logo
WNBA set to quickly tip off second half of season after short All-Star break

WNBA set to quickly tip off second half of season after short All-Star break

NEW YORK (AP) — The WNBA tips off the second half of its season on Tuesday night with 10 of the 13 teams playing.
One player who won't be competing for the immediate future is Caitlin Clark, who is recovering from a right groin injury she suffered last week. Clark missed Indiana's final game before the All-Star break with an injured right groin and pulled out of Friday night's 3-point contest as well as Saturday's All-Star Game.
Clark told reporters on Saturday night that she had been getting treatment during the festivities, which also took place in Indianapolis. While she is improving, Indiana coach Stephanie White said, the Fever intend to be cautious with Clark, who missed 10 games during the first half of the season with three different muscle injuries.
Players weren't thrilled having to play so soon after the All-Star break and hope to add more of a break in the next collective bargaining agreement that they are currently negotiating with the league.
Atlanta has back-to-back games on Tuesday and Wednesday while New York and many other teams have three games this week.
'It's kind of the health and safety of it all,' New York's Breanna Stewart said. 'Players having time to rest and recover, but also if we want the product in the All-Star Game to be better we have to have time between games like there's no way that you're going to have a super competitive All-Star Game when we play Tuesday.'
New York added some reinforcements for the second half of the season, getting a commitment from Emma Meesseman to join the team once she gets her visa. The Liberty also added Stephanie Talbot, who was waived by Golden State, strengthening the Liberty's bench. New York also got back a healthy Jonquel Jones, who missed the last month before the break to recover from a sprained ankle.
The defending champion Liberty currently are second in the standings behind Minnesota.
Strong ratings
The WNBA 3-point contest and skills challenge averaged 1.3 million viewers Friday night, making it the most watched for that event ever. The All-Star Game, which wasn't extremely competitive with Team Collier winning 151-131 over Team Clark, drew an average of 2.2 million viewers Saturday. It was the second most watched All-Star Game, only trailing last year's contest.
Power poll rankings
Minnesota reclaimed the top spot in the poll from Phoenix after beating the Mercury last week. Phoenix dropped one spot. New York, Atlanta and Seattle were the next three. Indiana was sixth with Las Vegas and Washington following. Golden State, Los Angeles, Chicago, Dallas and Connecticut rounded out the poll.
Player of the week
A'ja Wilson of Las Vegas had 37 points and 10 rebounds in the Aces' lone game last week that was a 90-86 victory over Dallas. Other players receiving votes included Stewart and Los Angeles' Dearica Hamby.
Game of the week
Phoenix at New York, Friday. Two of the top three teams in the league meet again in New York with the Liberty hoping to avenge a 15-point home loss last month.
___
AP WNBA: https://apnews.com/hub/wnba-basketball
Orange background

Try Our AI Features

Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:

Comments

No comments yet...

Related Articles

Bubba Wallace becomes first Black driver to win a major race on Indianapolis' oval
Bubba Wallace becomes first Black driver to win a major race on Indianapolis' oval

CTV News

time14 minutes ago

  • CTV News

Bubba Wallace becomes first Black driver to win a major race on Indianapolis' oval

Bubba Wallace kisses the "Yard of Bricks" after winning a NASCAR Cup Series auto race at Indianapolis Motor Speedway, Sunday, July 27, 2025, in Indianapolis. (AP Photo/Darron Cummings) INDIANAPOLIS — INDIANAPOLIS (AP) — Bubba Wallace climbed out of the No. 23 car Sunday, pumped his fists, found his family and savored every precious moment of a historic Brickyard 400 victory. He deserved every minute of it. The 31-year-old Wallace overcame a tenuous 18-minute rain delay, two tantalizing overtimes, fears about running out of fuel late and the hard-charging defending race champ, Kyle Larson, on back-to-back restarts to become the first Black driver to win a major race on Indianapolis Motor Speedway's 2.5-mile oval. No Black driver has won the Indianapolis 500, and Formula 1 raced on the track's road course. 'This one's really cool,' Wallace said. 'Coming off Turn 4, I knew I was going to get there — unless we ran out of gas. I was surprised I wasn't crying like a little baby.' His third career NASCAR Cup victory delivered Wallace's first victory in the series' four crown jewel events, the others being the Daytona 500, Coca-Cola 600 and Southern 500. It also snapped a 100-race winless streak that dated to 2022 at Kansas and locked up a playoff spot. His only other win came at Talladega in 2021. The final gap was 0.222 seconds, but that was no measure of the consternation he faced. Larson cut a 5.057-second deficit with 14 laps to go to about three seconds with six laps left as the yellow flag came out for the rain. The cars then rolled to a stop on pit lane with four laps remaining, forcing Wallace to think and rethink his restart strategy. 'The whole time I'm thinking are we going? Are we not?' he said. 'I will say I leaned more towards 'I know we're going to go back racing. Be ready. Don't get complacent here.' Wallace made sure of it. He beat Larson through the second turn on the first restart only to have a crash behind him force a second overtime, forcing his crew to recalculate whether they had enough fuel to finish the race or whether he needed to surrender the lead and refuel. In Wallace's mind, there was no choice. 'The first thing that went through my mind was, 'Here we go again,'' he said. 'But then I said, `I want to win this straight up. I want to go back racing.' Here we are.' He beat Larson off the restart again and pulled away, preventing Larson from becoming the race's fourth back-to-back winner. The victory also alleviated the frustration Wallace felt Saturday when he spent most of the qualifying session on the provisional pole only to see Chase Briscoe claim the No. 1 starting spot with one of the last runs in the session. On Sunday, he made sure there was no repeat, providing an added boost to the 23XI Racing team co-owned by basketball Hall of Famer Michael Jordan and last week's race winner, Denny Hamlin, as it continues to battle NASCAR in court over its charter status. 'Those last 20 laps there were ups and downs and I was telling myself 'You won't be able to do it,'' Wallace said. 'Once I'd seen it was Larson, I knew he won here last year and he's arguably the best in the field. So to beat the best, we had to be the best today.' The other big race — the In-Season Challenge — went to Ty Gibbs, who had a better car than Ty Dillon in qualifying and on race day. Gibbs finished 21st o win the inaugural March Madness-like single-elimination tournament and collect the $1 million prize. Dillon, a surprise championship round entrant after making the field as the 32nd and final driver, finished 28th. 'They brought me money guns and they jammed so I decided to take all the money and throwing it to the fans and they were all wrestling and fighting over it,' said Gibbs, who also received a title belt and a ring. 'But it's super cool. It's a cool opportunity.' Tire troubles At different points, Austin Cindric and three-time Cup champion Joey Logano appeared to be in control of the race, but tire problems took them out of contention. Eric Jones also was knocked out of the race when his right front tire came off between Turns 3 and 4, sending him hard into the outside wall on Lap 91. They weren't the only drivers who made early exits. Ross Chastain was the first out after just 18 laps when a tap from Michael McDowell sent Chastain's car spinning into the third turn wall and caused heavy damage. The others who were out before Lap 100 were Austin Dillon, Ricky Stenhouse Jr. and Cody Ware. Weathering the storm Series officials were concerned enough about the threat of rain that they moved up the start time by 10 minutes. Fifteen minutes probably would have eliminated the rain delay. But the threat of rain impacted the race long before the delay. Early in the second stage, some teams informed drivers rain was expected near the midway point and it seemed to increase the aggressiveness earlier in the race than expected. Monster advice Cookie Monster made it to the track Sunday, too. The beloved Sesame Street character, who served as the Brickyard's grand marshal, attended driver introductions and took a handful of questions before the race and even offered some advice to the drivers. 'Don't stop and ask for directions,' the furry blue character said. Up next Cup drivers will continue their brief Midwestern tour next Sunday when they race at Iowa. Michael Marot, The Associated Press

