Tamika Dudley was fed up with the rumors, and so on Dec. 30, the Sidwell Friends girls’ basketball coach took to Twitter to quash the scuttlebutt.

“I have NO intention on leaving Sidwell after Kendall graduates,” Dudley wrote, referencing her daughter, a star sophomore guard for the Quakers. “I have been coaching for 15+ years and Kendall has only played for me for two of them.”

Those two years, though, have raised the profile of mother and daughter, who’ve helped lead the Sidwell Friends program to its greatest heights in more than a decade: The top-ranked Quakers have so far won conference and D.C. State Athletic Association championships, have beaten top teams from across the country and are the favorites to be the last team standing at GEICO Nationals in April.

There is no uncertainty attached to Kendall’s future: The 6-foot-1 wing is the No. 4 player in the country for the class of 2024, per ESPN, and will have her pick of Division I programs pining for her services.

But there is less of a clear path for elite high school coaches, some of whom do have dreams of reaching the next level. And then there are those like Tamika, who told Just Women’s Sports she has no intention of leaving Sidwell Friends anytime soon. The Naismith High School Girls’ Basketball Coach is proud of the program she’s helped build and feels at home in the community.

She knows that as long as Sidwell Friends’ success continues, though, those rumors will keep surfacing. Tamika said she’d heard this latest gossip came from local coaches trying to turn prospective players away from the Quakers.

“I don’t know if it’s a thing where people feel threatened,” Tamika said. “I thought it was best (if) something was said in the open.”

Tamika, to be fair, did get her coaching start at the college level, when she worked as an assistant at UNC-Wilmington after wrapping up her playing career at LIU-Brooklyn in 2004. She found the position to be emotionally draining, and derived more purpose from her job as an assistant at Potomac High School (Dumfries, Va.). She left the sideline after three seasons when she gave birth to Kendall and didn’t intend to return.

Then George Washington, her old coach at Woodbridge High School (Va.), called with an offer. He wanted Tamika, his former point guard, in the coaches’ room.

“I told her, ‘You need this as much as it needs you,’” said Washington.

Part of Washington’s pitch was that Tamika, a single mother, could bring Kendall along to practice and teach her the game. Indeed, some of Kendall’s earliest memories are in the Woodbridge gym, where Tamika, her players and even Washington introduced her to the intricacies of basketball. Washington often picked Kendall up from school or daycare to bring her to practice.

The trio became even closer through tragedy. Kendall was 4 when Washington suffered a cardiac event on the sideline and Tamika performed CPR on him before the paramedics arrived. Washington made a full recovery, but retired from coaching and handed the program off to Tamika. She led Woodbridge to a Class 6 state title in 2019 and earned USA Today Coach of the Year honors.

That’s when she caught the attention of the Sidwell Friends administration, and when she took the Quakers’ job, she brought Kendall with her. Even if mother and daughter already had a strong basketball foundation — Kendall often watched Woodbridge game tape with Tamika in the living room — it would be the first time they’d share a bench.

The relationship has borne fruit this season for the Quakers, who are also led by senior point guard Kiki Rice, a UCLA commit and arguably the top player in the country, and junior guard Jadyn Donovan, also a five-star recruit.

The group has elevated Sidwell to a status in the area normally reserved for teams in the more prestigious Washington Catholic Athletic Conference, like St. John’s, Paul IV and Bishop McNamara. Tamika isn’t surprised the success has led to some hearsay about her future, though she hypothesized there might be deeper reasons for the rumors.

“My first year coaching in this league, in general, there were situations with officials. And I was like, ‘Is it because I’m female and Black?’” said Tamika, whose mother is white and father is Black. “I hate to take it there. I normally don’t even go there.

“It’s definitely tougher for me to deal with male coaches than it is female coaches.”

Kendall, meanwhile, doesn’t pay much attention to the discourse surrounding Tamika’s future. But she does wish more people would recognize her mother’s success.

“You can’t stop people from talking,” Kendall said, “but you can always make an effort to show them what’s wrong about what they’re saying.”

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

Former Chicago Sky guard Allie Quigley made her retirement official on Tuesday, announcing her exit from professional basketball in a piece for The Players Tribune, nearly three years after her final WNBA game in September 2022.

The 14-year league veteran spent the last decade of her career playing for her hometown team, helping lead the Sky to a WNBA championship in 2021 while also picking up three All-Star nods and two WNBA Sixth Woman of the Year awards.

With a career average of 10.9 points per game and 39.4% shooting from beyond the arc, Quigley also claimed four 3-Point Contest victories, winning in 2017, 2018, 2021, and 2022 to set a record that still stands across the WNBA and NBA.

