As the women’s college basketball season approaches its conclusion, many players have to decide whether to declare for the WNBA draft or return for another year.

The WNBA requires that draft entrants be at least 22 years old during the year in which the draft takes place. Additionally, they cannot have any remaining college eligibility or must renounce any remaining eligibility.

With the draft coming up on April 11 in New York City, there will be plenty of players declaring in the coming weeks. Just Women’s Sports is tracking those who have declared for the draft – or opted to return to their teams.

Wednesday, April 6: Victaria Saxton to return to South Carolina for fifth year

Senior forward Victaria Saxton announced Wednesday that she will return to South Carolina for another year. A veteran presence on the team, coach Dawn Staley called her a key piece to the Gamecocks’ tournament.

“We don’t get here without Victaria (Saxton),” Staley said before the Elite Eight. “We don’t. She is Teflon. She takes falls. She gives up weight and girth, quickness. Every game there is something that there is a disadvantage for her, and she is just sheer will.”

One of the team’s top rebounders (5.8 per game), Saxton will be a key piece as the team looks to make back-to-back title runs.

Monday, April 4: Lexie Hull to leave Stanford, enter WNBA draft

On Monday, Lexie Hull announced that she would not be returning for one more year at Stanford. The senior guard announced the decision via social media.

Her next chapter awaits ❤️#GoStanford pic.twitter.com/tCdoZSKViV

— Stanford Women’s Basketball (@StanfordWBB) April 4, 2022

“It truly has taken a village and without you all, I would not have gotten where I am today, so thank you for making this all possible,” said Hull. “It was an honor to put on a Stanford jersey.”

She also thanked her twin sister, Lacie, “for being my best friend through it all.” The two have played together at Stanford for the entirety of their collegiate experience.

Hull was a major piece of Stanford’s team the past four years, helping lead the Cardinal to one national championship, two Final Fours, two Pack-12 regular season championships and three Pac-12 Tournament championships.

Thursday, March 31: NC State’s Elissa Cunane, Michigan’s Naz Hillmon declare for WNBA draft

NC State star Elissa Cunane has officially declared for the WNBA Draft, announcing the news on Wednesday. After four seasons with the Wolfpack, Cunane holds three ACC tournament championships, two ACC tournament MVP awards and two ACC regular-season titles.

“I am truly thankful for my four years at NC State and everyone who made it all possible,” said Cunane. “With that being said, I am declaring for the 2022 WNBA Draft.”

Cunane is projected as a top-10 draft pick.

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Naz Hillmon announced her decision to enter her name into the WNBA Draft, posting an emotional message to social media.

“I am humbled to announce that I have entered my name into the WNBA Draft! I am forever thankful for the opportunities I have had, the people that I have met and the lifelong experience that Michigan has afforded to me,” wrote Hillmon.

The senior is the first-ever Wolverine player to notch 2,000 career points and 1,000 career rebounds, finishing her last Michigan season averaging 21.0 points and 9.6 rebounds.

Hillmon is projected to be a first-round draft pick, with many suspecting she will be selected fifth overall by the New York Liberty.

💙〽️ pic.twitter.com/AipnmjhEw7

— Naz Hillmon (@nazhillmon) March 31, 2022

 

Tuesday, March 29: WNBA releases list of 88 players who have filed for the draft

Players include Ole Miss’ Shakira Austin, Louisville’s Emily Engstler, Florida Gulf Coast’s Kiersten Bell and many more. The full list is available on the WNBA website.

Those players whose college teams are still alive in the postseason and who have remaining years of NCAA eligibility will have 48 hours after the end of their final game to renounce their eligibility and declare for the draft.

Tuesday, March 29: Oregon Ducks’ Nyara Sabally, Tennessee’s Rae Burrell declare for the draft

Nyara Sabally, a fourth-year sophomore forward for the Ducks, was the team’s top scorer and rebound in 2022. A projected No. 4 overall pick, she averaged 15.4 points, 7.8 rebounds and 1.4 blocks per game.

Sabally is the younger sister of Satou Sabally, who also played at Oregon and is now with the Dallas Wings.

“It was an honor to put on the Ducks jersey and play at Matthew Knight. I will forever cherish my time here, and I hope that I was able to inspire the people in Eugene that have shown me unwavering support the past four years,” Nyara Sabally said.

The Ducks made the NCAA tournament this year as a fifth seed but lost in double overtime to No. 12 Belmont 73-70 in the opening round.

