Another round of upsets tore through the WNBA over the long weekend, with the youth-powered No. 11 Dallas Wings grabbing headlines behind Thursday's 98-89 win over the No. 2 Phoenix Mercury.
With injured Dallas stars DiJonai Carrington and Arike Ogunbowale forced to watch from the sidelines, four Wings rookies started Thursday's matchup — the most first-year starters on any WNBA team since 2000.
The team's young core stepped up and shined, with Aziaha James, Paige Bueckers, and JJ Quinerly combining for 68 points to outlast Phoenix forward Kahleah Copper's game-leading 33-point performance.
"The rookies were fantastic," Copper said afterwards. "They came out with no fear, as you should. They played free, they played aggressive, and they showed what they could do."
While the Mercury's two-game losing streak has yet to impact their spot in the current WNBA standings, it did widen the gap at the top of the table.
Phoenix's stumble gave No. 1 Minnesota a 4.5-game lead over the field, with the Lynx ending the weekend on a 3-0 run to avenge last Tuesday's WNBA Commissioner's Cup loss.
Also climbing the ranks was the No. 4 Seattle Storm, who downed both No. 5 Atlanta and No. 3 New York to pull within a half-game of the skidding Liberty.
As for the 2025 Commissioner's Cup champs, No. 7 Indiana opened their long weekend slate with a massive 81-54 Thursday win against No. 8 Las Vegas — the Fever's first victory over the Aces since 2019 — before narrowly falling 89-87 to the No. 10 LA Sparks on Saturday.
How to watch the Dallas Wings vs. Phoenix Mercury WNBA game
After falling on the road to Dallas last Thursday, Phoenix will hope Monday's home-court advantage will snap their two-loss streak as they try their luck against Wings again at 10 PM ET.
The rematch will air live on WNBA League Pass.
The Naismith Awards unveiled their 2024/25 National Defensive Player of the Year (DPOY) semifinalists on Tuesday, with the 10-player lineup highlighting some of NCAA basketball’s biggest stars.
Each athlete represents a different team, all of whom finished the regular season in the Top 25 AP Poll. Six hail from the nation's Top 10 teams.
No. 1 UCLA junior Lauren Betts and fellow center Sedona Prince out of No. 6 TCU lead the list's frontcourt players, which also includes a pair of senior forwards in No. 15 Ohio State's Taylor Thierry and No. 23 Florida State's Makayla Timpson.
Holding down the backcourt are six guards, highlighted by a trio of sophomore stars in No. 4 USC's JuJu Watkins, No. 8 Notre Dame's Hannah Hidalgo, and No. 20 Tennessee's Talaysia Cooper. Senior veteran experience rounds out the group in No. 5 Texas's Rori Harmon, No. 10 LSU's Aneesah Morrow, and No. 16 West Virginia's JJ Quinerly.
With three semifinalists each, the SEC and Big Ten lead the field, while the ACC and Big 12 each claim two of the list's standouts.
Naismith semifinalists lead the nation in defensive stats
On the Division I stat sheet, Hidalgo tops all other Power Four players in steals per game with 3.7, while Morrow leads the country in rebounds with an average of 13.6 per game.
Morrow's rate is unquestionably impressive, eclipsing the next Power Four athlete on the list, Timpson, by a full three rebounds per game.
Speaking of Timpson, she joins Betts and Prince in Division I's Top 5 players for blocks per game.
Three semifinalists have already claimed some DPOY hardware for their 2024/25 performances, with Hidalgo, Quinerly, and Betts earning the honor for the ACC, Big 12, and Big Ten, respectively.
Many of the season’s best defenders are also in the mix for National Player of the Year (POY), with Betts, Hidalgo, and Watkins leading the charge for the season's top individual award.
The most noteworthy POY candidate missing from Tuesday’s DPOY group is No. 3 UConn senior guard Paige Bueckers, who averages 4.5 rebounds and 0.7 steals per game.
Of the 10 semifinalists, only four will make the award's final cut on March 18th. The 2024/25 Naismith DPOY will be crowned on April 2nd, just days before the NCAA tournament's Final Four tips off.