The Guru’s UPSHOT Report: Jacksonville Quickly Heads to the Top With a 3-Game Weekend Sweep

By Mel Greenberg @womhoopsguru

Weekend two is now in the books of the new four-team UPSHOT women’s pro basketball league operating in the South in Georgia, Florida, and North Carolina under commissioner Donna Orender, the former second president of the WNBA, and now that some flesh and blood have become available on the recent action and the WNBA idle Tuesday we can wrap up UPSHOT games.

All the contests can be seen free on the league’s YouTube channel.

Day-to-day operations are under former ABL and WNBA standout Taj McWilliams-Franklin, who played here on the Philadelphia Rage in the ABL.

In a preseason press conference, UPSHOT co-founder  Andy Kaufmann of Zawyer Sports & Entertainment, said the league begins with a $40 million investment from the likes of Hall of Famers Cheryl Miller, Tamika Catchings, and Ann Meyers-Drysdale among 90 investors and financial partners and next year teams in Baltimore and Nashville are being added with a long-range goal of 30.

Kauffman is Zawyer’s CEO overseeing an array of minor league hockey teams and a minor-league baseball team in Gastonia, N.C.

The Jacksonville Daily Record quoted him describing the league’s revenue model primarily based on sponsorships and ticket sales “based on sustainability” as compared to models driven by media rights deals, merchandise sales and other streams.

Described in multiple media coverage as a developmental product in the manner of the NBA G-League as the 76ers’ associate team down in nearby Wilmington, Del., Orender emphasizes UPSHOT as one of opportunity that could see players get picked up by the WNBA 15 squads as needed beyond the recent transformational CBA settlement that grew roster sizes to 12 players with an additional pair of developmental ones allowed to play in 12 games.

That didn’t cure everything as evidenced by some hardship signees in the early season due to injuries and late arrivals off international competition.

Off of that information, some investigation is occurring whether a Philly team in 2028 and 2029 could be viable as a run-up to 2030 when the 76ers/Comcast WNBA team becomes active.

 Enough places in the area exists in summer competition without the potential UPSHOT team’s need to play in the 76ers/NHL Flyers home in South Philadelphia.

Having launched on May 15, the UPSHOT roots took hold in January 2025, and the league rosters recently attracted some late WNBA player cuts before that season got under way.

Saint Joseph’s alum Chloe Welch made a roster in Charlotte and Hawks coach Cindy Griffin reported her former player expressing excitement.

Right now, the teams are playing 40-game schedules half home and half on the road.

Opening weekend drew sellout crowds in the smaller venues where games are played.

Standings-wise, the Jacksonville Waves, coached by Philadelphia native Jess Bogia who also was involved with the AAU Philadelphia Belles, are off to a 3-1 start after dropping their season and home opener the first night.

The Greensboro Groove are a half-game behind at 3-2 having beaten the Charlotte Crown (1-2) Monday 89-73 concluding the span of days that began Thursday night.

The Savannah Steel is fourth at 1-3 and coached by Coretta Brown, who was Georgia’s 1999 player of the year in high school.

Greensboro is coached by Janice Washington who recently coached in the area here at Lincoln University in the western suburbs while Charlotte is headed by Trisha Stafford-Odom, a former WNBA player who was on the staffs at UCLA, Duke and North Carolina and at the helm at North Carolina Central.

Recaps of the Holiday Span

On Thursday Jacksonville paid Charlotte back ruining the Crown home opener 98-86 paced by Memphis grad Ariel Hearn, a 5-9 guard, with 23 points and 10 rebounds while Maryland grad Shyanne Sellers scored 21 ahead of four other players in double figures including former Tennessee star Rennia Davis with 12 points and 10 boards.

Former Oregon and UNC star Deja Kelly and Duke standout Reigan Richardson each scored 17 for Charlotte while Louisville great Asia Durr scored 12 and South Carolina’s E’lisia Grissett scored 11.

Saint Joe’s Welch scored 5 with three boards in 15 minutes.

Being the busiest of the league quartet, Jacksonville was back home on Saturday picking up a tight 80-76 win over Greensboro in which the Waves jumped to an 18-7 start before dominating the next period 28-15 and then had to withstand a second half rally outscored 24-17 in the third period and 30-17 in the fourth.

Hearn led Jacksonville with 14 points while former Northwestern star Lindsey Pulliam scored 13 and Jasmine Walker, who played at Alabama, scored 12 points with Davis bolstering the attack with 11 points and 11 boards.

Greensboro’s Diamond Johnson, the Philly native who played at Rutgers, North Carolina State and Norfolk State, and Michigan State’s Kamaria McDaniel each scored 24 points.

The Waves then went back on the road to Georgia Sunday beating Savannah 78-75 in another close one as Hearn poured in 20 points, Davis scored 18, Pulliam had 17 and Sellers scored 12.

The host Steel got 15 points from Purdue’s Lasha Petree, 12 each from Florida Gulf Coast’s Lauryn Taylor and Notre Dame’s Iyana Moore, while Tennessee’s Zee Spearman scored 11.

On Friday, Savannah at home got their first win beating Greensboro 85-67 as Petrie scored 24, Harvard star Harmoni Turner scored 17, and Taylor collected 11 points and 10 boards.

Greensboro’s Johnson had 16 points to lead the Groove, with LSU’s Amiya Joyner scoring 13, Colorado grad Mya Hollingshed scored 12 and McDaniel scored 11.

The Greensboro roster includes UConn’s Christyn Williams and North Carolina’s Maria Gakdeng.

The Groove came back Monday in the easy win at Charlotte as McDaniel and Williams each scored 21 points while Charlotte was balanced in the loss, Richardson and Kentucky’s Dazia Lawrence each with 14, Durr scored 11, Kelly had 10 as did Cal-Berkeley’s Michelle Oniyah while Grissett pulled down 15 rebounds.

Welch in 14 minutes had two points and three boards in 14 minutes.

UPSHOT LOOKING AHEAD

The WNBA’s weekly schedule look ahead can be found in Monday’s wrapup at the bottom under this report.

Play in UPSHOT resumes Thursday as Charlotte visits Savannah at 7 p.m., on Friday the two play again in Georgia also at 7 p.m., while Saturday has Jacksonville at Greensboro at 4 p.m. and Savannah at Charlotte at 7 p.m. with Sunday wrapping up with Jacksonville at Greensboro at 2 p.m.