The Guru WNBA Weekend Report: New York and Golden State Get Off to 2-0 Starts While Bueckers and Dallas Spoil the Return of Indiana’s Clark
By Mel Greenberg @womhoopsgurux
NEW YORK – The WNBA 30th season is now under way, launching here in Brooklyn and two other cities, including one of its two newest in Toronto, Friday night, highlighted by the New York Liberty winning big and winning narrowly, the matchup of the last two rookies of the year, and a lot of stories across the rest of the league before huge crowds everywhere.
Golden State, in its second season, also got off to a 2-0 start winning 91-80 at Seattle in Friday’s other game, and then taking its home opener Sunday 95-79 over Phoenix, which Saturday spoiled defending champion Las Vegas’ season and home opener 99-66.
The Aces, who have won three of the last four championships, concluded a dynamite unbeaten regular season run from the midpoint and then defeated the Mercury 4-0 for the title.
We begin the weekend review where we were Friday night in one of three games as the Liberty, though shorthanded, with a refined look trounced the Connecticut Sun 106-75 at the Barclays Center before a sellout crowd of 17,615.
For a young Sun roster that will be in a rebuilding role it’s the start of a farewell season up North as the franchise that had been the Orlando Miracle when the Mohegans bought it in 2003 moves on next season to Houston under NBA owners restoring a city that was the site of the first four WNBA champions as the Comets (1997-2000) and for a while had become the gold standard, though never winning a title having fallen just short several times.
The opener here was decided quickly, the home team firing away for a 36-13 lead after one period, giving former longtime NBA Golden State Warriors assistant Chris DeMarco, one of five new coaches, his first win as New York also celebrated its 30th anniversary season opener, most of what was spent over in Madison Square Garden in Manhattan under the NBA Knicks until ownership jettisoned the team that was then grabbed by the NBA Nets who immediately rebuilt the team and saw it win its first title in 2024.
New York jumped to a 9-0 start last season until injuries took their toll and the Liberty (27-17) went out in the first round to eventual runner-up Phoenix, also one of the original eight charter franchises.
Sandy Brondello was surprisingly axed a few days later but was quickly hired as Toronto’s first coach.
Also not back after one season is former Saint Joseph’s great Natasha Cloud during the hectic free-agent period after the historic CBA agreement was inked in mid-March but was ultimately signed by the Chicago Sky last week.
As for Friday, “We wanted to punch first,” said mainstay and former UConn great Breanna Stewart, who poured down 31 points with 10 rebounds and three blocks after a season of missing considerable time with injuries.
“Knowing that this is a season opener, home opener, a lot of different things, lot of different people here, some familiar people here, but this is turning the page and turning the chapter a little bit, and focusing on what we have now and making sure we start strong this season.”
Injuries back at the outset cut New York down to seven available players, including mainstay Sabrina Ionescu, hurt in the final preseason game but expected back within two weeks, while the Liberty signed two players to hardship contracts.
One of them, Julie Van Loo, who was waived by Los Angeles, hopped a cross-country flight arriving 1 a.m. and then getting a near triple double with 12 points, 11 assists, and seven boards.
Jonquel Jones, the adopted daughter of Temple coach Diane Richardson, scored 10 points, while Marine Johannes used five 3-pointers on the way to 17.
Also missing is free agent hire Satou Sabally with a cyst that has her listed day-to-day.
The only blots in DeMarco’s debut were 18 turnovers and a 10-for-31 on 3-point attempts.
But considering the roster situation and overall performance he felt pleased with the start.
“We wanted depth and if this (period dealing missing players) happened we wanted to be prepared offensively and defensively, just keep the music playing, offensively keep the ball moving,” he said. “Really happy across the board.”
Also, back after rehabbing all last season, is Betnijah Laney-Hamilton, the former Rutgers great and daughter of Cheyney all-American Yolanda Laney.
Connecticut’s newbie Diamond Miller scored 16 points and second-year pro Aneesah Morrow out of LSU collected 15 points.
New York then moved down to Washington as part of the league’s four-game Sunday Mother’s Day slate and emerged with a 98-93 win in overtime against the Mystics (1-1) as Johannes nailed six 3-pointers and scored 25 points while Stewart had 23 points and nine boards in the game at CareFirst Arena, a small venue, before a crowd of 4,200.
Liberty rookie Pauline Astier scored 18 points with seven assists, five boards and two steals, shooting 6-for-10 from the field and 6-of-7 on the line.
Stewart’s missed jumper at the end of regulation sent the game in overtime and in the final 29 seconds Laney-Hamilton and Astier around a Washington turnover each hit a pair of foul shots.
