No skipping arm day.

JuJu Watkins says she’ll sit out 2025/26 NCAA season

USC star JuJu Watkins won’t take the court this year, the junior guard announced Sunday, saying she’ll miss the entire 2025/26 NCAA season while continuing to recover from injury.

• Watkins tore her ACL during the 2025 NCAA tournament, shortly after earning her second straight All-American nod while averaging 23.9 points and 6.8 rebounds per game — and leading the Trojans to the regular season Big Ten title.

• “These last few months have been filled with a lot of healing, rest, and reflection,” Watkins posted to social media. “Because you’ve been with me every step of the way, I wanted you to hear it from me directly that following the advice of my doctors and trainers, I will sit out this season and fully focus on continuing to recover so I can come back to the game I love.”

Big picture: While Watkins remains key to USC’s game plan, the Trojans’ hopes are still alive after making back-to-back Elite Eight appearances.

• No. 1 high school recruit Jasmine “Jazzy” Davidson will join the team this season, coming in with big shoes to fill as USC also faces losing Kiki Iriafen and Rayah Marshall to the pros — and sophomore guard Kayleigh Heckle to UConn.

• “While we will certainly miss her impact on the court, [JuJu] continues to play a vital role in our program as a leader and teammate,” said USC head coach Lindsey Gottlieb. “The strength and maturity she has shown through this process is a reflection of who she is, and we know the Trojan Family will continue to rally behind her.”

Bottom line: ACL recovery timelines can vary, but recent history has shown that taking a methodical approach can make a player’s return all the more powerful.

Phoenix sends Collier-less No. 1 Minnesota packing

No. 4 Phoenix is headed to their first WNBA finals since 2021, sweeping a two-game semifinal homestand against No. 1 Minnesota with Sunday’s 86-81 Game 4 win.

• The Mercury is the first team in playoffs history to come back from multiple 14-point deficits in a single series, with Alyssa Thomas putting up 23 points to complete last night’s comeback.

• “No one has had expectations for us except ourselves,” Phoenix coach Nate Tibbetts said postgame. “The pride and the togetherness for such a new group, it’s pretty impressive.” (Watch full highlights)

Big picture: After ceding a 20-point lead in Game 2, the Lynx’s prospects took an even bigger hit, as leading scorer Napheesa Collier exited Friday’s Game 3 with a serious ankle injury that left her sidelined for Sunday’s big Game 4.

• “You just want it for the people around you,” Minnesota guard Kayla McBride said after Sunday’s loss. “You want it for the people who grind with you every single day, good days, bad days, bus rides, locker room.”

• “In pro sports, it doesn’t get any better than what we have in our locker room,” McBride continued. “I would feel [this emotion] one hundred times over to be with the people that I’ve been with.”

Up next: Phoenix will now await the winner of Tuesday’s semifinal Game 5, with the best-of-seven WNBA finals set to tip off on Friday.

Indiana upsets Las Vegas to force Game 5

Injury-plagued Indiana’s postseason dreams are still alive, with the No. 6 Fever holding off the No. 2 Aces 90-83 in Sunday’s Game 4 to force a winner-take-all semifinal decider back in Las Vegas.

• After Friday’s Game 3 loss saw them fall behind 2-1, center Aliyah Boston and guard Kelsey Mitchell combined for 49 of Indiana’s 90 points on Sunday.

• “The desperation and the urgency that we play with when we’re in those positions has been exactly what we need,” Fever head coach Stephanie White said postgame. (Watch full highlights)

Big picture: The fired-up Aces expressed frustration after Sunday’s upset, as officiating issues continue to take center stage throughout the postseason.

• “[Indiana] shot 34 free throws, and we shot 11,” Aces head coach Becky Hammon told reporters, with game-leading scorer A’ja Wilson adding that Boston alone shot 13 free throws — more than Las Vegas’s entire team.

• “I did appreciate it was a little tighter call, but tighter on both ends would have been nice,” continued Hammon.

Tune in: The Aces and Fever close out the semis on Tuesday at 9:30 PM ET, live on ESPN2.

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Lynx coach Cheryl Reeve suspended ahead of Game 4 loss

Minnesota was without a leader in Sunday’s Game 4 loss, as head coach Cheryl Reeve served a one-game suspension following her Game 3 ejection.

• After Lynx star Napheesa Collier went down with injury in the dying seconds of Friday’s loss, Reeve had to be restrained by her staff, earning her second technical foul of the game for confronting the officials.

• “The officiating crew that we had tonight, for the leadership to deem those three people semifinal-playoff worthy, it’s f--ing malpractice,” she said after the game.

Catching heat: In a Saturday statement, the league said that Reeve’s suspension stemmed from “aggressively pursuing and verbally abusing a game official on the court, [and] failure to leave the court in a timely manner upon her ejection.”

• Officiating has been under fire throughout the 2025 playoffs, with coaches like Natalie Nakase and Becky Hammon expressing concerns about the quality and consistency of postseason calls.

• “If this is what the league wants, okay, but I want to call for a change of leadership at the league level when it comes to officiating,” said Reeve.

Play on: With support from the National Basketball Referees Association, the same three-person crew that refereed Friday’s Game 3 in Minnesota was assigned to Sunday’s Game 4 in Indiana.

Washington Spirit clinch NWSL playoff berth

The Spirit punched their NWSL playoff ticket on Sunday, downing No. 10 Houston 4-0 to maintain a six-point grip on No. 2 behind Shield winners Kansas City.

• Washington forward Gift Monday scored a first-half hat trick in just 36 minutes — the fastest in the club’s history at Audi Field.

• “I want to say a very big thank you to my coach for trusting me and giving me the opportunity to start in this game,” said Monday. “I think the hat trick has been waiting for me for a very long time.” (Watch full highlights)

Big picture: With only four regular-season match-weeks remaining and just six points separating No. 3 from No. 9 in the NWSL standings, the battle for the league’s final six postseason berths is heating up.

• No. 3 Gotham is on a roll, extending their unbeaten streak to six with Friday’s win over Portland, while No. 8 Louisville still clings to their spot above the cutoff line after Saturday’s win over Angel City — their first in five matches.

Number of the day 

81,885

England won their first Rugby World Cup title in over a decade on Saturday, downing Canada in front of 81,885 fans — a new women’s rugby world record.