots,” and their YouTube channel serves as a hub of vlog content. The logo shows Swoopes spinning an egg on her index finger like a basketball, and the catchy auto-tuned theme song rhymes the line “We’re getting back to our roots” with “Come farm with Sheryl Swoopes.”

In these weekly 10- to 15-minute videos, POV camera shots give detailed tours of their garden. That includes “how-to” videos like making a chicken brooder, a “meat haul” showing off the beef their first-purchased cow produced and updates on their fig tree, FeFe.

“It was really important to me to find another way to give back to my African American community. We decided to do that through gardening and teaching our youth — and even adults — the importance of eating good nutrition and learning how to grow your own food,” Swoopes says. “As boring as that may sound to some people, that space gives me such peace and pleasure.”

The content is the antithesis of boring. Comments continually pour in from fellow Black homesteaders offering support, guidance, encouragement and thank yous. It’s different from her basketball stardom and highlight reels, she knows. But Swoopes still believes she’s making a difference.

“It’s just in a different way,” she says. “Being able to teach our kids something new and something they’re not being taught enough of, that’s definitely something that’s important to me.”

Back to Our Roots goes beyond gardening, though. Swoopes has a vision of allowing the local African American community to travel back to Africa; through sponsorships, they would be able to explore the land of their ancestors and learn about the history and heritage of where they come from. Growing your own food is a large part of African culture, but Swoopes feels it’s become a lost practice among today’s youth.

“And even adults,” she says, adding that her grandmother had a neighborhood fruit stand while she was young, but the true significance of growing your own fresh fruits and vegetables wasn’t instilled in her then. “There’s so much stuff I’ve learned about myself and where I come from that I didn’t know when I was growing up,” she explains. “It lit a fire in me that makes me want to learn more and be able to pass that on to my kids and other kids who haven’t been taught it.”

In order to be eligible to participate in Back to Our Roots’ nonprofit, African American high school students (and adult volunteers) must write an essay explaining what they know about Africa and, if chosen, what they’re hoping to absorb from the overseas field trip. For most of the African diaspora, it’s unknown exactly which part of the continent their family’s lineage stems from. Swoopes says they’re partnering with companies to offer DNA genetic testing, so when the participants arrive in Africa with Back to Our Roots, they’ll have a better idea of their heritage.

“We’ll be going to Ghana and teaming up with people there who can talk to the kids about their ancestry,” Swoopes says, painting a vivid picture. The students will have a real opportunity to experience their rich African culture, and the dream is that it’s not a one-time visit. “Hopefully,” Swoopes adds, “they’ll continue to want to learn more and more about the motherland.”

The first trip has been on pause because of the COVID-19 pandemic, but Swoopes remains laser-focused on this passion project and how she can incorporate hoops, too.

“For me, basketball is one of those languages every country speaks,” she says, adding that she envisions student basketball camps and tournaments as a part of her nonprofit. “Basketball has allowed me to connect to so many people all over the world. That’s why, with Back to Our Roots, basketball will of course be a part of it.”

***

“Oo, that’s tough!” Sheryl Swoopes’ voice is booming through the mic. She’s color commentating a game for Athletes Unlimited’s inaugural basketball season and just witnessed Danni McCray absorb a double team, spin and shoot a fadeaway jumper. The move was reminiscent of Swoopes in her prime. And the first season of AU pro hoops in February reminded Swoopes of another league’s start.

“The atmosphere was so electric,” Swoopes says. “It definitely reminded me of when the W first started.”

As a fan, the five-week season wasn’t nearly enough, but it gave viewers an opportunity to see the untapped talent outside of the 144 roster spots in the WNBA. It was thrilling to witness, in real-time, the growth of the women’s game.

“I loved doing the games and being a part of it. It’s given players another opportunity to play professional basketball. That’s the part that makes me feel good,” Swoopes says. “I think it’s all our responsibility to do our part to help grow the game. I think it would be great for the WNBA to add more teams because it’s needed. There’s so much talent out there that’s not getting noticed because there aren’t enough teams and there aren’t enough roster spots.”

