The WNBA All-Star Game had a little bit of everything. From the pregame introductions (“Leading the league in drip … Courtney Williams!”) to Arike Ogunbowale icing the game for Team WNBA with 26 points, Wednesday night in Las Vegas was made for primetime.

Liz Cambage didn’t play because of a minor injury suffered in practice with the Australian national team. So, the four-time All-Star took the game in like the rest of us, with a bag of popcorn and a smirk.

Liz Cambage is eating popcorn and enjoying the show pic.twitter.com/GOHaUkVz2Q

— CJ Fogler #BlackLivesMatter (@cjzero) July 15, 2021

Rebecca Lobo and Holly Rowe each picked Team USA to win the pregame show. So did most other women’s basketball pundits (not ours!). But Team WNBA was full of the best players in the league, too, and they showed why in a 93-85 win over a United States team going for its seventh gold medal in Tokyo later this month.

Don’t call it a revenge game for Team USA “snubs”

On Tuesday, Arike Ogunbowale said she wasn’t trying to prove anything in the All-Star Game.

“We proved what we had to to get to the All-Star Game,” she said. “I’m just looking at it as a regular All-Star Game.”

The 2020 WNBA scoring champion then treated it like anything but, leading all scorers with 26 points on 10-for-18 shooting from the field and 5-for-10 from 3-point range. Ogunbowale’s performance earned her the MVP Award in her first All-Star Game appearance.

.@Arike_O with the 4-POINT PLAY 🥶 pic.twitter.com/rj4fB7YdgR

— WNBA (@WNBA) July 15, 2021

Ogunbowale wasn’t named to this year’s U.S. Olympic roster despite being in the player pool and attending multiple training camps. She wouldn’t say afterward whether she was out for revenge, but her performance did all of the necessary talking.

Jonquel Jones added her two cents about Ogunbowale’s future with Team USA, as well. “She’s young,” Jones said. “She’s gonna have her opportunity.”

Defense? Defense!

Some All-Stars played it down in the days leading up to the game, but it was clear Team WNBA wasn’t taking the opportunity against Team USA lightly. They had a chance to make history in the first official All-Star Game played during an Olympic year, and coach Lisa Leslie made sure to remind them of the stakes in the huddle.

“It was a different mentality,” Courtney Vandersloot said after the game. “It was an opportunity for us to compete against some of the best players in the world, so we didn’t really take it like an All-Star Game either. We were out there competing, we were trying to win the game.”

The WNBA All-Stars finished with more rebounds and steals than Team USA. A Candace Parker strip of Brittney Griner in the first half set the tone. Then, late steals and a Courtney Williams block on A’ja Wilson with 1:17 to play helped seal the win.

Leslie told her team that the key to beating Team USA was to create more possessions by out-rebounding them. At one point, ESPN caught Leslie on the mic yelling in the huddle, “Rebound on 3!” It wasn’t your typical directive for an All-Star Game, but the game plan and execution paid off for Team WNBA.

Allie Quigley vs. Jonquel Jones

The best drama of the night might have come at halftime.

Jonquel Jones, a 6-foot-6 center/forward for the Connecticut Sun, was the obvious dark-horse candidate in the 3-point shooting contest based on position. But if you’ve watched her boldly knock down step-back 3s during an MVP-level first half of the season, you knew she would put up a fight.

JONQUEL JONES WENT OFF 🤯

27pts for the 1st round 👌 pic.twitter.com/njytVWTPzq

— WNBA (@WNBA) July 15, 2021

Standing in her way was Allie Quigley, for whom this competition is practically named after she won it previously in 2017 and 2018.

Quigley barely edged Jones in the first round, scoring 28 points to Jones’ 27. The Sky guard started off slowly in the championship round before hitting nine of her last 10 shots to defeat Jones 28-24.

Quigley, the only three-time winner of the event in WNBA history, confirmed after the game she doesn’t plan on participating in the contest again.

