South Carolina tops Texas in women's Final Four, stands one win from defending NCAA basketball title
Three South Carolina players finished in double figures — Bree Hall had 11 points — and the Gamecocks dominated Texas in the post with 40 points in the paint to the Longhorns' 22.
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Madison Booker had 11 points and three fouls for the Longhorns (35-4), who were trying to reach their first championship since 1986. They were in the Final Four for the first time since 2003 after a dominant season, which was their first in the Southeastern Conference after coming over from the Big 12.
Texas went 15-1 against the SEC in the regular season and shared the conference title with the Gamecocks.
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Fox News
23 minutes ago
- Fox News
WNBA player DiJonai Carrington fires back at critics amid foul controversy
Controversial Dallas Wings player DiJonai Carrington sent a message to fans who think she plays "dirty," in a social media post on Wednesday. "Yall fAnS swear i'm such a dirty player. I'm SO over this narrative bc if u really know bball, u know I jus play hard asf & never give up on a play. & yup, we challenged the last couple flagrants & got em rescinded bc I'm ALWAYS tryna make a play on the ball nun more, nun less," she wrote with a heart emoji. Carrington's post came one day after the Wings' matchup against the Seattle Storm on Tuesday. Carrington was assessed a flagrant-1 foul in the fourth quarter after a hit on Seattle's Skylar Diggins. Diggins sprinted toward the basket on a fast break. Carrington chased her down and leaped to block the shot from behind and made contact with Diggins' head, sending the Storm player crashing to the ground. Carrington was then seen sitting on the bench with her eyes closed. Carrington's latest social media post also came nearly a week after an incident during a game against the Chicago Sky last Thursday, when Carrington screamed in the face of a referee, who then pulled a security guard in between them, seemingly for protection from the WNBA player. Carrington responded to the incident in a post on X on Friday, suggesting the summoning of security was a "microaggression." "Security… when I'm literally having a civil conversation is insane. Mind you, he called the "sEcUrItY" over there…" Carrington has outspokenly defended herself from apparent criticism that she claims to have received in the past. She and Sky player Angel Reese vented about criticism directed at them by the league's newer fans during an episode of Reese's podcast, "Unapologetically Angel," in early March. "They be real loose at the mouth," Carrington said of her critics. "I know they think it's trolls, but it's not just trolls. It be people that we see in real life." Carrington also said she isn't as bothered when people say she pays too much attention to her appearance, but she did say she "hates" when people question why she has blonde hair. "I hate when people talk about that, like, 'Why do you have blonde hair?'" Carrington said. "I got black eyebrows. I got black arm hair, black leg hair … and I don't care. I'm still a natural blonde." Carrington became one of the most criticized players in the WNBA last season amid conflicts with Caitlin Clark. As a member of the Connecticut Sun last season, Carrington gave Clark a black eye after poking her during a game in the first round of the playoffs in September. Carrington laughed with teammate Marina Mabrey after the incident. Carrington has said she did not intentionally poke Clark in the eye and that she was not laughing about the incident. However, she appeared to make light of the controversy over Clark's black eye in an Instagram Live video in October. In the video, Carrington and her girlfriend, NaLyssa Smith, who plays for the Indiana Fever with Clark, were in their kitchen when Smith poked Carrington in the eye. "Ow, you poked me in the eye," Carrington said. Smith apologized, and the two laughed. "Did you do it on purpose?" Carrington asked. Carrington was already not in the good graces of Fever fans, as she provoked them with a post in late August, which read, "the Indiana fever have the nastiest fans in the W. ew." Carrington has also prompted criticism for her political expressions. During the "Unrivaled" league season in January, Carrington wore a shirt that said, "The F--- Donald Trump Tour" while walking into Wayfair Arena in Miami. Then, during a press conference after another game that month, Carrington declared it was time for WNBA players to "take action" in response to President Donald Trump's policies. "We see that some of the policies are already going into action, and, of course, that means that as the WNBA and being at the forefront of a lot of these movements, it's time for us to also take action," Carrington said. "It definitely needs to happen as women, women's rights being taken away. Like, now, LGBTQ rights being taken away now. They haven't happened yet, but definitely in the works." Follow Fox News Digital's sports coverage on X, and subscribe to the Fox News Sports Huddle newsletter.