Angels star Mike Trout joins the 1,000-RBI club with a ‘big-time blast'
Angels star Mike Trout joins the 1,000-RBI club with a ‘big-time blast'

Winnipeg Free Press

time14 minutes ago

  • Winnipeg Free Press

Angels star Mike Trout joins the 1,000-RBI club with a ‘big-time blast'

ANAHEIM, Calif. (AP) — One swing of the bat was more than enough for Mike Trout to deliver a reminder about his impact on baseball. The Angels star hit a massive homer to center field on Sunday to move past 1,000 RBIs in his career, a two-run shot that helped Los Angeles beat the Seattle Mariners 4-1. 'It takes your teammates to get on base, and after the game, that was one of the things I pointed out,' Trout said of a clubhouse toast that included whiskey and words of appreciation. 'None of this is possible without my teammates. It's been fun.' Now with 1,001 RBIs, another Trout milestone is around the corner as the three-time American League MVP reached 397 home runs with his fifth-inning drive that traveled an estimated 443 feet. 'He couldn't have drawn it up any better, putting a big-time blast like that to center field,' said Jo Adell, Trout's successor in center. 'I'm honored to be able to start my career here and play with him and just see the evolution of him.' Trout has struggled to stay on the field in recent years, with a bone bruise in his left knee forcing him to miss a month this year. He has played designated hitter since his return after starting the season in right field. He was batting just .200 with one home run in nine games since the All-Star break, but he showed Sunday he can still deliver after 1,598 games over 15 seasons. 'Every time we talk about Mike, even 75 percent of Mike is better than most people who have ever played the game,' Angels interim manager Ray Montgomery said. 'He's going to through ups and downs just like everybody else and his are more magnified because of who he is.' Thursdays Keep up to date on sports with Mike McIntyre's weekly newsletter. It was a day of exploits for the Angels' veterans as Kyle Hendricks picked up win No. 103 by allowing two hits over six-plus innings and Kenley Jansen pitched the ninth for his 465th save. Trout has 19 homers, his most since hitting 40 in 2022. He also joined Garrett Anderson and Tim Salmon as the only players to record their first 1,000 RBIs exclusively with the Angels. 'When guys are here that long and what they mean to the club, it's pretty special to be in that group,' Trout said of Anderson and Salmon, who now work with the Angels' broadcast team. 'They had unbelievable careers in an Angels uniform and when you're in the same conversation with them, it's pretty special.' ___ AP MLB:

Blue Jays stumble against Tigers despite a Max Scherzer gem, but the week still had its rewards
Blue Jays stumble against Tigers despite a Max Scherzer gem, but the week still had its rewards

Toronto Star

timean hour ago

  • Toronto Star

Blue Jays stumble against Tigers despite a Max Scherzer gem, but the week still had its rewards

By Baseball Columnist Mike Wilner is a Toronto-based baseball columnist for the Star and host of the baseball podcast 'Deep Left Field.' Follow him on Bluesky: @wilnerness DETROIT—It was a crappy way to end a great week as the Blue Jays fell 10-4 to the Detroit Tigers at Comerica Park on Sunday, wasting a near-perfect outing from Max Scherzer and failing to secure what would have been the first four-game sweep of Detroit in franchise history. Pitching on his 41st birthday, Scherzer had six three-up, three-down innings with 11 strikeouts, equalling his best strikeout total since he fanned 13 St. Louis Cardinals for the Los Angeles Dodgers in September 2021. Opinion articles are based on the author's interpretations and judgments of facts, data and events. More details

DOWNLOAD THE APP

Get Started Now: Download the App

Ready to dive into a world of global content with local flavor? Download Daily8 app today from your preferred app store and start exploring.
app-storeplay-store