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Swoopes and Dawn Staley share a laugh with Sue Bird at the 2022 WNBA All-Star Game. (Mary Kate Ridgway/NBAE via Getty Images)

In 1997, when Swoopes and the first draftees of the WNBA entered onto the scene, they were bona fide celebrities. Then, when Swoopes, Cynthia Cooper, Tina Thompson and the Houston Comets won the league’s first four championships, they became royalty.

“Swoopes was the original two-way player,” says Dawn Staley, Hall of Famer and Swoopes’ Olympic teammate. Staley described her skill set as unmatched, and when they took the court together, winning was the only option.

“She emerged on the scene and quickly became a household name, and when you got the opportunity to see her play, she did not disappoint,” Staley adds. “Swoopes was as good as advertised. She changed the game.”

But since Swoopes’ final season in 2011, she expressed that their involvement with the league has been little to none (though they did sit courtside together during the WNBA All-Star Game in Chicago earlier this month). Using her green thumb, Swoopes offers some advice: “The WNBA still has a lot of Houston Comets fans, and even though the Comets no longer have a team, [the fans] continue to follow the league. So to me, it would do the league a great service for them to find a way to get some Houston Comets involved with the league. And that to me would definitely help its growth. Hell, I’d love to see the Comets come back to Houston!

“They have to continue to find ways to keep people involved, get former players involved,” she adds. “And continue to find interesting ways to gain more fans.”

In other words, they have to keep planting more seeds.

“You got to plant seeds and you got to continue to water them,” Swoopes says. “You can’t forget about those old plants, you know what I mean?” The new seeds — the rookies, the draftees, the signees from Athletes Unlimited — are wonderful and necessary. But as a gardener, you have to keep the entire crop in perspective.

“If you forget about your old plants that continue to produce food for you, eventually those old plants are going to die. Former players, such as myself, who continue to do everything in our power to talk about the league, promote the league, help grow the game, but at some point, if we feel like it’s not appreciated or we’re not being recognized or used enough, then we will just move on to something else.”

Real fans know what Swoopes has done for the game. The first player signed; the first champion; the first player to have a kid and come back; the first player to get a triple-double. She’s a Hall of Famer and a member of the W25. When it’s all said and done, she’ll be one of the greatest to ever do it.

Rapper Shavone Charles reminded everyone of this when she released the tribute song “Sheryl Swoopes” in partnership with Spotify during last year’s Women’s History Month.

Sheryl Swoopes with the air game
Might add Nike to my last name

Not too many WNBA players have songs dedicated to them. Not many NBA players either. “Sheryl Swoopes” was a headliner for Spotify’s first-ever Queen playlist, which honored women who’ve had an impact on culture.

Shoot like Sheryl Swoopes, yeah
Shoot like Sheryl Swoopes, yeah
Double Nike swoosh, yeah
Car ain’t got no roof, yeah
There go Sheryl Swoopes, yeah
Yeah, she bad, yeah
Gettin’ all them bags, yeah
Triple-double racks, yeah

“It’s time to give Sheryl her flowers, not only for her impact in sports but for her unapologetic legacy, as a trailblazer in fashion and culture,” said Shavone, referencing Swoopes being the first female hooper to have their own signature shoe.

It is time we give Swoopes her flowers. She deserves them, undoubtedly. But if the flowers don’t come from the places she helped make prominent , don’t worry. She’ll just plant her own.

Editor’s Note: This story is a part of the Just Women’s Sports inaugural Legends Collection. Check out our stories on the other legends, Billie Jean King and Brandi Chastain.

Jordan Ligons is a contributing writer at Just Women’s Sports. She is also the host of Jordan’s “Take it From LA” series, the co-host of “Spinsters” and a WNBA host for “Buckets.” Follow her on Twitter @_jordanligons.