New York Times
44 minutes ago
- New York Times
Edmonton avoids a painful repeat, and Texas stuns Texas Tech late
The Pulse Newsletter 📣 | This is The Athletic's daily sports newsletter. Sign up here to receive The Pulse directly in your inbox. Good morning! Refuse that intentional walk today. We can quibble with quantitative analyses and details later. But watching Game 1 of both the Stanley Cup Final and the Women's College World Series championship last night left me with the best eye test result you can hope for in these situations: It feels like the two best teams are playing each other at the end. Advertisement Truly a wonderful thing. No flukes. Best-on-best, and last night's winners were decided on singular moments: We must start with a scintillating hockey game in Edmonton, where the Oilers — losers of last year's Stanley Cup Final against this same Panthers team — took a 1-0 series lead with a 4-3 overtime win. Florida was up 3-1 early in the second in this one, too. Here's the game winner from Leon Draisaitl with just 31 seconds left in the overtime period: LEON DRAISAITL IS EDMONTON'S HERO 🔥 The Oilers rally back from a 3-1 deficit to take Game 1 in OT! 🎥 @Sportsnet — The Athletic (@TheAthletic) June 5, 2025 Avoid a 3-0 deficit this year? ✅ On the diamond, we saw an intentional walk gone awry win the game for Texas. It was wild. Texas Tech, fueled by star pitcher NiJaree Canady, had a 1-0 lead in the sixth inning when the Red Raiders decided to give Reese Atwood a free bag with two runners on base. The problem was that Atwood refused the offer: After review, this pitch was obstructed by @atwood_reese bat. #HookEm | 📺: ESPN — Texas Softball (@TexasSoftball) June 5, 2025 That was essentially the game. Longhorns up 1-0 in the series. Let's keep moving: Just a few weeks ago, Loïs Boisson was mostly known for a deodorant incident. Boisson, the 22-year-old French tennis revelation, began this year's French Open ranked No. 361 in the world. 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Two former Hoosiers, Haris Mujezinovic and Charlie Miller, filed suit in October against the university and head trainer Tim Garl, alleging both had knowledge of Bomba's actions and the school 'acted with deliberate indifference' toward his behavior. Two other players joined the suit in April, and yesterday an attorney told The Athletic at least 10 more players plan to come forward. Bomba died in May, and some players have said legendary Hoosiers coach Bob Knight was aware of Bomba's alleged impropriety. More details in our full report. Advertisement Manfred regrets ESPN opt-out The messy breakup between MLB and ESPN has moved past the anger stage and into nostalgia, as commissioner Rob Manfred said yesterday he regrets the move. Sources told The Athletic's Evan Drellich and Andrew Marchand that the league is in negotiations with multiple networks over the rights ESPN once had, and the packages are nowhere near the value of ESPN's offering. Manfred hopes to have a rights deal finalized soon. See his full comments. More news 📫 Love The Pulse? Check out our other newsletters. 📺 French Open: Women's Semifinals 9 a.m. ET on TNT/Max If you're able, throw this on this morning. First up is top-seeded Aryna Sabalenka against Iga Świątek for a spot in the final. Boisson-Coco Gauff follows. Both should be great. 📺 WCWS: Texas vs. Texas Tech, Game 2 8 p.m. ET on ESPN Texas can win its first title here. Easy call to watch. 📺 NBA: Pacers at Thunder 8:30 p.m. ET on ABC Finally, after nearly a week of waiting, the finals are here. We've talked about it plenty. I expect this game to be fast — Indiana's pace-driven offense against Oklahoma City's swarming defense that gorges on fast-break points. As Zach Harper said yesterday, the basketball itself will be good. Get tickets to games like these here. For all of the angles in this NBA Finals, I think it comes down to one guy: Tyrese Haliburton. Shakeia Taylor has a great story today on the league's new premier antagonist, a player who loves his haters. Former Seahawks wide receiver Doug Baldwin was against 'shrink dudes.' Then he worked with one. Max Muncy is mashing for the Dodgers again. His redemption arc is nearly complete. Fun story: Jeff Hoffman doesn't play for the Phillies anymore, but he'll always have a piece of Philly. No, literally. Most-clicked in the newsletter yesterday: Our story on the Steelers writing a letter to fans angry about players showing up to a Donald Trump rally. Read it here. Advertisement Most-read on the website yesterday: Andrew Marchand's column on how ESPN messed up its announcer trio for the NBA Finals. Ticketing links in this article are provided by partners of The Athletic. Restrictions may apply. The Athletic maintains full editorial independence. Partners have no control over or input into the reporting or editing process and do not review stories before publication.
