Tag: Kierstan Bell

WNBA Twitter reacts to Kierstan Bell’s crazy spin move with Aces

Aces guard Kierstan Bell set Twitter and the arena on fire when she converted a turnover into a layup on a spin move in the lane.

The Las Vegas Aces sealed their seventh win in a row on Sunday with their 104-91 win over the Dallas Wings. Aces guard Kierstan Bell set Twitter and the sold-out arena on fire when she converted a turnover into a layup on a spin move in the lane.

The Aces drafted Bell 11th overall in the 2022 WNBA draft. While Bell has played limited minutes for the Aces, when the minutes have come, she has been ready to make an impact.

This past offseason, Bell played, for the first time, in another professional basketball league, Athletes Unlimited. Players make decisions both on and off their field of play, which gives the entire league a player-centric ethos. Each league has a player executive committee that meets weekly with Athletes Unlimited staff to work on all aspects of the league, from adding players to the roster to establishing the rules and scoring system.

See what Twitter had to say about Bell’s crazy spin move.

Rosters set for Week 4 of Athletes Unlimited basketball

The four players from the previous week with the highest points accumulation are elected captains and draft their dream team.

Each week the new captains for the four Athletes Unlimited basketball teams redraft their teams. The four players with the most points in the previous week are named captains and draft their teams.

Week 4 games start on March 15 and the Week 4 draft was on March 12.

The Week 4 rosters are set with some players competing against their Week 3 teammates. You can follow along with the drafts each week via YouTube.

There are five rounds in the draft each week and a total of 40 roster spots up for grabs with four spots being held by the captains for a total of 44 roster spots in the league.

The basketball is exciting, unique and an opportunity for more players to play professional basketball domestically and not have to travel overseas to play. This is the second season for Athletes Unlimited, which is located in Dallas.

The season runs through March 25.

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2022 WNBA Draft Recap: 5 under-the-radar picks that you should be excited about

Looking at five of the most under-the-radar picks of the 2022 WNBA Draft.

Monday night’s 2022 WNBA Draft was a doozy.

It was the first in-person draft since 2019 (pre-pandemic) and the hype around the event didn’t disappoint. Thirty-six players came off the board — some predictable, others not so much. And now that the dust has settled, I’m ready to talk about some of the picks outside of the Top 3 that could potentially be big in the long run.

Let’s run through a list of my five favorite picks of the W’s 2022 draft and break down what has me excited about these rookies’ potential fits on their new teams.

All odds courtesy of Tipico Sportsbook.

Kierstan Bell to enter transfer portal, leave Ohio State women’s basketball program

Ohio State women’s basketball freshman star Kierstan Bell will enter the transfer portal and leave the program.

One of Ohio State women’s basketball’s prized recruits from 2019 is leaving the program. Hailing from Northeast Ohio, Kierstan Bell was nicknamed “She-Bron” for her unbelievable talent on the court at Canton McKinley High School. She was expected to do some pretty special things on the court in Columbus.

Bell was a five-star recruit and only three-time Ms. Basketball in the state of Ohio as the class’ No. 8 overall recruit. She showed flashes of that talent during her freshman campaign, but also struggled at other times as she adjusted to big-time college basketball. She averaged 11.1 points per game and was named to the All-Big Ten Freshman Team.

Now she will enter the transfer portal and leave the program. Bell shared the following message on her Twitter profile announcing the decision Wednesday.

No decision was given for the move, but we all wish Bell good luck in wherever she lands in the future.

Once a Buckeye …

 

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Buckeyes on the Bubble: Women’s Basketball looks safe after dominating Purdue

The Ohio State Women’s Basketball team dominated Purdue on the road, and now look pretty safe for the NCAA Tournament.

Though not quite a lock, but it looks like the Ohio State Women’s Basketball will reach the NCAA Tournament this season. The Buckeyes have had an up-and-down year, including a win over a Top 5 Louisville team but losses to Ohio and South Dakota. Still, finishing the regular season on a 7-3 stretch seems to be enough to get the Buckeyes playing in March Madness.

Are the Buckeyes a tournament lock yet? Not quite, and for two reasons. First of all, Ohio State’s first opponent in the Big Ten Tournament will be a potential bad loss. Second, and more importantly, it’s a little hard to know exactly what the committee will do with a team like Ohio State–good resume numbers, a few good wins but a poor winning percentage against top-level teams, and some bad losses weighing it down. That’s why different Bracketology outlets have the Buckeyes in different places. For example, ESPN has had the Buckeyes smack on the bubble all season, including as a No. 9 seed at last update. Meanwhile, RealTime RPI has Ohio State at a No. 6 seed, safely in the bracket.

I have, unfortunately, not had the time to look through all the resumes and set up an S-curve to look at the women’s bracket. And while eyeballing the bubble leans me towards saying the Buckeyes are safer than not, I understand the potential differences and where the disparity comes from.

Ohio State did an excellent job this weekend avoiding another resume-hurting loss, as the Buckeyes dominated Purdue on the road. Purdue led 4-2 early, but never held the lead again. Dorka Juhasz went off for yet another double-double for the Buckeyes, while Jacy Sheldon, Kierstan Bell, and Aaliyah Patty each scored in double figures as well.

The Buckeyes concluded their regular season with an 18-11 record. They have locked up either the No. 5 or No. 6 seed in the Big Ten Tournament, which means they will play the winner of either the 11 vs 14 or 12 vs 13 game in the second round on Thursday. That means facing either Minnesota, Wisconsin, Illinois, or Penn State. Any of those four opponents would be a potential bad loss for the Buckeyes. Ohio State went a combined 6-0 against those teams in the regular season, and one more win against any of them would essentially lock up an NCAA Tournament bid for the Scarlet and Gray.

Ohio State women’s basketball takes down Illinois on the road

The Ohio State women’s basketball team got a key road victory against Illinois Thursday night.

The Lady Bucks got a Big Ten win on the road at Illinois Thursday night and improved their record to 13-9 overall, and 6-5 in the Big Ten. More than that, it was an impressive showing with Ohio State pulling away for a 78-58 victory that could catapult the team to bigger and better things.

It was a balanced attack for the Buckeyes, with five players reaching double figures in points. Dorka Juhasz and Aaliyah Patty led OSU with 13 points apiece, but Kierstan Bell poured in 12, while Jacy Sheldon (11), and Rebeka Mikulasikova (10) also got into the act.

Things were closer than the final score indicated. It was just a five-point game with about eight minutes to go in the game, but then Ohio State went on a big-time spurt to end the game. It started with a 3-ball by Kierstan Bell that led to a 23-8 run to end the game.

There’s still a lot of work to do towards the postseason for OSU. It’s been an inconsistent season so far, but there are flashes of special things. Maybe this is the start of a flurry of improvement to end things.