Second-year pro Kiki Iriafen had 20 points for Washington with 12 boards while Sonia Citron, part of the dynamic rookie tandem with Iriafen last season, had 17 points.
Additionally, Shakira Austin scored 16 with 10 boards while Georgia Amoore, who missed her rookie season, had seven points and seven assists.
The Mystics were coming off Friday’s 68-65 win helping Toronto make its WNBA debut before a sellout crowd of 8,210 at the Tempo’s Coca Cola Coliseum in the game attended by WNBA Commissioner Cathy Engelbert.
Citron had 26 points, shooting 9-for-12, including 3-of-6 from deep, while Austin had 18 points and 11 boards, and Iriafen also double-doubled with 12 points and 16 boards.
Austin’s four foul shots down the stretch helped Washington spoil Toronto’s opener.
The Tempo’s Marina Mabrey, the former Notre Dame star plucked from Connecticut in the expansion draft, scored 27, while Brittney Sykes, who scored the franchise’s first points in history following Washington rookie Cassandre Prosper’s opening score, finished with 14 but missed a three with 14 seconds left depriving Toronto of going in front.
The new team struggled from the field shooting 17-for-63 including 5-for-25 from distance.
“The fans were fantastic,” Brondello said afterwards. “It was a very ugly game, but we can play way prettier than that as we move forward. We didn’t play as much as a team as we would have liked but that’s an easy fix.”
Former Villanova star Lucy Olsen, whose final season was at Iowa, is back with Washington, following her rookie season and playing over the winter in Australia.
She was scoreless in ten minutes off the bench in Toronto but picked up five points shooting 2-for-2 in five minutes off the loss to New York.
Dallas Edges Indiana Spoiling Clark’s Return in a 107-104 Shootout
A sellout crowd of 17,274 at the Gainbridge Center Saturday in Indianapolis welcomed back Caitlin Clark, the former Iowa great and 2024 rookie of the year who was limited to 13 games last season and sidelined since July 15 before recently playing with USA Basketball in a tournament qualifier.
But former UConn star Paige Bueckers, the reigning rookie of the year, had her Dallas team, considered to have had the best off-season, get the last word and make former longtime South Florida coach Jose Fernandez a winner in his pro debut.
Clark, the cash cow who has brought the WNBA to a new level after elevating the collegiate game to a new level her final two seasons at Iowa, had 20 points, seven assists, and five rebounds, but she missed a three that could have sent the game into overtime and was just 2-for-9 from deep.
“ I feel good,” she said afterwards. Started off a little slow, I think just the anxiety of the first game, trying to work through that.
“But overall, I felt good, felt fast out there. Felt like I was literally a couple buckets away from putting together a really, really good game and helping us win.”
“We wouldn’t have played her 30 minutes if she wasn’t OK,” Indiana coach Stephanie White said of Clark twice leaving the bench twice to have medical personnel help get her back adjusted, something the Fever coach said many players do.
White will also be on Lawson’s staff with USA.
This game was a loaded All-Star extravaganza from both sides and also including the college reunion on the Wings of Bueckers with number one overall pick Azzi Fudd.
Former Notre Dame great and WNBA scoring standout Arike Ogunbowale, who missed her last 12 games of the season, scored 22 for Dallas, while Bueckers and signee Odyssey Sims, the former Baylor playmaker, each scored 20.
Former Villanova all-time scorer Maddy Siegriest, the third overall pick of the 2023 draft, off the bench had seven points in 18 minutes for the Wings, while Jessica Shepard had 13 points and nine boards and reserve Aziaha James, the 12th overall pick by Dallas last season, had 10 points off the bench.
Fudd had a 3-pointer in 18 minutes off the bench.
Indiana’s Kelsey Mitchell poured down 30 points, 2023 No. 1 overall pick Aliyah Boston out of South Carolina scored 23, shooting 9-for-14, and reserve Makayla Timpson scored 11 points.
“That’s what basketball is all about, the best trying to compete against the best.” Mitchell said. “Yeah, I think there’s an excitement across the board for the fans, the players, the coaches. “I think everybody gets a little excited to see really good basketball.”
Golden State Also Swept the Weekend
The Valkyries, who became the first new team to make the playoffs in its debut season, took Friday’s other game 91-80 in Seattle spoiling the debut of Storm coach Sonia Raman, the first WNBA mentor of Indian descent who was an NBA assistant in Memphis and on Brandello’s staff last season in New York.