USA Today
an hour ago
- USA Today
WCWS first-time champions: Texas, Texas Tech softball have chance at historic win
WCWS first-time champions: Texas, Texas Tech softball have chance at historic win Show Caption Hide Caption Why Texas Tech, Texas will win 2025 WCWS It's a Lone Star State Women's College World Series this year, and reporter Jenni Carlson breaks down one reason Texas Tech will win and one reason Texas will win the WCWS. Texas softball finds itself on the verge of history. After a 2-1 win in Game 1 of the 2025 Women's College World Series championship series on June 4, the No. 6-seeded Longhorns are 21 outs away from hoisting the national championship trophy at Devon Park in Oklahoma City, Texas Tech, however, can prolong that celebration from happening by forcing a winner-take-all Game 3 — which could result in Gerry Glasco's squad hoisting the trophy themselves. Regardless of who wins the national title and when it takes place, history will be made in college softball this season: Neither Texas nor Texas Tech have ever won the WCWS before. Here's what you need to know about WCWS first-time champions: Has Texas softball ever won the WCWS? No. Despite appearing in two of the prior three WCWS championship series, Texas has not won the WCWS before. The Longhorns lost each of their previous two WCWS championship series to Oklahoma in 2022 and 2024, both sweeps. "Obviously we have 16 players that are back from last year and a few from the previous time before that. We're hoping we can use that experience. We talk about the fact that, if you had an opportunity to tell yourself what it would mean to be in that position right now, what would you say? They have that opportunity right now," Texas coach Mike White said June 3 during media availability. "I think it's just to be together, work really hard, and play the best softball we can. The game's not going to know we've been here before. It's going to roll with the team that plays the best, takes the most of the opportunities, and that's what we have to do." Has Texas Tech softball ever won the WCWS? No, Texas Tech has not won the WCWS before. Before this year's WCWS, Texas Tech had not even made the trip to Oklahoma City to compete for the national championship. "I still don't think the moment has fully set in for me yet, just to be able to, again, say that we're two games away (from winning a national championship)," NiJaree Canady said during a media availability on June 3. "I feel like it's just amazing. ... It honestly still hasn't set in for me yet." Should the Red Raiders win, they would be the first team since Oklahoma in 2000 to win the Women's College World Series championship in their WCWS debut. When was the last first-time WCWS champion crowned? The last time a first-time national champion was crowned at the WCWS was 2018, when Florida State defeated Washington. To win the national championship that season, the Seminoles, who were the No. 6 seed, had to play themselves out of the "elimination bracket" after losing their initial "winner's bracket" game 7-4 to No. 3 seed UCLA. To make it to the WCWS championship series, Florida State defeated No. 7 Georgia 7-2 in its first "elimination bracket" game before knocking off No. 1 overall seed Oregon to make an appearance in the WCWS semifinals. There, Florida State, which was led by Meghan King in the circle, defeated UCLA twice to make its first trip to the championship series. The Seminoles swept the Huskies with scores of 1-0 and 8-3 to win the first WCWS title in program history and for the ACC. It also marked the first time in WCWS history that a team won the WCWS after losing its first game in Oklahoma City, per the NCAA. First-time WCWS winners Here's a full list of first-time WCWS champions, dating back to the first title under the governance of the NCAA, beginning in 1982: 2018: Florida State defeats Washington Florida State defeats Washington 2014: Florida defeats Alabama Florida defeats Alabama 2012: Alabama defeats Oklahoma Alabama defeats Oklahoma 2009: Washington defeats Florida Washington defeats Florida 2008: Arizona State defeats Texas A&M Arizona State defeats Texas A&M 2005: Michigan defeats UCLA Michigan defeats UCLA 2002: Cal defeats Arizona Cal defeats Arizona 2000: Oklahoma defeats UCLA Oklahoma defeats UCLA 1998: Fresno State defeats Arizona Fresno State defeats Arizona 1991: Arizona defeats UCLA Arizona defeats UCLA 1986: Cal State Fullerton defeats Texas A&M Cal State Fullerton defeats Texas A&M 1983: Texas A&M defeats Cal State Fullerton Texas A&M defeats Cal State Fullerton 1982: UCLA defeats Fresno State WCWS champion history Here's a year-by-year history of past WCWS winners, dating back to 2015. During that time, only one team, Florida State in 2018, was a first-time winner.
