When Metea Valley’s (Aurora, Ill.) Tyra King steps onto the pitch, she’s surrounded by family. From her sister in the backfield to her parents in the stands, soccer is a family affair.

On Tuesday night, the King family took the two-hour trip down I-55 for a supersectional showdown against Edwardsville.

Heading into the game, the junior forward was nervous. But in the 25th minute, she settled those nerves and gave the Mustangs room to breathe. Receiving a pass from teammate Leanne Barrett, she dribbled her way into the box.

“I was actually going to take another touch,” King said.

With an Edwardsville defender tugging on her jersey, she knew she had to shoot. So she fixed her eyes on the goalie and arced the ball into the back of the net.

King’s goal helped Metea Valley secure a 2-0 victory and clinch the program’s first trip to the state semifinals, earning her JWS Player of the Week honors.

Varsity beat a great Edwardsville team 2-0 to win the Super Sectional and move onto State! Goals from Tyra King and Lucy Burk with assists from Leanne Barrett and Ella Johnson. Julia Straub with the shutout. @MeteaAthletics @MeteaBoosters @MVPrincipal1 pic.twitter.com/2bhaYDfaC1

— Metea Girls Soccer (@MeteaGirlsSoc) June 1, 2022

King’s 19 goals this season lead the way for the Mustangs, who enter Friday’s match with a 20-2-1 record. She’s averaging nearly a goal per game, and while she doesn’t obsess over stats, she knows her impressive tally makes her a threat to opposing defenses.

“They look at your stats. They start to man mark and double mark you,” King said. “Sometimes I couldn’t score because of it.”

Still, King manages to find a way.

Coach Chris Whaley is impressed with King’s work ethic and leadership. He says she’s really opened up this season as she leads the team by example.

“The girls definitely look to her to make things happen,” Whaley said. “Early on, we saw how much she loves playing high school soccer and how much it means to her.”

For King, it means playing alongside her classmates and her older sister, Justyce. This is the last year they’ll play together, and while they may be on different sides of the field, their bond is unconditional.

King and the Mustangs will take the field again Friday against Lincoln-Way Central as they continue their quest toward becoming state champions.

Nika Anschuetz is a contributing writer at Just Women’s Sports. Follow her on Twitter @nlanschuetz.

Unrivaled Basketball and trading card manufacturer Panini America are teaming up, bringing the 3×3 league's first officially licensed trading cards to market on Friday.

As part of a multi-year agreement between the two parties, Panini will debut the Instant Cards just hours before the first full weekend of play in the 2026 Unrivaled season tips off on Friday.

Panini also plans to launch a Rewind set of trading cards celebrating the 2025 inaugural Unrivaled season, among other future drops.

"Our partnership with Unrivaled is a great way to reinforce and showcase our support of the women's game and female athletes," said Panini America SVP of marketing Jason Howarth in the pair's Thursday announcement. "Unrivaled's 3-on-3 format makes for exciting and compelling game play and continuing to work with the best players in the world in this format made this partnership make perfect sense."

Following Monday's Season 2 tip-off, Unrivaled is continuing to form strategic partnerships as the offseason pro league grows in popularity.

"We want to meet fans where they are, and Panini's history in this space makes them an ideal partner to highlight the biggest moments for women's basketball's biggest stars," said Unrivaled president Alex Bazzell.

How to purchase Unrivaled Instant Cards

The full Unrivaled Instant Card set will release online at 3:08 PM ET on Friday at PaniniAmerica.net.

US women are lighting up the ice, performing record-breaking short programs at the US Figure Skating Championships on Wednesday as the nation's top skaters compete to represent Team USA at the 2026 Winter Olympics in February.

Currently atop the field is 26-year-old Amber Glenn, with the reigning back-to-back national champion posting the highest short program score in event history on Wednesday.

Glenn's 83.05-point performance surpassed the 81.11-point previous record set just minutes before by her 20-year-old teammate, reigning world champion Alysa Liu.

"I think that was one of my most enjoyable experiences competing ever," Glenn said afterwards.

With Liu and Glenn leading the charge, the US is aiming to end a 20-year Olympic medal drought in women's singles figure skating in Milan, Italy, this winter — and Team USA has even more depth on their side.

A full six of the world's Top-17 skaters hail from the US, with 18-year-old Isabeau Levito — who claimed third in Wednesday's short program competition — joining Glenn and Liu in the Top 5.

Team USA can send only three singles skaters to next month's Winter Games, with the national selection committee assessing each athlete's full season — not just their performances at this week's championships — before announcing the Olympic-bound trio on Sunday.

How to watch the 2026 US Figure Skating Championships

The women's singles competition will conclude with Friday's free skate, which kicks off at 3 PM ET before the top skaters in the standings take the ice at 8 PM ET on NBC and Peacock.

The 2026 US Olympic Figure Skating Team will then be announced at 2 PM ET on Sunday, live on NBC.

This month's USWNT roster featured one notable gap, as the absence of Portland Thorns midfielder Sam Coffey stirred up rumors that the 27-year-old is finalizing a move to the WSL to join the top-tier UK league's frontrunners, Manchester City.

First reported by The Guardian, ESPN added on Thursday that Manchester City will ante up a base transfer fee around $800,000 to add Coffey to the Citizens' roster — though the number could rise as negotiations continue and parties finalize a deal.

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The national team stalwart will reportedly travel to Manchester in the near future to ink a potential contract, but Coffey currently remains under contract with Portland until 2027, having signed an extension with the Thorns in 2024.

Coffey has been a mainstay for her NWSL club since Portland drafted the Penn State alum in 2021, but the UK league's pull could persuade her to join her USWNT teammates Alyssa Thompson (Chelsea), Emily Fox (Arsenal), Phallon Tullis-Joyce (Manchester United), and Naomi Girma (Chelsea) in making the leap to the WSL.

Currently sitting six points clear of six-time reigning champion Chelsea atop the 2025/26 WSL table, Manchester City has reportedly been searching for "the right defensive midfield option" as they pursue their first league title since 2016.

This weekend's SEC slate brings the heat, as the stacked NCAA basketball conference gears up for more than one high-profile ranked matchup on Sunday.

Undefeated No. 2 Texas will visit Baton Rouge to take on No. 12 LSU, with the Tigers looking to add to their 80-59 Thursday win over unranked Georgia as they continue battling back from a dismal 0-2 start in 2025/26 conference play.

"We think we're just going to go in there and out-jump, out-leap somebody," said LSU boss Kim Mulkey following last Sunday's loss to No. 7 Vanderbilt. "You're not going to do that in this league."

"This year, the [SEC] is every bit as good as last year — when you really think about it, it's probably way better," Longhorns head coach Vic Schaefer told the Austin American-Statesman on Thursday. "The big thing right now is we've got to get better."

Texas's clash with LSU opens a tough stretch for the Longhorns, as they face AP Poll headliners No. 3 South Carolina, No. 5 Oklahoma, No. 6 Kentucky, and No. 7 Vanderbilt in the coming weeks.

Sunday's other SEC blockbuster between the Sooners and the Wildcats is all about redemption, as Oklahoma aims to bounce back from their 74-69 upset loss to No. 18 Ole Miss on Thursday while Kentucky looks to put their 64-51 Thursday loss to unranked Alabama in the rearview mirror.

How to watch ranked SEC basketball on Sunday

No. 2 Texas will tip off Sunday's ranked SEC slate against No. 12 LSU at 3 PM ET, airing live on ESPN.

Then at 4 PM ET, No. 5 Oklahoma will visit No. 6 Kentucky, with live coverage on the SEC Network.