“I told myself before, this is the last time I’m doing this so I’ve gotta go out on top,” she said.

Maybe her wife can convince her otherwise.

Sloot was HYPE for @alliequigley in the #MTNDEW3PT Contest ‼️ @MountainDew pic.twitter.com/aetuGhbM4E

— WNBA (@WNBA) July 15, 2021

The live tweets

Who needs live TV commentary when you have athletes and Twitter?

Several players pulled double duty Wednesday night, competing on the court and narrating the game from the sideline. Arike Ogunbowale was the MVP in more ways than one.

I smoked that layup 🥲

— Arike Ogunbowale (@Arike_O) July 14, 2021

Tied up going into the 4th. Who y’all got winning it 👀

— Arike Ogunbowale (@Arike_O) July 15, 2021

I need to start live tweeting more often 😂

— Arike Ogunbowale (@Arike_O) July 15, 2021

Yes, we’ll take more where that came from, please.

The last word of All-Star week goes to Candace Parker, the first woman to appear on the cover of NBA 2K, who talked about the importance of events like this for the growth of the sport. The All-Star Game aired on ESPN before Game 4 of the NBA Finals, giving the WNBA a chance to capture new fans who were tuning in.

“This was a great move. This was a great step forward for our league, because there are a lot of fans that support us and we’ve got to continue to grow,” Parker said. “I want my daughter, I want Dearica (Hamby)’s daughter to have the opportunity to play in a league like this.”

The four-time league champion Seattle Storm unveiled their new practice facility on Thursday, with Storm co-owner Lisa Brummel dubbing Interbay's Seattle Storm Center for Basketball Performance the team’s "new home."

"It's just such a special space," Brummel told Fox 13 Seattle. "I think when the players get here, it's gonna be overwhelming."

The sprawling 50,000-square-foot, $64 million property is just the second designated practice facility to be designed and built expressly for a WNBA team, with the Storm further noting that 85% of all design and engineering team members involved in the project's construction were women and people of color. The finished product holds two professional indoor courts, two 3x3 outdoor courts, a state-of-the-art locker room, and players' lounge, plus designated areas for strength and conditioning, kitchen, dining, and nutrition, and recovery. 

"This facility reflects our commitment to providing our athletes an exceptional environment that supports their growth, health, and performance," said Storm co-owner Ginny Gilder in an official team release. "It’s built for women, by women, embodying our dedication to leading the way in professional women’s sports."

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For their part, the team can't wait to make the faciilty their own.

"It's amazing," Storm guard Jewell Loyd told Fox 13. "Not having to drive everywhere around, knowing you have access anytime of the day to get into the gym, to workout." 

Head coach Noelle Quinn said she predicts the team is "never going to leave this building."

"Which is a good thing for me," she continued. "You talk about having an edge in performance. We want our athletes to not only perform on the court, but get whatever they need."

All of the Storm's staff and operations will now live under one roof, and the team also has plans to launch a youth basketball program operating out of the building.

The Caitlin Clark effect is quickly making its mark on the big leagues, as WNBA host teams around the country rush to upgrade their Fever games to larger arenas in order to accommodate surging ticket sales.

With Clark mere weeks away from her Indiana Fever debut, both the Las Vegas Aces and Washington Mystics have officially relocated their scheduled home games with head coach Christie Sides' squad. On Thursday, the Mystics became the latest to adjust their plans, moving their June 7th matchup from Entertainment & Sports Arena in Southwest DC to the more centrally located — and much larger — Capital One Arena "due to unprecedented demand."

The Mystics home court's capacity taps out at 4,200, while Capital One Arena — home to the Wizards, Capitals, and Georgetown Hoya's Men's Basketball — can fit nearly five times that crowd at some 20,000 spectators.

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"The move to Capital One Arena will allow for additional fans in the stands as well as premium hospitality options, including Suites and the all-new all-inclusive courtside Hennessy Lofts," the team announced via Thursday's press release.

