Latest news with #WestCoastConferencePlayeroftheYear
Yahoo
08-05-2025
- Sport
- Yahoo
Indiana Fever Make Exciting Player Announcement on Tuesday
Excitement around the Indiana Fever is off the charts heading into the 2025 WNBA season, with fans flooding Gainbridge Fieldhouse to catch the team live. That was evident last weekend, when 12,461 fans showed up on Saturday, followed by a sold-out crowd of 14,998 in Iowa City for an exhibition game against the Brazil National Team. Advertisement While Caitlin Clark is a big reason for the buzz, the rest of the roster is starting to earn admiration from fans across Indiana and the country. Two rookies are quickly becoming fan favorites — and they'll be meeting local supporters this week. The Fever made an announcement Tuesday via social media: "come out to @7BrewCoffee at 3710 S East St. tomorrow to meet rookies Makayla Timpson and Yvonne Ejim!" The event will be held at 7 Brew, a drive-thru coffee shop in downtown Indianapolis. The rookies will be there for an hour, giving fans a chance to meet them in person before the home opener on May 17. Indiana Fever guards Caitlin Clark and Lexie Hull© Julia Hansen/Iowa City Press-Citizen / USA TODAY NETWORK via Imagn Images Makayla Timpson, a second-round pick out of Florida State, earned All-ACC First Team honors twice during her collegiate career. She holds the school record for career double-doubles with 47. Advertisement Yvonne Ejim, a 6-foot forward from Canada, played at Gonzaga and was selected by the Fever in the third round. In 2024, she was named the Becky Hammon Mid-Major Player of the Year and was a two-time West Coast Conference Player of the Year. These two will join a talented core that includes Clark, Aliyah Boston, Sophie Cunningham, Lexie Hull and others as Indiana looks to build on last year's 20-20 record. The Fever reached the postseason for the first time since 2016 but were eliminated in two games by Connecticut. As mentioned earlier, the Fever start their regular season action on May 17. That game will feature a visit from Angel Reese and the Chicago Sky. Related: Fans Notice Paige Bueckers Being Treated Differently Than Caitlin Clark During WNBA Debut Related: Flau'jae Johnson Reveals New NIL Deal After College Basketball Season
Indianapolis Star
07-05-2025
- Sport
- Indianapolis Star
Indiana Fever make another training camp cut, trim roster down to 12 players
INDIANAPOLIS -- The Indiana Fever have made another roster cut. The Fever announced Wednesday that they have waived Yvonne Ejim, the No. 33 pick in the 2025 WNBA Draft. Ejim, a forward, came to Indiana out of Gonzaga, where she was the two-time West Coast Conference Player of the Year. Ejim played in both of the Fever's preseason games, mostly in garbage time. She recorded one assist in five minutes against the Mystics, then six points on 3-of-5 shooting in 12 minutes against the Brazilian National Team on Sunday. This cut brings the Fever's roster to 12, the league maximum for the regular season. The Fever will still have to make one more cut, though, because of salary cap limitations. The final cut will likely be between Jaelyn Brown, who is on a training camp contract, and 2025 No. 19 pick Makayla Timpson. Need a break? Play the USA TODAY Daily Crossword Puzzle. Timpson, a forward, played ample minutes with the starters and in the rotation on Sunday. She scored nine points in nine minutes against the Brazilian National Team, going 2-of-4 from the field and 5-of-6 from the free-throw line. She showed her skill in staying poised on the court and being able to draw fouls, along with being an elite rim runner. Brown, a 26-year-old guard, came to Indiana from Dallas in a trade. She already has a year of experience in the WNBA, but spent half of it with a broken nose and an illness that hampered her season with Dallas in 2024. Brown played 15 minutes against the Brazilian National Team, but that was mostly against backups and in garbage time. She scored two points on 1-of-6 shooting, but was strong defensively with four steals. Indiana will need to finalize its opening day roster by May 15.
