- Women's Basketball Roundup
- Posts
- Icy Hot x Arike with an International Women's Day Surprise
Icy Hot x Arike with an International Women's Day Surprise
PLUS, the NCAA Women's Basketball Tournament is nigh!
Black Rosie
March 11, 2025
In partnership with
✊🏽 HAPPY WOMEN’S HISTORY MONTH
Hi Hoops Fans!
Unrivaled is wrapping up, and by Sunday, we will have the NCAA Women’s Basketball Tournament bracket set. Bring on the MADNESS!
Here’s what we have on deck for today’s newsletter:
Icy Hot and Arike Ogunbowale thank the Unrivaled training staff
South Carolina and UCLA among the 2025 NCAA WBB Conference Champions
Oregon Ducks x New York Liberty
Unrivaled Playoffs are coming!
PAY WOMEN
As Kelsey Trainor famously said, “Invest in Women. Pay Women. Hire women.”
Unrivaled and IcyHot are doing just that!
Last weekend, Icy Hot, Napheesa Collier, and Arike Ogunbowale surprised Unrivaled's training staff with $10K bonuses to honor their impact in helping the league's brightest stars with their health and recovery during the nine-week season.
Arike and Phee wore custom Icy Hot armbands honoring Terri Acosta, who works with the New York Liberty, and Unrivaled head trainer Lindsey Elizondo.
Napheesa Collier and Icy Hot honor Terri Acosta, one of the Unrivaled trainers, for International Women’s Day.
“She is such a hard worker, and I admire and appreciate the way that she shows up for each of us every day,” Collier said of Acosta.
Ogumbowale added that Elizondo is “smart, fun to be around, attentive, and always makes sure my body is right. I appreciate all the work she puts in behind the scenes to make sure we can perform the best we can on the court.”
We at Black Rosie Media love to see brands elevate women in sports, especially the staff that keep our favorite athletes at their best. Well done, Icy Hot!
@blackrosiemedia 😍 THINGS WE LOVE TO SEE! Last week, in honor of#internationalwomensdayalwomensday, Arike Ogunbowale X #icyhot surprised the @unrivaled tra... See more
They have been a fantastic Unrivaled partner from Day 1. We’ll share more about Elizondo and her staff in an upcoming newsletter.
With love,
Erica L. Ayala, Head Black Rosie in Charge (HBIC)
Join over 4 million Americans who start their day with 1440 – your daily digest for unbiased, fact-centric news. From politics to sports, we cover it all by analyzing over 100 sources. Our concise, 5-minute read lands in your inbox each morning at no cost. Experience news without the noise; let 1440 help you make up your own mind. Sign up now and invite your friends and family to be part of the informed.
🎉CONFERENCE TOURNAMENTS SET TONE
South Carolina Women’s Basketball team celebrating the SEC Championship. Image via the University of South Carolina Twitter page.
On February 16, South Carolina took on UCONN in a showdown of two Final Four contenders. It was the game of the week in a sold-out Colonial Life Arena, but SC just didn’t have it as UCONN cruised to a 29-point win. The loss was so bad for the Gamecocks that Te-Hina Paopao said her team got “punked.”
Since then, SC has been on a mission, and they’ve hit their stride at the perfect time.
South Carolina entered the SEC Tournament as the number one seed and showed exactly why they’re one of the favorites to make it to the Final Four and beyond. They took on a Texas team that beat them earlier in the season in the final of the SEC Tournament as SC sought revenge. They got that and plenty more as they dominated the Longhorns in route to a 19 point victory.
In the middle of the country, the West Coast’s two best teams renewed their rivalry. USC and UCLA met for the third time this season, this time in the Big Ten championship game. In the first half, Juju Watkins had UCLA spellbound yet again as her 18 points led the Trojans attack.
However, after intermission, the Bruins held the LA megastar to just 11 points on 4-15 shooting. That was enough to prevent the season sweep and, most importantly, capture the Big Ten title.
Erica L. Ayala joined Terrika Foster-Brasby and Julianne Viani-Braen on CBS Sports to break it down!
This year’s March Madness promises to be the most exciting one yet, and we’ll have you covered here at the Women’s Basketball Roundup!
📈 AP TOP 25 - WOMEN’S BASKETBALL
As we get our dancing shoes ready, here is the final AP Top 25 of the regular season
AP Rankings (as of March 10):
1 UCLA (↑3)
2 South Carolina (↑3)
3 UConn
4 Southern California (↓2)
5 Texas (↓4)
6 TCU (↑2)
7 Duke (↑4)
8 Notre Dame (↓2)
9 North Carolina State (↓2)
10 LSU (↓1)
11 Oklahoma (↓1)
12 North Carolina (↑2)
13 Kentucky (↓1)
14 Baylor (↑3)
15 Ohio State (↓2)
16 West Virginia
17 Oklahoma State (↑4)
18 Maryland (↓3)
19 Kansas State (↑1)
20 Tennessee (↓2)
21 Alabama (↓2)
22 Creighton (↑1)
23 Florida State (↓1)
24 South Dakota State (↑1)
25 Ole Miss
|
🦉 UNRIVALED ENDS THE REGULAR SEASON
Napheesa Collier. Photo via Unrivaled.