The Aces were one of the first teams to switch venues, aiming to take on the Indiana Fever in front of as many as 20,000 fans inside T-Mobile Arena on July 2nd. That’s a sizable a boost from their home venue, which holds just 12,000.

For those still planning to face the Fever in their home arenas, ticket prices have skyrocketed. Previously scheduled construction has already forced the LA Sparks to relocate their first five games — including their May 24th clash with the Fever — to Long Beach State's Walter Pyramid. The temporary venue is quite the downsize, holding just 4,000 in comparison to Crypto.com Arena's near-19,000. As of Friday, the get-in price for that game started around $400.

Despite fans launching a Change.org petition urging relocation, the Chicago Sky say they're unable to move their June 23rd Fever meeting from Wintrust Arena's 10,000-seat facility to the 23,500-seat United Center due to a concert. Tickets for that game start around $325 as of Friday.

Hailey Van Lith is reportedly on her way to TCU, says Talia Goodman of The Next Hoops.

The former Louisville star joined LSU for the 2023-24 season, but a disappointing run in Baton Rouge saw her enter the transfer portal once again at the season’s end. Van Lith opted to use her fifth year of eligibility versus declaring for the WNBA draft.

Van Lith was admittedly less effective as a Tiger. Her field goal percentage decreased from .411 in 2022-23 with Louisville to .388 at LSU. She also went from averaging 19.7 points per game to just 11.6, due in part to a change of position from shooting guard to more of a point guard role.

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At an end-of-season banquet last week, LSU coach Kim Mulkey used her speech to wish Van Lith well, calling her "one of the hardest working players that I’ve ever coached."

"Her aspirations were to get drafted this year," Mulkey said, according to NOLA.com. "And she realized, 'I need another year, and I need to go back to a place where I can relax and get back to my normal position.'

"And what do you do? You hug her, and you wish her well."

The decision to commit to TCU may come as a surprise after Van Lith paid a visit to Mississippi State last weekend. The Horned Frogs finished out the 2023-24 season 21-12 overall, coming in 9th in the Big 12 and scoring an average of 69.5 points per game. The program also made headlines in January when they held mid-season open tryouts in response to an onslaught of sidelining injuries.

For the first time in the NWSL's 12-year history, fans can now buy their own goalkeeper jerseys. And while replica goalkeeper jerseys representing all 14 NWSL teams hit the market on Wednesday, some didn't stick around for long. 

Fans across women's soccer have long vocalized their discontent over the position's lack of availability on social media, often comparing the shortcoming to the widespread availability of men’s goalkeeper jerseys. And as the NWSL has grown, so has demand — and not just from those in the stands. 

"To have goalkeeper kits available for fans in the women’s game as they have been for so long in the men’s game is not only a long-awaited move in the right direction, it’s just good business," said Washington Spirit goalie Aubrey Kingsbury in an team press release. "I can’t wait to see fans representing me, Barnie [Barnhart], and Lyza in the stands at Audi!"

just went looking at #nwsl goalkeeper kit stock out of curiosity — Alyssa Naeher's $145 kit already sold out S-XL (league announced GK jerseys on sale 3 hours ago)https://t.co/8bYA7tlwcx

— Meg Linehan (@itsmeglinehan) April 17, 2024

Business does, in fact, appear to be booming. Alyssa Naeher’s Chicago Red Stars kit sold out less than three hours after the league's announcement. Jerseys for other keepers like DiDi Haračić, Abby Smith, Michelle Betos, Katelyn Rowland, and Bella Bixby aren’t currently available via the Official NWSL Shop, though blank goalkeeper jerseys can be customized through some individual team sites. Jerseys start at $110 each.

"This should be the benchmark," said Spirit Chief Operations Officer Theresa McDonnell. "The expectation is that all players’ jerseys are available to fans. Keepers are inspiring leaders and mentors with their own unique fan base who want to represent them... I can’t wait to see them all over the city."