✊🏽 HAPPY BLACK HISTORY MONTH
Hi Hoops Fans!
Today’s digest includes Brian’s recap on the Unrivaled 1v1 Tournament. We will also break down the most recent AP Women’s Basketball Poll now that no undefeated teams remain.
Earlier today, we also dropped a new Gold Medal Dispatch newsletter focused on whether the 4 Nations Faceoff will be the men’s equivalent to the women’s hockey Rivalry Series co-hosted by Hockey Canada and USA Hockey since 2018.
Subscribe to the Gold Medal Dispatch to stay in the know on current Olympic news and exclusive Black Rosie Media archives from Beijing 2022 and Paris 2024.
Next week, we’ll take you back to the Team USA House in Paris through the eyes of women’s sports media personality Ari Chambers.
BLACK HISTORY FACT
Did you know Althea Gibson was the first Black tennis player to compete in a pro-world tennis tour and the first Black woman to win a Grand Slam title?
The Harlem native would go on to amass 11 Grand Slam wins. Gibson would also become the first Black athlete on the women’s pro golf tour in the 1960s.
Check out this conversation with former Boston Globe reporter Sally H. Jacobs, author of the latest biography Althea: The Life of Tennis Champion Althea Gibson, and Katrina Adams, the Black executive to lead the United States Tennis Association (USTA).
With love,
Erica L. Ayala, Head Black Rosie in Charge (HBIC)
🏆 PHEE STANDS ALONE
Napheesa Collier celebrates her 1 v 1 Tournament victory. Photo via Unrivaled.
Unrivaled completed their 1-on-1 Tournament on Valentine’s Day, and Napheesa Collier continued her dominant run in Florida. After beating fellow UCONN Huskie Azura Stevens in the semifinals, she took on another Huskie in the Finals. Aaliyah Edwards was an underdog throughout the tournament and beat All WNBA mainstays Breanna Stewart, Allisha Gray, and Arike Ogunbowale in route to the championship round. The final round was a best of 3, and after falling behind 1-0, Phee went to work
With the win, Collier earned $200,000 for herself and $10,000 for each of her Lunar Owls teammates. Along with the victory, Collier hopes it can lead to some changes in the youth game going forward:
"You see guys or boys playing in the parks, like pickup or one-on-ones, and you don't see that on the women's side as much.
So that's something we're trying to change, just that atmosphere where everything's not as organized basketball, but just playing in your backyard or at the park."
The success of the Unrivaled Tournament has led to discussions that their peers in the NBA may look to do a similar event during their All-Star Weekend in 2026. The men’s and women’s games have become more intertwined in recent years, and that partnership should continue to blossom.
Unrivaled resumed team play on Tuesday, February 18, with Rose BC vs Vinyl BC and Phantom BC vs. Laces BC.
Newly acquired Betnijah Laney-Hamilton got the Laces back in the win column. The 2024 WNBA champion will remain at Unrivaled as a reserve player.
Collier and the Lunar Owls look to continue their dominance.
📰 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:
A’ja Wilson and Jordan Chiles Know What It Takes to Win by Lucy Feldman for TIME Magazine
Unrivaled Draws Biggest Ratings Yet for One-on-One Semis and Finals by Ryan Glasspiegel for Front Office Sports
Who are the 2025 WNBA draft prospects coming out of Cal and Stanford this season? by Marisa Ingemi for the San Francisco Chronicle
Storm call bullying investigation 'a learning experience' by Kevin Pelton for ESPN
Where to Find the Best Deals on Hoka Shoes
Are you a runner? More specifically, a road runner? Hoka was built for that. Meaning “to fly” in Maori, Hoka was founded in 2009 so that runners could get the ultimate experience with optimum cushioning and stability. Less than 15 years after its founding, Hoka is bringing in revenues topping a billion dollars a year, so it’s clear that people are loving this brand. But with quality comes high prices, and Hoka is no doubt in the high end price-wise. So we’ve rounded up the best stores to find the best deals for Hoka.
ATHLETES UNLIMITED - WEEK 3
Team Heading into tonight’s games, Maddy Siegrist has catapulted to the top of the standings.
Can the Dallas Wings player hang on and return as one of the AU captains for next week?
Here’s the leaderboard ahead of the February 20 games:
Maddy Siegrist - 4347 pts.
Odyssey Sims - 4195 pts.
Crystal Bradford - 3184 pts.
Elizabeth Williams - 2899 pts.
Ty Harris - 2836 pts.
📻 BRM PODCAST NETWORK
On Monday, Erica and I went in-depth on Jaylyn Sherrod’s 2024!
Although the Liberty rookie didn’t see much playing time, her presence was very valuable to the 2024 team. As the youngest player on the roster, Sherrod got to sit back and learn from vets such as Courtney Vandersloot and Kayla Thornton as she begins her professional journey.
Sherrod has kept busy this off-season with Team USA and Athletes Unlimited play, and as we draw closer to the start of training camp, she’ll be looking to make a major impact for the reigning champions.
Up next on the Black Rosie Media Podcast Network is our deep dive into Mercedes Russell. ‘Cedes appears to be one of the players who wanted out after the 2024 season.
On the next episode of Tempestade Talk, Roberta Rodrigues and I will recap her time in Seattle, how she fits in Los Angeles, and what this all means for the Storm.
Join us on the Black Rosie Media YouTube channel at 7:00 p.m. PST for the live stream.
Can’t join us live, but do you still need your fix of WNBA talk?
We got you!
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.
📈 AP TOP 25 - WOMEN’S BASKETBALL
Outside of the fantastic Watkins performance on Thursday, we got a stone-cold shocker on Sunday afternoon in Columbia. It had been a while since the Connecticut Huskies beat the South Carolina Gamecocks, but UCONN resoundingly solved that problem.
Behind dominant performances from Sarah Strong and Azzi Fudd, UCONN beat the Gamecocks by a record 29 points in front of a sold-out national TV audience on February 16.
The win snapped South Carolina’s 71-game home winning streak and doubled as the second-largest defeat of the Dawn Staley era.
It’s one thing to lose, but there’s some reason for concern:
“We just got punked today. It’s very much embarrassing. That’s not who we are. It was very much self-inflicted as well.
We’ve just got to learn and grow from this opportunity and we’ve just got to do a better job giving effort and being mentally and physically tough.”
The Gamecocks are back in action tonight at home against Arkansas.
AP Rankings (as of February 17):
1 Notre Dame (↑1)
2 Texas (↑1)
3 UCLA (↓2)
4 Southern California (↑2)
5 UConn (↑2)
6 South Carolina (↓2)
7 LSU (↓2)
8 Ohio State (↑1)
9 North Carolina (↑3)
10 TCU (↑1)
11 Duke
12 Kansas State
13 North Carolina State (↓3)
14 Kentucky (↓6)
15 Tennessee
16 Oklahoma (↓1)
17 West Virginia (↑1)
18 Alabama (↑3)
19 Baylor (↑6)
20 Georgia Tech (↓1)
21 Maryland (↓4)
22 Michigan State
23 Creighton (↑1)
24 Oklahoma State (↑5)
25 Illinois
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