It’s going up.

Racing makes a run

The NWSL is officially taking a breather, coming off a roller-coaster final weekend slate to kick off this season’s extended summer break.

• With half the regular season in the books, No. 1 Kansas City extended their lead at the top of the NWSL table, holding a towering eight point lead over No. 2 Orlando after Friday’s 1-0 win over No. 11 Angel City.

Up and up: One team looking to lock in momentum is No. 7 Racing Louisville, as the 2021 expansion side zeros in on a franchise-first playoff run with Friday’s 2-0 upset win over Orlando.

• Louisville’s refreshed roster has won five of their last seven matches, entering the break on a 6-5-2 record.

• “It’s all about us. We’re not really focused on the other team like we did a little last year,” midfielder Taylor Flint said. “What are we going to do — what’s our identity? I think that’s a huge part of how we’ve been winning all these games.”

Down the ladder: However, the NWSL’s bottom four teams — Angel City, No. 12 Houston, No. 13 Chicago, and No. 14 Utah — will be looking for a major reboot, after none managed to register a single win in over five games played.

• “We go from here, we break now, recharge, and we will be a very difficult opponent for a lot of teams in the second part of the season. That is our target now,” said Angel City head coach Alexander Straus after Friday’s loss.

Bottom line: There’s still a lot of games left, with skidding teams banking on fresh starts while surging squad prepare to hit the ground running as soon as the season picks back up in August.

Liberty woes continue

The New York Liberty battled through injury and absences over the weekend, falling to Seattle 89-79 on Sunday to extend their losing streak to two — despite retaining their second-place spot in the WNBA standings.

• Already missing starting forward Leonie Fiebich due to EuroBasket, the Liberty was also forced to take the court without center Jonquel Jones and guard Sabrina Ionescu.

• Jones is set to miss four to six weeks of action with an ankle injury, the team announced on Saturday, while Ionescu is day-to-day with a neck issue.

Big picture: Despite dropping two of their last three matchups, the reigning champions appear to be taking their recent downturn on the chin.

• “This isn’t going to be the hardest thing that we face all season,” said forward Breanna Stewart after Sunday’s loss. “We have to kind of embrace the adversity a little bit, whether it’s we’re down players or things happen in the middle of the game.”

In good company: New York wasn’t the only team with weekend trouble, as Indiana followed up Thursday’s upset with a loss to Las Vegas on Sunday.

• Fever guard Caitlin Clark is one-for-17 from behind the arc in her last two games, as Indiana struggles to break out of their seventh-place standing.

Up next: New York will hope for added firepower on Wednesday, as they face a rising Golden State team at 10 PM ET, live on League Pass.

Storm rages on

Seattle came away as the WNBA’s biggest victors this weekend, first taking down Las Vegas before toppling New York to record six wins in their last seven games.

• Powered by guard Skylar Diggins and forward Nneka Ogwumike, the No. 5 Storm are now just one game behind the similarly surging No. 4 Atlanta Dream, while trailing the red-hot No. 3 Phoenix Mercury by 1.5 games.

• “Staying ready is what the group is,” Seattle head coach Noelle Quinn told reporters on Friday. “They’re professionals, they’re vets.”

Big picture: Teams at the top of the WNBA standings aren’t the only squads that saw weekend success, as No. 6 Golden State pushed their winning streak to two with Sunday’s 87-63 thrashing of last-place Connecticut.

• No. 8 Las Vegas and No. 9 Washington also finished on a high note, as both teams bounced back from tough Friday losses on with big wins on Sunday.

Up next: The Storm suit back up for another tricky test on Tuesday, hosting the always-dangerous Indiana Fever at 10 PM ET, live on NBA TV.

Sports are a numbers game. And whether it's shattering PWHL attendance records or dropping triple-doubles on the college court, there's never been a better time to celebrate the most powerful moments in women's sports.

This major moment is presented by Discover®.

Australia’s Lee cashes in

29-year-old Australian golfer Minjee Lee came out on top at the KPMG Women’s PGA Championship, lifting her third-career major tournament trophy on Sunday.

• “Obviously, the result was really good, but I’m really happy how I handled myself, my emotions, all the adversity,” she said afterwards. “The course is playing really, really tough, but I feel like this week my team and I were very locked in.”

Big picture: The win earned Lee a $1.8 million cut of the event’s $12 million prize pool, with second-place finishers Chanettee Wannasaen and Auston Kim taking home $944,867 each.

• The tournament’s top three were the only participants to finish below par, after a punishing week of windier-than-usual conditions.

Dark horses emerge on grass

The WTA Tour’s biggest names are prepping for a challenge, as dark horses continue to dominate the grass court ahead of next Monday’s Grand Slam in London.

• Injury-plagued 2023 Wimbledon champ Markéta Vondroušová earned her first title in two years at this weekend’s Berlin Open, taking down world No. 1 Aryna Sabalenka in the semis before besting China’s Wang Xinyo in the final.

• “I feel like it could not have been better for us here. We were all working really hard,” Vondroušová said after the win.

Big picture: A Wimbledon title has so far eluded every player currently ranked in the WTA’s Top 10, including Sabalenka, No. 2 Coco Gauff, and No. 8 Iga Świątek.

• No. 11 Elena Rybakina is the highest-ranked Wimbledon winner, having hoisted the trophy in 2022.

Number of the day

515,993

Indiana Fever guard Caitlin Clark received 515,993 first-round fan votes for the 2025 All-Star Game — 31,235 more than second-place finisher Napheesa Collier.