Tag: women’s basketball

Notre Dame guard KK Bransford to take medical redshirt this season

KK Bransford has been one of Notre Dame’s most reliable players the past two years, appearing in all but two games.

[autotag]KK Bransford[/autotag] has been one of Notre Dame’s most reliable players the past two years, appearing in all but two games. She’s started 19 of those games, which has been needed for a program that has had its share of injuries to key players. Regrettably for Bransford, she won’t be able to step up this season.

Bransford took to social media Monday to announce that she’s been playing with a lower leg injury throughout her collegiate career. She further revealed that it’s made her less effective than she otherwise could have been.

Therefore, Bransford has made the decision to take a medial redshirt for the 2024-25 season, meaning we won’t see her in game action again until next year. This is a tough break for both her and the Irish, who already will be without [autotag]Maddy Westbeld[/autotag] at the season, but the games must go on.

Bransford has averaged 7.5 points, 3.4 rebounds and 1.8 assists a game during her collegiate career. While she won’t be the biggest loss the Irish could have suffered, she’ll be a significant one nonetheless.

Best of luck to Bransford as she goes through her rehab, and best of luck to her sister, who just made her own college choice:

Contact/Follow us @IrishWireND on X (formerly Twitter) and like our page on Facebook to follow ongoing coverage of Notre Dame news, notes and opinions.

Follow Geoffrey on X: @gfclark89

Florida athletic events canceled, campus closed due to Hurricane Helene

As Florida prepares for Hurricane Helene to make landfall off the Gulf Coast, the UAA is closing campus and cancelling athletic events.

The University of Florida is closing campus on Thursday and has canceled three athletic events in anticipation of Hurricane Helene’s landfall off the Gulf Coast.

Thursday’s soccer match against Tennessee has been postponed, and Gator Talk with Women’s Basketball Coach Kelly Rae Finley has been canceled. Friday’s swim meet vs. Nova Southeastern has also been canceled.

Billy Napier says the football team still plans to practice on Thursday, but the situation is fluid at this time. Safety is a priority, and the team is making contingency plans if the storm severely impacts Gainesville.

USA TODAY 10Best: Is Florida the best college for sports fans? Vote now!

“Even if the university is closed, they provide us with parameters in terms our how we meet, practice, and just the safety of the staff and the players,” Napier said. “We would most likely be in the indoor and our process would stay the same depending on how severe the storms are.”

Up next for the Gators

Florida does not play Saturday with its first bye of the season scheduled. The UCF Knights will come to Gainesville in Week 6 for a 2021 Gasparilla Bowl rematch. The Gators are looking for revenge after falling to the Knights, 29-17, under interim head coach Greg Knox.

UCF features the best rushing attack in college football through four weeks of play. The Knights average 375.7 yards on the ground and have 13 touchdowns on the ground. Meanwhile, Florida is ranked 107th of the 133 FBS teams in run defense after allowing 188.8 rushing yards per game.

Follow us @GatorsWire on X, formerly known as Twitter, and like our page on Facebook to follow ongoing coverage of Florida Gators news, notes and opinions.

UConn star Paige Bueckers lands first of its kind NIL deal with Unrivaled

Paige Bueckers becomes the first college athlete with an ownership stake in a professional sports league in first of its kind NIL deal.

Although she likely would have been among the top players selected in the 2024 WNBA draft, Paige Bueckers opted to return to UConn and run it back for another season and a chance to win a national championship.

It helps that her earning potential through NIL is significant as one of the faces of college basketball, and already the star guard signed a first-of-its-kind deal with the new Unrivaled Basketball league.

Bueckers’ deal makes her the first college athlete with ownership equity in a professional league, and she is expected to play in the Unrivaled league as well as the WNBA after her college career comes to a close, per Shams Charania of The Athletic.

Unrivaled is a three-on-three women’s basketball league set to begin play in January of 2025. It features 30 players on six teams and was founded by former UConn teammates Breanna Stewart and Napheesa Collier as an alternative for WNBA stars to stay in the country and play during the offseason – rather than going overseas.

“It’s the ability for players to stay home, to be in a market like Miami where we can just be the buzz and create that with the best WNBA players,” Stewart told ESPN’s Ramona Shelburne. “We can’t keep fighting [the WNBA’s prioritization rule]. It is a rule that takes away our choices, which should never be a thing, especially as women, but it is still a rule.”