2025 NCAA Softball Kicks Off as Oklahoma Hunts 5th-Straight World Series Win

Oklahoma and Texas line up on the softball field before the second game of the 2024 Women's College World Series.
Oklahoma will pursue their fifth-straight NCAA softball title this season. (Brian Bahr/Getty Images)

College softball is back, with a new-look Oklahoma team kicking off the 2025 NCAA season in pursuit of a fifth-straight Women's College World Series win.

Despite Oklahoma's ongoing dominance, 2025's lineup does promise significantly higher parity than seasons past.

Having graduated a number of last year's stars — including a senior class that snagged four straight national titles — the Sooners enter the season ranked third.

Instead, 2024 runner-up Texas takes the top spot, followed by perennial contenders Florida at No. 2. Both teams enter 2025 with the majority of their rosters from last season intact, earning them an edge over the revamped Sooners.

Texas star catcher Reese Atwood blasts a double during a 2024 NCAA Softball Regional game against Northwestern.
Star slugger Reese Atwood is back to lead the Texas softball offense. (David Buono/Icon Sportswire via Getty Images)

Texas on top as SEC looms

Still hunting a first national championship, Texas returns with six starters and four of their five 2024 pitchers — including then-freshman phenom Teagan Kavan, who led the team with 20 wins last year.

Meanwhile, last season's Big 12 Player of the Year, junior catcher Reese Atwood, is back to lead the Longhorn offense.

After joining rival Oklahoma in flipping to the SEC this year, Texas is gearing up to meet their new conference foes with the No. 1 target on their backs.

"It's a great honor, to tell you the truth," Texas head coach Mike White said about the preseason ranking. "And now we got to back it up. We’ve had a team that's been called young in the years past, and now we're a little more mature."

"We have a tough slate of games ahead of us, and then, of course, the gauntlet of the SEC is ahead of us," White noted. "We’ve really just got to go play good softball now."

The impact of conference realignment will extend beyond the SEC this season. The sport's historic dynasty No. 6 UCLA is now competing in the Big Ten while No. 4 Oklahoma State is taking over the top spot in the Big 12 rankings.

Stanford pitcher NiJaree Canady winds up from the circle during a 2024 NCAA Softball Super Regionals game against LSU.
A $1 million NIL deal convinced 2024 National Player of the Year NiJaree Canady to transfer to Texas Tech. (Eakin Howard/Getty Images)

2025 NCAA softball season takes the field

As multiple teams travel to warm-weather destinations to start the season, the first week of competition showcases a slate of top-ranked matchups.

With a top-tier win already in the books, No. 4 Oklahoma State opened their 2025 campaign with a bang at the Puerto Vallarta College Challenge on Thursday. Buoyed by a trio of home runs, the Cowgirls handed No. 12 Florida State a 9-6 loss.

Waiting on deck at this week's NFCA Leadoff Classic in Clearwater, Florida, are two ranked games featuring superstar pitchers.

First, No. 16 Nebraska ace Jordy Bahl — a two-time NCAA champion with Oklahoma — will likely take the circle against No. 5 Tennessee on Thursday. If she gets the start, it will mark her first game in nearly a year, as the Cornhusker transfer suffered a season-ending ACL injury in last year's opener.

Then on Friday, a revamped No. 10 Texas Tech side will face No. 25 Mississippi State, with former Stanford pitcher NiJaree Canady likely leading the charge.

The 2024 National Player of the Year transferred after her sophomore season with the Cardinal, as Texas Tech sealed the deal via a record-shattering $1 million NIL contract.

Oklahoma softball pitcher Jordy Bahl winds up during the 2023 Women's College World Series against Florida State.
Star transfer Jordy Bahl is back with Nebraska softball after missing 2024 play with an ACL tear. (Grace Bradley/NCAA Photos via Getty Images)

How to watch this week's Top 25 NCAA softball games

Look for Bahl to lead No. 16 Nebraska against No. 5 Tennessee at 7 PM ET on Thursday, before No. 25 Mississippi State will contend with Canady and No. 10 Texas Tech at 5 PM ET on Friday.

