Hand in hand, the Sidwell Friends players and coaches lined up at the edge of the hotel pool. Backs straight and faces giddy, the Quakers were ready to lift off.

The Quakers, long a middle-tier program in the D.C. area, took a massive leap in 2021-22, rolling to a perfect regular season, a conference title and a state championship. And on Saturday morning, coach Tamika Dudley’s team added one last piece of hardware to its collection, defeating Lake Highland Prep 50-39 in the inaugural State Champions Invitational (SCI) national title game after trouncing Centennial (Las Vegas) in the semifinal, 63-30.

When the Quakers returned to their Tampa hotel after the championship, around 1 p.m., their first stop was the pool. The players were still in their white jerseys; the coaches in their slacks and polos. Against a crystal blue sky and a throng of palm trees, the team that vaulted into the nation’s upper echelon capped its season with one last, cathartic jump.

“We were just trying to win the (D.C. State Athletic Association) championship this year,” Dudley said. “I wasn’t even thinking this big.”

Dudley’s players forced her hand. Sidwell Friends announced itself on the national stage on Dec. 11 when it defeated DeSoto, a team from Texas with seven Division I commits, by 18 points. Senior guard Kiki Rice, who would go on to win JWS Player of the Year honors, recorded 17 points, 13 rebounds and four assists in the 54-36 victory, a harbinger of things to come.

With that win, the Quakers entered winter break with a 5-0 record. When they finally returned to the court about a month later, Dudley found a team with a special swagger. At the center of it all was Rice, a superlative all-around talent with a stubbornly great mindset.

“There’s nothing I hate more,” the UCLA signee said, “than losing.”

Her teammates shared that sentiment. Junior Jadyn Donovan, a 6-foot junior, was Rice’s right-hand partner, averaging 15.2 points, 8.4 rebounds and 1.9 blocks per game.

But it was Donovan’s defense that took center stage when it mattered most in the SCI, an alternative to GEICO Nationals for programs that had competed in state championships. (Montverde claimed the GEICO crown the previous weekend.)

Late in the final against Lake Highland, the Highlanders went on a bit of a run with a couple of 3-pointers. Dudley put Donovan on Lake Highland’s lead facilitator, and Donovan responded with a number of blocks despite the fact she was running on fumes.

“I swear, that court was bigger than any court I’d ever played on,” Donovan said.

Donovan, who finished with 15 points, 11 rebounds, six blocks and four steals, scored the Quakers’ last basket when Rice (10 points and seven rebounds) tossed her an alley-oop in transition from just past half-court in the game’s final minute.

Exclamation point‼️ Rice to Donovan 😳 Sidwell Friends completes the perfect season and takes home an SCI championship 🏆 @SFSQuakers pic.twitter.com/Jz5hNFYo02

— SportsCenter NEXT (@SCNext) April 9, 2022

That was the lone assist of the contest for Rice, who had some trouble getting into a rhythm offensively. In her stead, Dudley’s daughter, sophomore forward Kendall, poured in a game-high 18 points.

“The (defense) slept off Kendall,” the coach said. “I told Kendall she needed to take shots. … She attacked the basket and scored for us at all three levels.”

When the Quakers got back to D.C., one co-worker congratulated Dudley, but then offered a challenge: They wanted to see Sidwell Friends, which went 30-0, win another national championship next season, but to do so even “better.”

“I was like, ‘I don’t even know if we can do it better,’” Dudley said. “We checked every single box this season.”

The Quakers, of course, will be without Rice, the conductor of this championship orchestra. But Sidwell Friends has a couple of tantalizing incoming transfers, and the team will retain much of its core with Donovan, rising junior point guard Leah Harmon (who averaged a team-high 16 points per game) and Kendall Dudley.

Donovan trusts in the foundation Sidwell Friends laid this year, setting the team up for long-term success.

“We built this,” she said.

Josh Needelman is the High School Sports Editor at Just Women’s Sports. Follow him on Twitter @JoshNeedelman.

Welcome to another episode of Sports Are Fun!

Every week on Sports Are Fun!, co-hosts soccer legend Kelley O'Hara, sports journalist Greydy Diaz, and JWS intern BJ serve up their hottest takes on the biggest women's sports headlines.

This week, the Sports Are Fun! crew makes some room on the couch for JWS's own social media guru, Gab Basinski. Together, the hosts then tackle a range of women's sports subjects, including how NIL deals and the NCAA transfer portal are reshaping the college basketball landscape.

"The NCAA transfer portal closed last Wednesday, which had over 1,500 players enter," opens O'Hara. "So many moves here, but just to highlight a few: Olivia Miles to TCU, Ta'Niya Latson to South Carolina, UCLA lost their entire freshman class, and Londynn Jones to USC, and finally, MiLaysia Fulwiley to LSU."

"Of all DI players, almost 30% of players were in the portal," says Basinski. "That's insane."

"I have so many questions and thoughts," O'Hara says.

In addition to all those NCAA basketball thoughts, Sports Are Fun! also dives into NWSL rivalries, the crew's growing beef with the KC Current, PWHL expansion, Caitlin Clark jersey sales, and so much more!

'Sports Are Fun!' asks if NIL is taking the fun out of NCAA basketball

Then, Sports Are Fun turned to coaching. The headline? Angel City bringing on new manager Alexander Straus from Germany's Bayern Munich.

"First of all, I think it's a cardinal sin — and that is pun intended — to transfer to a rival," O'Hara says. "Is that not a thing anymore? I could never, as a Stanford player, go to a UCLA or a USC. Absolutely not."