Janelle Salaun scored 20 points, propelled bi five 3-pointers, for the winners, whose Natalie Nakase, the first Asian American mentor in the league, was the WNBA coach of the year last season and recently appointed as one of Duke’s Kara Lawson’s assistants on the USA squad that will compete in the FIBA world championships.
Former Princeton star Kaitlyn Chen, whose grad season was at UConn, scored all her career-high 14 points in the second half, while Kayla Thornton scored 13.
Former UConn star Gabby Williams, who was on the French runnerups to USA at the Paris Olympics, scored seven points and grabbed six boards against her former team where she played from 2022 through last season.
Seattle’s Dominique Malonga, one of the top WNBA rookies in 2025, scored 21 while reserve Zia Cooke scored 15, Jade Melbourne scored 13, and rookie Flau’jae Johnson, the overall No. 8 pick out of LSU score 12 months.
The Storm are missing Ezi Magbegor, out six to eight weeks with a right foot injury.
Golden State then went home on Sunday to the Chase Center in San Francisco, starting where they left off selling out all 18,064 seats every game for a record, and blasted Phoenix 95-79 as Salun off the bench scored 21 points and Williams scored with four boards.
The Valkyries have been rated as the WNBA’s top valued franchise ahead of New York.
Thornton scored 19 for Golden State while former Northwestern star Veronica Burton had 13 points and 12 assists.
“Attention to detail was key and we owned the boards,” Nakase said Sunday.
Maryland grad Alyssa Thomas, one of the top league MVP contenders last season, had 19 points, 11 assists and nine boards, nearly adding to her large triple-double collection playing for Connecticut and recently having moved to Phoenix last year.
The Mercury in a back-to-back crushed Las Vegas Saturday 99-66, the largest road franchise win in which Natasha Mack had 15 boards but was held to two Sunday by the Valkyries.
Retired Hall of Fame Stanford coach Tara VanDerveer was at the Phoenix game in San Francisco.
In the Phoenix game at Las Vegas, Thomas scored 20 against the Aces, who after a 111-58 loss to Minnesota won their final 16 games ahead of the playoffs.
Six players for the Mercury scored in double figures with rookie Jovanna Nogic of Serbia collecting 19 points, all in the first half, while Mack had 10 points with her 15 boards.
“There’s a reason now while some of these players will start coming over here,” Phoenix coach Nate Tibbetts said of Nogic, alluding to the six digit and million-dollar salaries gained by the players in the landmark labor deal.
Tibbetts will also be on Lawson’s staff appointed by Sue Bird, the former UConn and WNBA great now in charge on the USA Basketball women’s programs.
Saturday’s game before a crowd of 16,511 was at the T-Mobile Arena, larger than the Michelob Ultra Arena where the Aces play most of their games and where the championship banner will be hung later this month.
Four-time and reigning MVP A’ja Wilson scored 19 for Las Vegas, while Jackie Young scored 12 and NaLyssa Smith scored 11 points.
Vegas owner Mark Davis, who also owns the NFL Raiders, and minority owner Tom Brady over both teams, were at Saturday’s games.
Bouncing Back
On Sunday, Seattle and the Aces both bounced back with wins – the Storm winning 89-82 at Connecticut before a near-capacity crowd of 7,374 at the Mohegan Sun Arena in Uncasville while Las Vegas won 105-78 at Los Angeles ruining the Sparks’ season and home opener before a crowd of 12,266 at the Crypto.com Arena.
In the Seattle win, Lexie Brown had five 3s on the way to 17 points, while rookie Johnson had 16, Melbourne off the bench had 15 points and six assists, while Natisha Hiedeman had 11 points.
Malonga was limited to 20 minutes by foul trouble scoring six points with seven boards and three blocks and two steals.
Morrow had 17 points and a personal best 16 boards for the Sun while free agent Brittney Griner scored 16 and Miller scored 13. Kennedy Burke was also in double figures with 12 points, six rebounds, five assists and two blocks.
Second-year pro Hailey Van Lith, signed after cut by Chicago, added nine points with four helpers off the bench.
Out in Los Angeles, Chennedy Carter scored 22 for the winning Aces, Young had 20 with nine assists, while Wilson had 19 points and four boards to reach 2,502 for her career.
The former South Carolina great is tied with former Sparks Hall of Famer Lisa Leslie at 269 to be third fastest to 2,500 boards, while recently retired Tina Charles, the former UConn sensation, has the record at 248 games.
Additionally, Chelsea Gray scored 16 and Smith scored 12 for the Aces, who had their second-best shooting in franchise history with 43-of-69 for 62%.