Both games will stream live on the GameChanger app.

Unrivaled Basketball Drops 1v1 Tournament Bracket

Napheesa Collier and Stefanie Dolson tip off an Unrivaled basketball game.
The winner of the Unrivaled 1v1 tournament will earn $200,000 in prize money. (Megan Briggs/Getty Images)

Unrivaled 3×3 Basketball's 1v1 tournament is fast approaching,​ with the offseason league dropping the competition's official bracket on Wednesday.

The head-to-head showdown tips off on Monday, February 10th, with the semifinals and three-game final series all tipping off on Friday, February 14th. 

Fan votes determined the seeding for the debut league's first-ever in-season tournament. Those ballots gave the Mist's Jewell Loyd and Vinyl's Arike Ogunbowale first-round byes, moving them straight into Tuesday's quarterfinal round.

Meanwhile, the other 28 competitors have four rounds to overcome to claim the trophy — not to mention $200,000 in prize money.

Breaking down the Unrivaled 1v1 bracket

Some early battles will be tougher than others, as Unrivaled co-founder and current scoring leader Napheesa Collier takes on fellow UConn alum Katie Lou Samuelson. The winner of that matchup then faces either Jackie Young or Rickea Jackson.

Collier's fellow co-founder Breanna Stewart — also a UConn product — drew 2024 UConn standout Aaliyah Edwards in Monday's first round. The winner subsequently earns a second-round date against either Marina Mabrey or Kate Martin.

Despite her first-round bye, Ogunbowale's bracket quadrant appears to be a gauntlet.

The guard will first battle either fellow Notre Dame alum Skylar Diggins-Smith, who has four game-winners under her belt so far this season, or Vinyl teammate Dearica Hamby.

The Olympic 3×3 bronze medalist trails only Collier and Laces star Kayla McBride on Unrivaled's score sheet, averaging 21.2 points per game. Additionally, Hamby's 10.4 rebounding average has her sitting fourth in the league.

Should they advance, either McBride or Satou Sabally will await Ogunbowale in the quarterfinals.

Ultimately, every matchup is stacked considering the star-studded league's depth.

"I just want the top dawgs to knock each other out," joked Courtney Williams ahead of her own first-round clash with Tiffany Hayes, with the winner set to square off against either Rhyne Howard or Lexie Hull.

"[If] your shot's falling, really anyone can win 1v1," she continued. "It's all about who figured it out in that moment."

An official game ball rests on the Unrivaled basketball court in Miami, Florida.
The three-day 1v1 tournament will tip off on Monday. (Megan Briggs/Getty Images)

How to watch next week's Unrivaled 1v1 tournament

The inaugural contest's first round tips off at 2 PM ET on Monday, with live coverage on truTV. The evening session begins at 7 PM ET on TNT.

Both the second round and quarterfinals will air on truTV starting at 7 PM ET on Tuesday, with the semifinals and finals taking over both truTV and TNT on Friday beginning at 7:30 PM ET.

No. 1 UCLA Downs No. 8 OSU in Top 10 NCAA Basketball Action

UCLA center Lauren Betts lifts a shot over Ohio State during Wednesday's Big Ten basketball game.
UCLA center Lauren Betts registered 19 points and 14 rebounds in Wednesday's win. (Gina Ferazzi / Los Angeles Times via Getty Images)

No. 1 UCLA added another Top 10 NCAA basketball win to their 2024/25 resume on Wednesday, tallying their second of the season after holding off Big Ten foe No. 8 Ohio State 65-52.

Despite Buckeye freshman Jaloni Cambridge's game-leading 21 points, Ohio State fell to a tough UCLA defense. The Bruins clamped down in the second and fourth quarters, relinquishing just 18 points to the Buckeyes across those two periods.