Unrivaled plans to offer the “highest average salary in women’s professional sports league history” and has already received financial investments from the likes of Steve Nash, Carmelo Anthony, Alex Morgan, and Megan Rapinoe.

Bueckers, a two-time Big East Player of the Year, has led UConn to the Final Four three times with one national championship appearance in 2022.

This stat highlights how jaw dropping Caitlin Clark’s WNBA assist numbers are

Former Iowa basketball star Caitlin Clark has more assists than 75% of WNBA players in history, just 26 games into her career.

Through the first 26 games of Caitlin Clark’s WNBA career, the Indiana Fever rookie totaled 213 assists – good for an 8.2 per game average.

Clark is not only on pace to shatter the WNBA rookie record for assists in a season, she could very easily surpass Alyssa Thomas’ record of 316 for any player, set in 2023.

That alone is a remarkable feat for a player dubbed by some as “just a shooter”, but a stat posted by StatMamba on X and later confirmed by Sports Illustrated writer Robin Lundberg truly emphasizes how insane her production has been so far:

Clark’s 213 assists ranks 268th in WNBA history, indeed giving her more career assists than about 75% of all players who have stepped foot on a WNBA court.

If she maintains her 8.2 assists per game for the rest of the season, she will surpass both Ticha Penicheiro for total assists in a rookie season and Thomas for assists in a single season. That could put her in the top 20% all-time for career assists, and of course would have her well on pace to take down Sue Bird’s all-time WNBA assist record of 3,234.

The former Iowa star is one of the most popular athletes on the planet right now, and once the break is over she’ll look to lead the Fever to a strong finish in her first professional campaign.

Florida WBB alum Leilani Correa signs with Latin basketball league

After coming up just short of a WNBA roster spot, former Florida Gator Leilani Correa will continue her pro career in Mexico.

After narrowingly missing out on a WNBA roster spot, former Florida women’s basketball star [autotag]Leilani Correa[/autotag] is continuing her pro career in the Mexican National Professional Basketball League with the Aguascalientes Panthers.

Correa was drafted by the Indiana Fever  — the same team that drafted Caitlion Clark out of Iowa — in the third round of the 2024 WNBA draft. However, roster spots are not guaranteed for draftees.

The selection made her the 20th Gator in program history to be selected in the WNBA draft and the first UF athlete since [autotag]Kiara Smith[/autotag] was taken by the Connecticut Sun in 2022.

Correa transferred to Florida after three years at St. John’s. She averaged 24.5 minutes over 27 games as a senior, mostly off the bench. Correa made that role her own in 2023-24, averaging 16.9 points, 4.2 rebounds and 1.8 assists per game en route to an SEC Sixth Woman of the Year Award.

She also holds the career points record across both Florida basketball programs with 2,132 including her time at St. Johns.

Follow us @GatorsWire on X, formerly known as Twitter, and like our page on Facebook to follow ongoing coverage of Florida Gators news, notes and opinions.

Incoming Florida WBB star Liv McGill earns gold with FIBA U18 AmeriCup

Florida women’s basketball’s highest-ranked signee in program history just won a gold medal at the FIBA 18U Americup in Colombia.

Kelly Rae Finley and the Florida women’s basketball team are preparing to welcome the seventh-ranked recruit in the nation, [autotag]Alivia McGill[/autotag], to campus, but the soon-to-be Gator had to stop and win a gold medal before starting her career in Orange and Blue.

McGill was named to the USA junior national team in May and has been in Colorado Springs practicing with the team ahead of the FIBA Women’s U18 AmeriCup in Colombia. McGill and Co. won an 11th-straight gold medal for the U.S. at the event, defeating Canada, 80-69, on Sunday.

Coming off the bench, McGill found two teammates for assists in the victory. Her best showing came in the quarterfinals against the Dominican Republic. She scored eight points on 4-of-5 shooting and had four assists and three rebounds. She also scored eight against Brazil during group play.

The Americans dominated group play, beating Brazil, Mexico and Puerto Rico by a combined 221 points, including an 80-point and 95-point win. Bracket play saw continued American dominance as the U.S. demolished the Dominican Republic, 125-27, in the quarterfinals and beat Argentina, 109-32, in the semis.