Chicago's all-time leading scorer for years, Sky guard Courtney Vandersloot — Quigley's wife — usurped her crown just two weeks ago.

"I love knowing that I can look back on my career and say it was really, really good — but it was part of the beginning of something truly great," Quigley wrote.

Explaining that she "never actually meant to do an Irish goodbye," Quigley initially took time off to become a mom, a process that took longer than expected.

Alongside Vandersloot, Quigley welcomed their first child, daughter Jana Christine, on April 8th — an event that spurred her to officially announce her retirement.

"[A]s special as the Sky winning a championship felt, and as proud of a moment as that was, bringing a baby into the world is our accomplishment we're most proud of," said Quigley.

On Tuesday, 2024/25 UEFA Champions League winners Arsenal announced that the Gunners are making the 60,704-capacity Emirates Stadium their permanent home for all WSL matches on the heels of last season's successful nine-game run in the north London venue.

Arsenal dominated the WSL in attendance during their 2024/25 campaign with a total of 415,000 tickets sold, a 20% increase over the Gunners' 2023/24 season.

Even more, the club averaged crowds of over 34,000 fans for the team's nine matches hosted at the men's side's historic Highbury home.

Both Arsenal's and the league's season-high attendance came in February, when 56,784 fans packed Emirates for the Gunners' North London Derby match against Tottenham.

While all of Arsenal's 11 WSL home games will kick off at Emirates, the reigning European champs will open their UWCL defense at the significantly smaller, 4,500-capacity Meadow Park, with future Champions League matches moving to Highbury should the Gunners advance to the tournament's knockout rounds.

"For us, this is just the beginning, and bringing every WSL match to the Emirates is another step for more supporters to be part of this special journey," said Arsenal head coach Renée Slegers in a club statement. "We'll come back next season, with fire in our hearts, more determined, more ambitious, and more together than ever."

Women's teams are big business, with global sports business conference SPOBIS International reporting this week that average WNBA franchise valuations rose to $90 million in 2024, while NWSL clubs weighed in at $104 million — doubling their 2023 mark.

In May, the reigning WNBA champion New York Liberty sold shares at a $450 million valuation, qualifying them as the world's most valuable women's sports team.

SPOBIS's top five includes the WSL's Chelsea FC ($326 million) alongside NWSL side Angel City FC ($250 million), the WNBA's Dallas Wings ($208 million), the Kansas City Current ($182 million), and the Las Vegas Aces ($140 million).

US women's sports teams hold a key advantage in the race to the top of the valuations table, with WNBA and NWSL squads able operate independently from men's systems.

Having separated from their men's side last year, Chelsea FC was the only non-US team to make the list, bolstered by Reddit co-founder Alexis Ohanian's $26.6 million purchase of a 10% stake in the 2024/25 WSL champs last month.

Other European teams in line for similar value boosts include OL Lyonnes and the London City Lionesses, both independently owned and operated by Washington Spirit owner Michele Kang.

With many factors contributing to a team's overall value — namely capital, media deals, viewership, ownership structures, and popularity — it's tough to predict the next big thing in women's sports, but these numbers point to a red-hot market across major pro leagues.

US Soccer is heading back to college, announcing Tuesday that the federation is launching a NextGen College Soccer Committee (NCS) to help solidify NCAA soccer's place in the national development system.

The NCS will "aim to integrate the college game more deeply into the broader US Soccer ecosystem, while ensuring it remains a strong, sustainable platform for student-athlete education, player development, and community engagement."

As professional soccer careers become more viable on the women's side, an increasing number of prospects are opting to sign directly with clubs out of high school rather than follow the traditional collegiate track.

Skipping college to go pro is common in other countries, where many clubs run their own academies for promising young players.

To "properly consider the development pathway and progression to college soccer," US Soccer is also working with pre-professional organizations like Elite Clubs National League, Girls Academy, and other US youth leagues.

Members of the NCS include Kansas City Current co-owner Angie Long, NWSL COO Sarah Jones Simmer, and former Duke standout and current MLS executive Ali Curtis.

With Tuesday's announcement, US Soccer appears to be acknowledging the challenges of maintaining NCAA soccer's appeal in the face of increasingly diverse pro opportunities — while also doubling down on the value of the college game.

"College soccer is integral to the fabric and future of our sport in this country," said US Soccer CEO JT Batson. "The individuals joining this group bring unique perspectives and expertise that will help us build a model where college soccer can thrive in a modern, connected system."