Tennessee’s Rae Burrell also announced that she is entering her name in the pool of WNBA draft players. In four years with the Lady Vols, Burrell averaged 10.3 points, 4.2 rebounds and 1.3 assists per game.

She had a breakout junior season, averaging 16.8 points and 4.6 rebounds before being sidelined with a knee injury for the first half of her senior season. But she rebounded well, averaging 15.3 points and 5.5 rebounds in the postseason en route to the Sweet 16.

Monday, March 28: Iowa State’s Ashley Joens to return for fifth year

One of the bigger question marks coming out of the season, Ashley Joens announced Monday that she will return for a fifth season with the Cyclones.

Joens has been a big piece of the Cyclones’ core, starting in every game for Iowa State since her freshman year. Throughout her career she has averaged 18.8 points and 8.6 rebounds through 126 career games. She also broke Angie Welle’s program record of 2,149 career points this season, finishing with 2,369 points.

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“This team is special,” Joens said in an announcement posted to her social media accounts. “We have more to accomplish, and I can’t wait to play another year with all of them!”

Friday, March 25: Northwestern’s Veronica Burton enters draft pool

Northwestern standout Veronica Burton announced Friday that she will be headed to the 2022 WNBA Draft. One of the nation’s best players in 2022, she averaged 17.8 points, 5.5 rebounds, 6.4 assists and 4.0 steals. She’s the first Northwestern women’s basketball player to be named to an AP All-America team, earning Third Team honors.

After winning her third consecutive Big Ten Defensive Player of the Year award, Burton was named the WBCA Defensive Player of the Year on Monday. She’s the first Big Ten student-athlete to win the award.

ESPN currently has Burton projected to go 11th overall.

Veronica Burton is the best defender in the country. 👑@WBCA1981 verified. That’s respect. #GoCats pic.twitter.com/Fnrfgw8xTF

— Northwestern Women’s Basketball (@nuwbball) March 28, 2022

Welcome to another episode of Sports Are Fun!

Every week on Sports Are Fun! presented by Amazon Business, 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! team is joined on the couch by hit women's soccer-focused social media and podcast duo Alanna Locast and Shannon Fay of SoccerGrlProbs to talk — what else? — the state of head coach Emma Hayes's ever-evolving USWNT.

Firstly, they get to work hashing out the US national team's 3-0 win over China PR — and which USWNT player they think has a shot to make the 2027 World Cup roster.

"We're going to start with women's national team winning 3-0 against China on Saturday," O'Hara introduces. "They won with goals from Cat Macario, Sam Coffey, and Lindsey Heaps — not
Horan, I'm starting to get that right."

"It's not a major tournament year, so this is just a friendly," she continues. "I'm curious if anybody has initial thoughts from this game?"

"It's very fun to see the unpredictability watching them play," says Locast. "We've seen the style that the US plays and you expect where certain players are going to be. I'm watching, and the creativity and just how unpredictable they are, I would not want to mark those three forwards."

"I agree," says O'Hara. "It's very clear that Emma is laying the foundation in a way that everybody understands what their total shape should look like at any point during the game, not just where they specifically should be. Which I think is a really important part of the evolution of the team."

"It's fun to watch. The player pool is so deep now," echos Fay. "I know she wants to have an idea on the team by June, so what's going to happen? I don't know."

Along with the recently USWNT friendlies, the Sports Are Fun! crew also tackles NCAA softball's Women's College World Series, US stars dominated the French Open, the recent Grand Slam Track event, and so much more.

'Sports Are Fun!' intern BJ digs up a spicy Pride month throwback

Before the Sports Are Fun! regulars get into all things USWNT, however, intern BJ gifts everyone a very special throwback social media clip in honor of LGBTQ+ Pride month.

"You guys, I want to say happy Pride month," BJ says to the group. "Specifically happy Pride month to Kelley, because a listener DM'd me yesterday and shared a fun little memory of Abby Wambach and Sydney Leroux on the US national team a couple years ago..."

"This wasn't a couple years ago!" says O'Hara, squirming. "This was 10 years ago."

"You know what? I was being generous," quipped BJ. "But it's y'all checking a coach of another team."

"Wooow, Kelley," laughs Diaz.