Meanwhile, UCLA junior Lauren Betts continued her National Player of the Year campaign, scoring a team-high 19 points plus 14 rebounds after clinching the double-double before the first-half buzzer.

Star junior guard Gabriela Jaquez narrowly trailed Betts, posting 17 points to help push UCLA over the line.

The victory marks a program-record 22nd consecutive win for the still-undefeated Bruins — their longest winning streak since 1978.

"I told the team after the game that these games are fun when they're close," Jaquez said afterwards. "This might have been one of the first games where it got close."

Top 10 NCAA upset rattles the Big 12

Wednesday didn't pan out as smoothly in the Big 12, where No. 12 Kansas State upset No. 9 TCU 59-50 in the Wildcats' first Top 10 win of the season. The victory broke the pair's tie atop the conference standings, putting Kansas State firmly in control of the Big 12.

While the Wildcat defense stifled TCU top scorers Sedona Prince and Hailey Van Lith, holding them to a respective 14 and 10 points, Kansas State senior Serena Sundell showed out on offense. The guard scored a season-high 27 points — 15 of which came during the Wildcats' third-quarter surge.

"[Sundell] lived at the rim," TCU head coach Mark Campbell told reporters after the game. "She absolutely destroyed us in the post. She just shot layups and layups and layups. That's what makes her unique is she's a 6-foot-2 versatile playmaker.... We didn't have an answer for that one."

UConn guard Azzi Fudd controls the ball against Tennessee during the rivals' 2022 basketball game.
Tennessee hosts historic rival UConn in a Top 20 matchup tonight. (M. Anthony Nesmith/Icon Sportswire via Getty Images)

How to watch Top 20 NCAA basketball on Thursday

The NCAA action continues with historic rivals No. 5 UConn taking on No. 19 Tennessee at 6:30 PM ET tonight. That's when Paige Bueckers and the Huskies will take aim at Jewel Spear and the Vols, with live coverage on ESPN.

USWNT Star Midge Purce Signs One-Year NWSL Contract Extension with Gotham

Gotham winger Midge Purce holds the ball before a set piece during a March 2024 NWSL match.
Purce earned NWSL Championship MVP with Gotham in 2023. (Tim Nwachukwu/Getty Images)

USWNT attacker Midge Purce re-signed with Gotham FC on a one-year deal Wednesday. The move quieted speculation about the star's future with the club.

The 29-year-old announced her return in classic fashion. She simply adding a two-word quote to Gotham's press release on Wednesday: "I'm back."

Purce played a major role in Gotham's 2023 title-winning run. She earned NWSL Championship MVP honors after assisting on both goals in NJ/NY's trophy-clinching match. However, she was sidelined for much of the subsequent season — her fifth at Gotham — after a late March 2024 ACL tear.

"Midge brings a number of great qualities to our team, and her dynamism and experience are great additions to our talented attacking group," Gotham GM Yael Averbuch West said in a statement. "We are very excited to welcome her back into the mix."

Purce signing helps ease Gotham's 2025 concerns

Securing the striker eases some fears about Gotham's plans for 2025. This offseason saw a number of high-profile exits including USWNT stars Lynn Biyendolo (née Williams), Crystal Dunn, Jenna Nighswonger, among others.

"We fully understand our journey won't always follow a straight path, and we are realistic about the time, fortitude, and effort required to achieve our goals," Averbuch West recently told fans in an open letter.

"I know this offseason has been a time of uncertainty for our fans, and I want you to know we've worked tirelessly to build a team you’ll be excited to stand behind in 2025 and every season after."

Ultimately, Purce's return rounds out a still-solid Gotham squad. Of course, the roster remains punctuated by USWNT mainstays Rose Lavelle, Emily Sonnett, and Tierna Davidson.

The team is currently in Spain for preseason training. They'll play a pair of closed-door scrimmages before returning to New Jersey to kick off the 2025 NWSL season.

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