Yahoo
24-03-2025
- Sport
- Yahoo
Alabama rolls by Saint Mary's 80-66 to reach the NCAA Tournament's Sweet 16 for a 3rd straight year
CLEVELAND (AP) — Alabama thundered past Saint Mary's 80-66 in the second round of the NCAA Tournament on Sunday night, using a steady stream of alley-oop dunks to reach the Sweet 16 for a third consecutive year. Chris Youngblood led the second-seeded Crimson Tide (27-8) with 13 points. Six players finished in double figures for Alabama, including forward Grant Nelson, who had 12 points and eight rebounds after sitting out the majority of a first-round game against Robert Morris due to a knee injury. All-American guard Mark Sears had 12 points and three assists, including a pretty lob that Clifford Omoruyi slammed through for a reverse dunk that put the Tide up 14 with just under 8 minutes to play. Omoruyi had 10 points and 10 rebounds for the Crimson Tide, who built a double-digit lead late in the first half and never let the Gaels (29-6) get closer than eight the rest of the way. Alabama will play sixth-seeded BYU in the East Regional semifinals in Newark, New Jersey, on Thursday. Mitchell Saxen led Saint Mary's with 15 points and Jordan Wessels added 11. The Gaels shot just 25% (9 of 36) in the first half. Forced to pick up the tempo a little bit against the nation's highest scoring team, Saint Mary's spent most of the final 20 minutes trading baskets with a group that has grown accustomed to success this time of year under coach Nate Oats. Alabama's 80 points marked the most Saint Mary's has given up this season. Two-time West Coast Conference Player of the Year Augustas Marciulionis finished with 11 points on 3-of-11 shooting, and the Gaels made just 3 of 14 3-point attempts. Takeaways Saint Mary's: The Gaels have pulled even — and the last two years surpassed — longtime WCC power Gonzaga during the regular season. The breakthrough March run that has defined the Zags' success has remained elusive for Saint Mary's. Alabama: The deep, relentless Crimson Tide just keep coming at opponents in waves. While Sears didn't have a great night offensively, making only 5 of 15 shots, it hardly mattered. Backcourt mates Labaron Philon and Aden Holloway were happy to pick up the slack, combining for 18 points and eight assists. Up next Alabama heads to New Jersey looking to reach the Final Four for a second consecutive year. Their depth and pace will make the school a tough out. ___ AP March Madness bracket: and coverage: Get poll alerts and updates on the AP Top 25 throughout the season. Sign up here.
Associated Press
24-03-2025
- Sport
- Associated Press
Alabama rolls by Saint Mary's 80-66 to reach the NCAA Tournament's Sweet 16 for a 3rd straight year
CLEVELAND (AP) — Alabama thundered past Saint Mary's 80-66 in the second round of the NCAA Tournament on Sunday night, using a steady stream of alley-oop dunks to reach the Sweet 16 for a third consecutive year. Chris Youngblood led the second-seeded Crimson Tide (27-8) with 13 points. Six players finished in double figures for Alabama, including forward Grant Nelson, who had 12 points and eight rebounds after sitting out the majority of a first-round game against Robert Morris due to a knee injury. All-American guard Mark Sears had 12 points and three assists, including a pretty lob that Clifford Omoruyi slammed through for a reverse dunk that put the Tide up 14 with just under 8 minutes to play. Omoruyi had 10 points and 10 rebounds for the Crimson Tide, who built a double-digit lead late in the first half and never let the Gaels (29-6) get closer than eight the rest of the way. Alabama will play sixth-seeded BYU in the East Regional semifinals in Newark, New Jersey, on Thursday. Mitchell Saxen led Saint Mary's with 15 points and Jordan Wessels added 11. The Gaels shot just 25% (9 of 36) in the first half. Forced to pick up the tempo a little bit against the nation's highest scoring team, Saint Mary's spent most of the final 20 minutes trading baskets with a group that has grown accustomed to success this time of year under coach Nate Oats. Alabama's 80 points marked the most Saint Mary's has given up this season. Two-time West Coast Conference Player of the Year Augustas Marciulionis finished with 11 points on 3-of-11 shooting, and the Gaels made just 3 of 14 3-point attempts. Takeaways Saint Mary's: The Gaels have pulled even — and the last two years surpassed — longtime WCC power Gonzaga during the regular season. The breakthrough March run that has defined the Zags' success has remained elusive for Saint Mary's. Alabama: The deep, relentless Crimson Tide just keep coming at opponents in waves. While Sears didn't have a great night offensively, making only 5 of 15 shots, it hardly mattered. Backcourt mates Labaron Philon and Aden Holloway were happy to pick up the slack, combining for 18 points and eight assists. ___
Associated Press
22-03-2025
- Sport
- Associated Press
Augustas Marciulionis grew up a son of hoops royalty. The Saint Mary's star is carving his own path