The inaugural regular season for Unrivaled is complete, and now we turn our attention to the postseason.
Only four teams will continue on in hopes of winning the inaugural season title. Phantom BC and Mist BC have been eliminated, leaving Vinyl, Rose, Laces, and the Lunar Owls left standing.
Collier and Lunar Owls are the runaway favorite. However, anything can happen in the playoffs. HBRIC (Head Black Rosie in Charge) Erica L. Ayala will be on hand for the postseason.
💰 MONEY MOVES
The champs expand their reach
Betnijah Laney-Hamilton and Nyara Sabally. Photo via Brandon Todd/NY Liberty.
In the February 25th edition of the newsletter, we talked about the WNBA possibly getting a bigger spotlight on ESPN with Major League Baseball moving elsewhere starting in 2026.
With the increasing interest in the league, more opportunities will be there to get the games on in front of the most people possible.
Here in New York, the Liberty are working to get in front of as many fans as possible.
On March 6, it was announced that the Liberty and FOX5 agreed to a multiyear contract extension. The deal will see FOX5 and MY9 continue to be the TV home of the New York Liberty while also increasing coverage across the network. I was also able to confirm that FOX5 will be providing pre and postgame shows for select games. When you’re able to get your game in front of as many people as possible and limit the barriers to your game, you’re in tremendous shape now and in the future.
Not to be outdone, the team announced on March 10 that they will be playing a preseason game at the University of Oregon on May 12! It’s the first time Sabrina Ionescu and Nyara Sabally will be playing in Eugene since their college days and is an exciting opportunity for the Liberty to establish themselves in the Pacific Northwest
“As a player-first organization, we strive to be as collaborative and innovative with our athletes as possible. Bringing New York Liberty basketball to Eugene with two program greats, Sabrina and Nyara, was a natural next step coming off our franchise’s first championship. We would like to thank the University of Oregon Athletic Department and Toyota Antelopes for their partnership in bringing this vision to life.”
Moves like these go a long way in creating new fans at home and across the country. By having as many games as possible on free television, you remove the various barriers that come with streaming and media in 2025. The games being where everyone can watch helps ensure that Liberty fans of all backgrounds can follow the team and stay engaged with the players.
And in connecting with Oregon, the Liberty are able to use Ionescu and Sabally’s star power to bring Oregon fans that may not be as locked in to the WNBA into the fold and encourage them to stick around and learn about the other players on the team. What also helps is this game will be broadcast by FOX5, so the Liberty avoid the fate that befell the Minnesota Lynx and Chicago Sky last year. Make things easy for people to follow, and they’ll follow you.
📰 WHAT WE’RE READING!
At Black Rosie Media, we love to give flowers to other writers and creators in women’s basketball.
Here’s what we’re reading:
How Hailey Van Lith has found redemption with TCU by Tia Reid for The Next
Why has this season entered a danger zone for No. 6 Notre Dame women's basketball? by Tom Noie for South Bend Tribune
Angel Reese, Brittney Griner, and 3 Unrivaled players who raised their stock by Noa Dalzell for Breakaway
The Big 12 is messy and has women’s basketball’s most unpredictable conference tournament by Mitchell Northam for Breakaway
SEC star wants a ‘voice in the room’ for women’s basketball players as House v. NCAA settlement nears by Mitchell Northam for Breakaway
The Connecticut Sun were the WNBA’s big offseason loser. What’s next for the franchise? by Ben Pickman for The Athletic
The Hip-Hop World Loved Roy Ayers, and He Found It ‘Wonderful’ by Andre Gee for Rolling Stone
WWE Star Trinity Fatu on ‘Queen of the Ring’ and Bringing Wrestling Trailblazer Ethel Johnson to Life: ‘I Am a Direct Result of That Fight’ by Lauren Coates for Variety
📻 BRM PODCAST NETWORK
We had a full house on Championship Sunday! On March 9th, Erica, Roberta Rodrigues, and I had a special crossover episode of Gotta Get Up and Tempestade Talk!
As we enter the Tournament and the upcoming WNBA season, we’ll have you covered from all angles here at Black Rosie Media.
You can catch up with the first three quarters of every BRM podcast on Transistor, our audio provider. The show will also be found on your favorite audio platforms.
📲 STAY CONNECTED!
If you enjoyed this newsletter, consider subscribing to receive the latest updates from Black Rosie Media directly in your inbox—it's completely FREE! Feel free to share this with a friend so they can also stay informed.
Join our Black Rosie Media Slack Channel to interact directly with our contributors, participate in game-day chats, and much more!
Reply