Tag: WNBA

The Ringer by Mirin FaderDec 22, 20227:58 am

In This NCAA Tournament, Lauren Betts Has Been More Than Enough

Lauren Betts lingered in the tunnel, long after the game ended. She was deeply disappointed with herself. Her performance. It was early March. Betts’s UCLA Bruins had just lost to rival USC on their home court, 80-67, in the final game of the regular season, in front of 13,659 fans who were eager to see a showdown between two top-five teams with two national player of the year candidates in Betts and USC’s JuJu Watkins. But UCLA seemed a step behind the entire game, hardly resembling the team that was at one point ranked no. 1 in the country. The Trojans played with more energy, more physicality, more enthusiasm—and were the mentally tougher team. It was an ugly gut-punch of a loss for UCLA—the kind that reverberates long after the buzzer. The kind that makes a team take its collective pulse to see what’s really inside. Every Bruin struggled that night as the Trojans completed a regular-season sweep, but Betts felt as if she alone had let her teammates and coaches down. “I was really mad about how I played and how I showed up,” Betts told The Ringer. The 6-foot-7 junior center struggled to get into a rhythm offensively. Several times she was called for traveling. She scored just 11 points and didn’t register a single block. Her thoughts spiraled as she stood in that tunnel, and she couldn’t stop berating herself. Her mother, Michelle Betts, tried to comfort her later that night, but Lauren was inconsolable. “There were a lot of tears,” Michelle says

The Ringer by Mirin FaderMar 19, 20219:49 am

Can Kara Lawson Build Duke’s Next Basketball Powerhouse?

There’s an urgency about Kara Lawson. You can hear it in the way she speaks, you can see it in the way she moves. Her eyes expand, her shoulders stiffen. When the Duke women’s basketball coach leans forward, you feel the power of her undivided attention. Each word has weight, a hidden parable.“There’s three things that can never drop,” Lawson says, “and that’s your work ethic and your focus and your discipline. Those have to stay high.”

The Ringer by Mirin FaderMar 19, 20219:23 am

Brittney Griner Came Home. Her Journey to Rediscover Herself on and off the Court Was Only Beginning.

Dozens of little girls in WNBA jerseys lined up to catch a glimpse of Brittney Griner. They screamed as Griner sprinted toward them with a giant smile, extending her hands to high-five as many as she could. The longtime Phoenix Mercury star even returned for one more round of high fives to make sure she didn’t miss a single, tiny hand.

The Ringer by Mirin FaderMar 19, 20217:22 am

The evolution of paige bueckers

Paige Bueckers glances at the legends gracing the imposing navy-blue walls here in the Connecticut women’s basketball film room. There’s Rebecca Lobo. Maya Moore. Sue Bird. The photos show each of them dominating. Winning. Celebrating. Just outside, Diana Taurasi’s national championship portraits adorn the hallway, too. “This is UCONN,” a large sign reads.
Everything Bueckers aspires to become is on these walls, and they remind her of her purpose. “I want to prove that I’m a winner at every level,” she says. Bueckers leans back in her seat on this summer afternoon in Storrs, Connecticut, thinking of all she has been through to get to this point. She’s a redshirt senior now, returning for a fifth and final season with the Huskies. She could have left UConn for the WNBA this year, but she had been through too much, had come too far—coming back from multiple injuries, including the ACL tear that forced her to miss the entire 2022-23 season—not to return for one last shot at the college national championship that has eluded her.

The Ringer by Mirin FaderDec 22, 20197:48 am

Amid the Women’s Basketball Boom, What Has Happened to the NBA’s Female Coaching Pipeline?

Jenny Boucek is huddled over her laptop, engrossed in game film. It’s a Friday morning in early April, and Boucek, an assistant coach for the Indiana Pacers, is analyzing clip after clip, hours before the team’s game against Oklahoma City later that night. She combs through statistical reports, hardly stopping for a beat to rest. Each hour is meticulously planned, and the morning quickly blurs into afternoon. Then she’s hustling through an on-court prep session at 2:20 p.m., meeting with her fellow coaches at 2:50, heading into a team meeting at 3:50, then back to the court for individual workouts at 5. After the game, a 126-112 Pacers win, she breaks down film and edits video late into the night, preparing not just for the next day’s practice, but also for Sunday’s game against Miami. Boucek is the defensive mastermind for a Pacers team that’s currently down 3-2 in the Eastern Conference semifinals to the Knicks. She’s responsible for in-game defensive decision-making and is constantly orchestrating split-second adjustments.