Canada was the only team that put up a real fight, even though the U.S. won, 80-69. The Canadians were the only team to outscore the Americans in a quarter, taking the second by six points.

Follow us @GatorsWire on X, formerly known as Twitter, and like our page on Facebook to follow ongoing coverage of Florida Gators news, notes and opinions.

Florida-North Carolina game, Jumpman Invitational dates revealed

Gators fans, mark your calendar for December 17 and 18 as Florida’s men’s and women’s teams take on UNC in the Jumpman Invitational.

Florida basketball’s matchup with the North Carolina Tar Heels in the 2024 Jumpman Invitational has a game date, according to a report by Rocco Miller on Monday. Fans can now mark their calendars for some mid-December hoops action.

The two-day event will span from Tuesday, Dec. 17, to Wednesday, Dec. 18, at the Spectrum Center in Charlotte, North Carolina. Each day will have two games, featuring one men’s and one women’s game.

The Heels and Gators men’s teams will face off on Tuesday night after the conclusion of the Oklahoma Sooners and Michigan Wolverines women’s game. The second day will feature the reciprocal of the prior day’s games, with the UF women facing off with UNC followed by the respective men’s Michigan and Oklahoma teams’ matchup.

The report comes a week after the Southeastern Conference announced its home and away designations for the upcoming league schedule.

Florida’s matchup with North Carolina is its second reported date for a non-conference game. The Orange and Blue will host the North Florida Ospreys on Dec. 22, according to college hoops insider Jon Rothstein.

Follow us @GatorsWire on Twitter and like our page on Facebook to follow ongoing coverage of Florida Gators news, notes and opinions.

Notre Dame women’s basketball adds yet another 5-star talent

Rich get richer…

Notre Dame has had a plethora of talent enter the women’s basketball program recently and even more is on the way.

Kateryna “Kate” Koval signed with Notre Dame this week and will join the program next season.  Koval is rated as a five-star talent and the fifth overall prospect in next year’s class according to ESPN.

Koval grew up in Ukraine but now attends Long Island Lutheran (Brookville, N.Y.).  She was named the Gatorade New York Girl’s Basketball Player of the Year last year as she averaged 15.1 points, 11.7 rebounds, and 3.4 blocks per contest.

Koval stands 6-5 and will join the Irish next season.

A Late Spring Check-In With Trojans Wire

Checking in on Troy

We’re still a way away from the college football season getting underway but headlines are being made just about every day for some reason or another.

Over at Trojans Wire they’re getting ready for the third season of Lincoln Riley and USC’s first year in the Big Ten.

That is, if you still consider USC a football school.

USC has assembled what appears to be a women’s basketball big-three since the NCAA Tournament’s conclusion and will enter the 2024-25 season among the favorites to end up in the Final Four (as will Notre Dame).

These were only a couple of the topics on hand when Trojans Wire editor Matt Zemek invited me and Geoffrey Clark for a visit on the Trojans Wired Podcast earlier this week.  You can check out the episode below.

[lawrence-related id=86050,85910,84905]

Florida’s Leilani Correa selected in 2024 WNBA draft, plus photos

Correa became the 20th Gator in program history to be selected in the draft on Monday night.

Florida women’s basketball’s senior guard Leilani Correa was picked by the Indiana Fever in the third round with the 27th pick in Monday night’s 2024 WNBA draft.

The selection made her the 20th Gator in program history to be selected in the WNBA draft and the first UF athlete since Kiara Smith was taken by the Connecticut Sun in 2022. She is also Florida’s third player in program history to be selected by the Indiana Fever, with the most recent being Ronni Williams in 2017.

Correa transferred to Florida from St. John’s in 2022 and played under head coach Kelly Rae Finley for two seasons. During her tenure in Gainesville, the Garden State product earned the 2024 SEC Sixth Woman of the Year award, led the conference in scoring with an average of 21.4 points a game and surpassed 2,000 career points.

Correa holds the highest amount of career points in Florida basketball history across both the men’s and women’s programs. She wrapped up her collegiate career with a combined 2,132 points, recording 1,272 at St. John’s and 860 at UF.

Below is a look at some of Correa’s highlights with the Orange and Blue stretching from 2022 to 2024.