CLEVELAND (AP) — Randy Bennett first met Augustas Marciulionis more than two decades ago when the Saint Mary's coach was visiting Lithuania to do a basketball clinic for Marciulionis' father, former NBA star and future Hall of Famer Sarunas. Sarunas may or may not have been paying much attention to the local traffic laws. Augustus — all of 1-year-old at the time — may or may not have been 'buzzing' around between the driver's side and the passenger side without a car seat to be found. 'I was like, 'This is crazy,'' Bennett said with a small shake of his head. '(Augustus) doesn't even have a seatbelt on and (his dad is) whipping around these streets.' It was, in a way, a sign of things to come. Nearly 20 years later, the toddler with the zoomies had grown into a talented 6-foot-4 freshman point guard for Bennett. And while Marciulionis had gained an appreciation for the importance of proper automobile safety by the time he arrived on the small Saint Mary's campus about 20 minutes east of Oakland, there was still a recklessness about him that caught Bennett by surprise. Bennett assumed because Augustus was the son of the first Lithuanian player to reach the NBA — Sarunas spent the majority of his seven seasons in the league with the Golden State Warriors in the early 1990s as a smooth-shooting, slick passing swingman credited with introducing the Eurostep to the States — that Augustas would be close to a finished product. Instead, what Bennett got was 195 pounds of raw material oozing with potential but decidedly naive on what it takes to play in this part of the world. 'You'd think because he's a Marciulionis that it's automatic, 'Hey, this guy is a pro,'' Bennett said. 'It wasn't like that. He had to learn how to bring it every night.' It took two full years for Marciulionis to regularly crack the starting lineup. Yet those early growing pains set the foundation for a young man in full. When Marciulionis steps onto the Rocket Arena floor on Sunday night for the seventh-seeded Gaels (29-5) as they face second-seeded Alabama (26-8) in the second round of the NCAA Tournament, he'll do it as a two-time West Coast Conference Player of the Year whose trajectory may eclipse that of former Saint Mary's stars turned NBA fixtures Patty Mills and Matthew Dellavedova. 'We've had a lot of good point guards,' Bennett said. 'He's at the top.' The player known to his teammates as 'Goose' credits his father for 'keeping my head where it's supposed to be.' Yes, Sarunas is basketball royalty back home, though Augustas just laughs when asked if he is in some small way Lithuania's version of Bronny James, the son of NBA icon LeBron. 'No,' Augustas said. 'No, no. It's not that.' For one thing, Augustas could probably take his dad in one-on-one if it ever came to that. Then again, Augustus points out that Sarunas is 60 and 'couldn't jump over a newspaper' thanks to knees that are no longer interested in running up and down the court. Still, there are echoes of Sarunas in his son's game. You can see it in the fluidity of his movement and the way he thinks a step or two ahead. While Bennett credits Marciulionis for finding a way to take another step forward this season as a player — he posted career bests in points (14.3) and assists (6.0) while leading the Gaels to the WCC regular-season title — it's what he's done off the floor that has perhaps been more impressive. The 18-year-old who arrived at Saint Mary's largely sight unseen — unless you count the Zoom call he had with Bennett during the COVID-19 pandemic in which Bennett zipped around on a golf cart trying to explain Northern California to someone who'd never been there — with marginal English skills has become a 22-year-old comfortable in his own skin and with his second language. 'He's grown,' Bennett said. 'He's grown as a person. He's grown as a leader. But being over here, being in the same program, being here four years, he's kind of taken on more and more responsibility and become a better and better player.' One who would love to finish his college career by helping the Gaels reach the Sweet 16 for just the third time in program history. Saint Mary's has found a way to match and in some ways surpass rival and longtime WCC power Gonzaga during Marciulionis' tenure. The Gaels have won each of the last three WCC regular-season titles. What they haven't done is replicate the Bulldogs' success in March. Marciulionis and the rest of Saint Mary's senior-laden roster understand the stakes. 'We want to leave it better for the future so people will take Saint Mary's (more serious) nationally and pay more attention so they can recruit better players (and) get more money,' he said. 'We can impact that by winning a game or two more.' To do it Marciulionis will have to hold his own against Alabama All-American Mark Sears, who like Marciulionis has designs on playing in the NBA next year. It will be a daunting task, then again, so is growing up knowing your dad is a national hero and deciding to follow in his footsteps anyway. 'He's a little under the radar, but what he's done the last two years has been impressive,' Bennett said. 'He's a good player. He's really good on both sides of the ball. He's a good defender. He's got a nice little gap to improve still.'