Los Angeles’ Kelsey Plum scored 27 points while Nneka Ogwumike, recently back with the Sparks after two seasons in Seattle had 19 points and 10 boards.
The Sparks welcomed former Iowa star Kate Martin, signed to development spot after a surprise cut by Golden State last week.
“It was brutal,” she said in an emotional interview prior to the game.
“It was a business decision. That’s what professional sports is. It’s a business … It wasn’t an easy process, and now I feel like I can relate to a lot more people on a level I never wanted to be able to relate on. But it’s going to help me as a leader and a person going forward.”
Golden State’s Nakase said to reporters, the move was “very emotional, a lot of heartache. Kate was our family member and someone we cared about deeply. And we still do care deeply about Kate.
“It’s hard because we are trying to build the best team possible.”
Miles Impresses in Minnesota Narrow Loss
The juggernaut that was the Minnesota Lynx most of last season until injuries impacted the finish, will take a while to get near that form with players lost in free agency and in the draft lottery, and Napheesa Collier won’t be back from injury until next month.
But former Notre Dame and TCU sensation Olivia Miles, the Number 2 overall pick, starred in her debut scoring 21 points with eight assists, two steals, and two blocks in a narrow 91-90 season and home opening loss Saturday to Atlanta before a crowd of 10,821 at the Target Center.
“We didn’t come out in the third quarter and we knew what they were going to do,” said Minnesota coach Cheryl Reeve, the former La Salle star who is a 2026 Women’s Basketball Hall of Fame in Knoxville, Tenn., next month, of her team’s performance, blowing a 52-37 halftime lead as Atlanta outscored the Lynx 54-38 the rest of the way.
But of Miles, “She played great. She played great. She did a lot of things well. She learned a lot of things, I’m sure. It’s her first game.”
Allisha Gray scored 16 of her 24 points in the second half for the visiting Dream, recently dealt Angel Reese dealt from Chicago, had 11 points and 14 rebounds.
Reese also blocked an attempted game-winner.
With 50 double-doubles in 65 games Reese is the fastest to reach that milestone in league history.
Naz Hillmon added 15 points as did Rhyne Howard to the Atlanta attack and Jordin Canada scored 12.
Minnesota’s Kayla McBride scored 18, Courtney Williams scored 14 and rookie Emma Cechova scored 12.
Chicago Ruins Portland Debut
A crowd of 19,335 at the Moda Center Saturday welcomed the return of Portland to the WNBA fold but the night belonged to Chicago, winning 98-83, also spoiling the coaching debut of Alex Sarama, a former NBA Cleveland assistant.
The host Fire had the same nickname when it closed shop 24 years ago.
Former South Carolina star Kamilla Cordoso scored 22 points with 14 rebounds for the visiting Sky.
Down 17 in the first half, the Fire rallied, blazing to a 70-70 tie on Bridget Carleton’s shot from beyond the arc with 8:39 left in regulation before Chicago regained control.
Carla Leite, who scored the expansion franchise’s first basket, scored 18 for the game.
Chicago is retooled with just four veterans following a 10-24 season and former Notre Dame star Skylar Diggins, one of the free agent adds, had 21 points with 11 boards.
Additionally, former Tennessee star Rickea Jackson had 19 points, Jacy Sheldon had 13, and first round pick Gabrelia Jaquez out of NCAA champion UCLA had 10 points as all four Chicago players scored in double figures as did reserve Elizabeth Williams with 10 points.
Portland’s Carleton finished with 13 points and former Iowa star Megan Gustafson scored 10.
Looking Ahead
The league is dark Monday on what will again be a 44-game schedule while on Tuesday all three games are on the website’s League Pass as Dallas hosts Atlanta at 8 p.m. and Portland hosts New York and Phoenix hosts Minnesota at 10 p.m.
On Wednesday, Toronto hosts Seattle at 7 p.m. on league pass, Connecticut hosts Las Vegas at 8 as USA becomes part of the national platforms, while at 10 p.m., GoldenState hosts Chicago at 10 p.m. on League Pass and Los Angeles hosts Indiana at 10:30 p.m. on USA.
The Thursday night Amazon Primetime doubleheader has Dallas hosting Minnesota at 8 p.m. and Portland hosting New York at 10 p.m.
All four Friday games are on League Pass beginning with Connecticut hosting Las Vegas at 7:30 p.m. while ION joins the other three -Indiana hosting Washington at 7:30 p.m., and at 10 p.m., Los Angeles hosts Toronto, and Phoenix hosts Chicago.
The league is dark Saturday.
posted by Mel Greenberg | 1:05 PM
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