Kelsey Bloom Don’t underestimate any of its opportunities. Not success – and I’ve had plenty in the last 16 months – and not the sponsorship or partnership contracts I’ve been swollen by. It’s a step forward for the sport and the next for Bloom, 28, could greatly affect those for the game. “It’s not official,” … Read more
November 30, 2022 MA VoepelESPN.com Close MA Voepel covers the WNBA, women’s basketball, and other college sports for espnW. Voepel began covering women’s basketball in 1984, and has been with ESPN since 1996. The WNBA in 2023 will have 40 regular season games, the most in league history. Major events will not affect the next … Read more
NEW YORK — The league announced Wednesday that WNBA teams will play a standard 40-game schedule during the 2023 season, which begins May 19. All 12 teams will play games during opening weekend, including the Sparks and new coach Kurt Miller hosting the Phoenix Mercury as one of four games on Opening Night. The regular … Read more
United States women’s basketball star Brittney Griner looks down during the national anthem before a game against Canada at the Rio 2016 Olympic Games. (Christian Peterson/Getty Images) I am very upset with the response to my last column on what we know Abhorrent prison conditions Brittney Griner lives in a labor camp in Mordovia, Russia. … Read more
As always and forever, it depends. It depends on a lot of things, from how you were raised, to your sense of right and wrong, to whether you have an obstructive view. On Friday in this space, I wrote about the very harsh sentence — nine years in a penal labor colony — given to … Read more
November 20, 2022 MA VoepelESPN.com Close MA Voepel covers the WNBA, women’s basketball, and other college sports for espnW. Voepel began covering women’s basketball in 1984, and has been with ESPN since 1996. STANFORD, Calif. — South Carolina coach Don Staley and Stanford coach Tara VanDeverere donned long-sleeved shirts in tribute Brittney Griner As part … Read more
On Jasmine Tomas’s first night in the Czech Republic as a member of Sika Brno, the police showed up at her house. They did this not because Thomas intentionally committed any wrongdoing, but because she had disassembled her belongings, Thomas blew the electrical fuses in her apartment, only knowing one number to call. When the … Read more
Kendall Lanes is used to making big plays on the softball field. The seniors of Naperville Central can also make it on the basketball court. Lanes showed Saturday when she stepped to the free throw line with the Redhawks a point behind Bennett with 22.5 seconds left in the fourth quarter. “It was so loud, … Read more
As women’s college moves toward conference play, the top prospects in the 2023 WNBA Draft continue to present their cases to the lottery teams for why they should be selected. Equally important are the positions these prospects end up in. The WNBA is one of the most competitive leagues when it comes to roster retention. … Read more
In its quest to find items on its Black Friday wish list, the New York Liberty won’t have to deal with crowds and camping out in the immediate aftermath of Thanksgiving dinner. Instead, they’ll face more dangerous threats that almost every reveler can empathize with: their 11 WNBA sisters. Despite its relatively dismal end, Liberty’s … Read more