The Ringer by Mirin FaderDec 20, 20197:19 am

BREANNA STEWART FINDS NEW PERSPECTIVE ATOP THE WORLD

Dozens of young girl hoopers logged on to their computers, hoping to virtually meet their idol. Usually they’d be lining a tunnel in Seattle, watching Breanna Stewart as she runs onto the court. No matter. The girls were just excited to see her on their screens. Watch her. Maybe even talk to her. The girls were wearing muscle tanks, shorts. They looked ready to compete. They looked like her. Stewart started setting up video calls with young girls’ teams across the country last spring, during the height of quarantine, hoping to inspire the next generation of players while gyms were still closed. She wanted to tell them how to challenge themselves (she has to make 100 3s before she leaves the gym, 10 in a row at each spot). And she wanted to tell them about the voice in her head. The one that pushes her, the one that chases perfection. I have to be the best. I have to be the best.

The Ringer by Mirin FaderDec 18, 201911:11 am

THE DETERMINATION OF DESTINY

Destiny Littleton closes her eyes. Clears her head. The lights dim as the national anthem starts to play. She tells herself to stay ready. Whether you play a lot, a little, or none at all, be a great teammate, she thinks to herself. Believe in yourself, hit shots, and be you. As the game gets underway, she watches and waits from the bench. She cheers and claps. Minutes pass. Sometimes, the entire first half. She doesn’t know when she’ll be called into the game. Some games her number isn’t called much at all. But when it is, she has to be on. Even if she has sat all game, her arms and legs turning completely cold—she has to deliver.South Carolina coach Dawn Staley counts on Littleton to come in and nail a big 3. Get a stop. Energize her teammates.

The Ringer by Mirin FaderMay 19, 201910:04 pm

Sylvia Fowles’s Final Ride and the Last Days of a Legend

Sylvia Fowles won’t let the sun catch her. She rises early each morning, the sky still dark and hazy. She doesn’t set an alarm; her body instinctively knows when to wake. She takes a seat on her Pilates mat, shuts her eyes, and meditates. The room is quiet, but her mind is stirring. “Patience,” she thinks. “How can I be patient with myself and with others, if things don’t go my way?” She breathes in, breathes out, concentrating on each inhale, exhale. When her mind drifts to the challenges of this season—her 15th and final WNBA campaign, and arguably her toughest yet—she lets the thoughts come and go.

Bleacher Report by Mirin FaderDec 18, 20182:15 pm

A SEASON OF LOSS: SABRINA IONESCU SEARCHES FOR PEACE

Sabrina Ionescu woke in a panic. She didn’t know if she was still dreaming or awake. Whoa, she thought to herself. What’s going on? It took her a few seconds on this recent night to calm down, to gather herself. To realize she had been dreaming. But she couldn’t let the dream go. Lying under her covers in bed, she replayed it in her head. Every detail, every sound, haunted her. Especially that laugh. She kept hearing Gigi Bryant’s laugh in the dream. That sweet, high-pitched laugh that could jolt joy into the grumpiest of souls.

Bleacher Report by Mirin FaderDec 12, 20185:21 pm

‘THIS IS SO MUCH BIGGER”

Natasha Cloud was on the phone with her mother, Sharon, when she saw that she was being pulled over. She told her what was happening, and Sharon instinctively asked to stay on the line. Cloud agreed. Whatever could happen, whatever would happen, she needed her mom to hear it. Be there for it. Call for help if necessary. Just in case, Cloud thought to herself. Now she saw the police officer getting out of his car. The cop, who was white, approached Cloud’s Audi S4 walking sideways, slowly. Crouching low, clutching his gun. He looked angry. He looked like he was about to do something.