"When there's money involved, it's not it's not personal. It's business, baby," reasons Diaz. "We're seeing a Londynn Jones go from UCLA literally across the street to USC — that's insane to me. I feel like that's one of the craziest moves. So I guess it doesn't matter anymore?"

"To me, the thing that makes college sports so fun are the rivalries, your school pride," says O'Hara. "You are ride-or-die for your school, and it just doesn't seem like it exists anymore.

"I'd be ride or die for whatever school's paying me, to be honest," quips Basinski. "Get a bag. Because also, it's like, 'Oh they value me enough to pay this much for me to switch schools. So the school is kind of behind me, and if they're behind me this much, alright, I'll take your check and I'll go play.'"

About 'Sports Are Fun!' with Kelley O'Hara

'Sports Are Fun!' is a show that’ll remind you why you fell in love with women's sports in the first place.

Join World Cup champ, Olympic gold medalist, and aspiring barista Kelley O'Hara as she sits down with sports journalist Greydy Diaz and a revolving cast of co-hosts and friends. Together, they're talking the biggest, funnest, and most need-to-know stories in the world of women’s sports.

From on-court drama to off-field shenanigans, to candid (and silly) chats with the most important personalities in the space, this show screams "Sports Are Fun!"

Subscribe to Just Women's Sports on YouTube to never miss an episode.

Concerns over faulty NWSL officiating again took center stage this week, after Sunday's 3-3 draw between the Portland Thorns and Racing Louisville FC saw a league-record 41 fouls called — with only one card handed out in regulation.

In the chippy, physical showdown, Louisville took a 3-1 first-half lead only to see it shortened to 3-2 after referee Corbyn May awarded Portland a penalty kick just before halftime. Portland then drew level with another converted penalty, this one awarded late in second-half stoppage time.

Angered by May's controversial calls, Racing Louisville's Ary Borges garnered a post-match red card for dissent after confronting the officials on the field.

"I do think that match can't keep happening in this league. I think it's embarrassing — it alters the match, it alters the sport," said Portland's Jessie Fleming after the game, remarking on Louisville's aggressive play and the officials' lack of response.

"It's embarrassing for the league, and I think it's embarrassing for Louisville as a club, and very frustrating for us as players."

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Following the match, Borges apologized for her outburst via social media, going on to note, "I'm not much of talking about referees because they are things that are beyond our control but what happened today in the match was a shame."

"For those who had two questionable penalties and spent the whole game throwing themselves in and around the penalty box, please take a moment to reflect and not talk about my team," she continued, accusing the Thorns of contributing to the issue by over-selling fouls.

With the puck dropping on the league's second postseason next week, the PWHL unveiled the Minnesota Frost's 2024 Walter Cup championship rings on Monday.

The reveal came as part of the league's multi-year partnership announcement with Paris Jewellers Canada, a family-owned jewelry brand that the PWHL has tapped to create its championship rings for years to come.

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In order to personalize the championship jewelry, the design of the 2024 title-winning rings included input from inaugural victors Minnesota.

Fashioned from sterling silver, the rings feature an image of the Walter Cup. Surrounding the trophy are 74 diamonds, in honor of the goals scored by the team throughout their first season, as well as 18 purple amethyst stones representative of the squad's total 2023/24 wins.

The rings also bear inscriptions of the May 29th, 2024, championship game date and 3-0 winning score, the Frost's "Win One Game" motto, and each athlete's name and jersey number.

The champs received their rings in a private celebration on Sunday.

"This group will always carry the honor of being the first team in PWHL history to win the Walter Cup," said Minnesota captain Kendall Coyne Schofield.  "Now, we will forever have these special championship rings that encapsulate the journey to the top."

With the 2024/25 PWHL regular season closing on May 3rd, the Frost are locked in a battle with the Boston Fleet and Ottawa Charge for the two remaining playoff spots.

For a shot at defending their 2024 title, Minnesota must win their final two games by defeating both Ottawa and Boston this week.

Though rolling blackouts across the region suspended play at the 2025 Madrid Open on Monday, many top US talents are working their way through the clay court competition to great success.

World No. 4 Coco Gauff dispatched Switzerland's No. 42 Belinda Bencic 6-4, 6-2 in Monday's Round of 16, exiting the court just before the arena lost power.

"I feel like, at this point, this is only a situation you can laugh at if I was on court," Gauff said after her post-match interview was cut short by a deadened mic. "Because it's probably not going to happen ever again, and we'll always remember the day the power went out at Madrid Open."

Gauff next faces No. 7 Mirra Andreeva in the quarterfinals, where a win could see her swap places with the now-ousted Jessica Pegula in the WTA rankings to reclaim No. 3 — and resume her title as the highest-ranked US player.

The rest of the Round of 16 resumed early Tuesday morning, with fellow US star and world No. 5 Madison Keys taking down Croatia's No. 21 Donna Vekić 6-2, 6-3 before No. 2 Iga Świątek eked out a win against No. 13 Diana Shnaider 6-0, 6-7 (3), 6-4.

Keys and Świątek will now square off in the quarterfinals — their first meeting since Keys upset the Polish star in January's Australian Open semifinal.

How to watch the 2025 Madrid Open quarterfinals

The 2025 Madrid Open quarterfinals kick off at 4 AM ET on Wednesday. Coverage of the tournament will continue to air live on the Tennis Channel.