"For those who are listening, it's a series of gifs of Abby, Kelley, and Sydney Leroux. And the coach walks by and they're like, 'She's kind of hot,'" BJ says as the crew cracks up. "They're full, like, dogs are barking."

"Oh my God," laughs O'Hara. "I've seen this before pop up on the socials. And I didn't remember this happening, but then when it came up again, obviously this did happen. And I do think that is what we were saying. I'd need to call Abby to confirm."

"You don't need to call anyone, because your lips are saying exactly those words," says Locast.

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.

The world No. 1 USWNT is gearing up to take on No. 40 Jamaica on Tuesday night, capping the two-friendly international break with a match spotlighting both the past and future of the program.

After opening the stretch with a 3-0 Saturday win over No. 17 China PR in St. Paul, Minnesota, major roster rotations are expected in St. Louis, Missouri, on Tuesday as US head coach Emma Hayes continues evaluating fresh and familiar on-field combos.

"I want to make sure that, whether you start, whether you come into the game [off the bench], it shouldn't alter our level," Hayes told media this week. "If anything, we should keep finding other levels in us."

Plenty of young firepower will feature on Tuesday's pitch, but the clash will also celebrate a recently retired USWNT great.

Two-time World Cup champion, Olympic gold medalist, and St. Louis product Becky Sauerbrunn will take center stage, with Energizer Park even doling out bobbleheads in the standout center back's likeness.

"I've got a locker room — not just the senior players, but less experienced players — that talk about [Sauerbrunn] in the highest esteem, both as a leader and as a human being," said Hayes of the longtime USWNT captain. "I don't think you could want anything more than that in life, to have people talk about you like that."

How to watch the USWNT vs. Jamaica friendly on Tuesday

The USWNT will take on the Reggae Girlz at 8 PM ET on Tuesday in St. Louis, Missouri, with live coverage on TNT.

The WNBA Commissioner's Cup is back with its 2025 edition, as the annual in-season tournament raises both stakes and incentives across the league.

Winning percentage, point differential, and head-to-head records all factor in as both Eastern and Western Conference teams battle it out for a shot at the competition's $500,000 prize pool.

Launched in 2021, the Commissioner’s Cup runs concurrently with the regular season, drawing on in-conference matchups to build a team's overall Cup record.

The 2025 competition opened on June 1st, tipping off three straight weeks of conference play that will culminate in a July 1st championship final between the Eastern and Western Conference winners.

Last season's final foreshadowed the eventual WNBA Finals, as the Minnesota Lynx topped New York to lift the 2024 Commissioner's Cup before the Liberty enacted revenge by taking the 2024 Championship a few months later.

Hoping to lift both trophies this season, New York started the 2025 WNBA Commissioner's Cup party with a 48-point statement win over the Connecticut Sun last Sunday.

How to watch Tuesday's 2025 WNBA Commissioner's Cup games

Every WNBA game on Tuesday will have Cup stakes, starting with the Washington Mystics' visit to the Indiana Fever at 7 PM ET on NBATV.

Then at 8 PM ET, the Minnesota Lynx will host the Phoenix Mercury, airing on ESPN3, before the Dallas Wings close out Tuesday's slate in Seattle against the Storm at 9:30 PM ET on ESPN.

With injuries mounting across the WNBA, several teams have started stocking up on recently waived free agents, bolstering their depleted rosters with hardship signings as they head into a busy stretch of the 2025 regular season.

With both guard Kahleah Copper and forward Alyssa Thomas sidelined, the Phoenix Mercury signed former Atlanta Dream guard and 2023 first-round draft pick Haley Jones to a rest-of-season hardship contract on Sunday.

Meanwhile, the Fever picked up ex-LA Sparks guard and 2021 first-rounder Aari McDonald on Sunday, with Indiana looking to boost their backcourt depth in light of injuries to guards Caitlin Clark, Sophie Cunningham, and Sydney Colson.

These hardship signings come in clutch to keep benches stocked and WNBA teams in action.

However, the longevity of these early-season additions remains uncertain as teams attempt to balance league-maximum 12-player lineups with restrictive salary caps.

Hardship contracts allow teams to temporarily expand the salary cap, but when injured players return, so do tough roster calls — much to the dismay of front office decision-makers.

"More bodies would be good," Fever president Kelly Krauskopf told reporters with a wry laugh ahead of McDonald's signing.

Roster limitations will likely be a key issue when CBA negotiations rev up, with this week's emergency signings only adding fuel to the fire.