A'ja Wilson doesn't remember much after figuring out that WNBA Commissioner Cathy Engelbert was surprising her with the league's MVP award.
Candace Parker was a freshman at Tennessee the first time she voted in a U.S. election.
It left a lasting impression on her ,and now 16 years later she's hoping to get others to understand...
KNOXVILLE, Tenn. (AP) — Evina Westbrook is transferring from Tennessee after sharing the team lead in scoring this season.
New Lady Vols coach Kellie Harper said in a statement Tuesday that...
KNOXVILLE, Tenn. (AP) — Tennessee guard Evina Westbrook is having a breakout season for the Lady Vols.
Westbrook is the first Lady Vol to score 20-plus points in four consecutive games since two-time WNBA Most Valuable Player Candace Parker did it in 2007-08, Tennessee's last national championship season.
"Scoring four points or scoring 30 points, I'm going to do what my team needs me to do," Westbrook said.
LOS ANGELES (AP) — Former NBA player and coach Derek Fisher has been hired to coach the WNBA's Los Angeles Sparks.
The Sparks announced the move Wednesday, five days after longtime WNBA coach Brian Agler resigned.
Fisher helped the Los Angeles Lakers win five NBA titles during his 18-season playing career and served as president of the players' union. He coached the New York Knicks from 2014-2016.
NEW YORK (AP) — The draft is finished and the squads are set for Team Delle Donne and Team Parker in the WNBA All-Star Game.
The league switched its format this year with captains choosing the sides and getting rid of conference affiliations. Both Candace Parker and Elena Delle Donne kept their WNBA teammates close for the game that will be played in Minnesota on July 28.
NEW YORK (AP) — Elena Delle Donne and Candace Parker will captain the WNBA All-Star teams.
Maya Moore was the top vote-getter, but told the league she was unable to perform the captain duties.
MINNEAPOLIS (AP) — No one on the Los Angeles Sparks or Minnesota Lynx really likes to talk about it, but deep down inside most of them knew this is how it was going to end.
The two best teams in the WNBA meeting in the finals again. Ready to go at each other like a year ago in a tense, entertaining and down-to-the-wire finish that ended on a last-second shot in Game 5 to give the Sparks the championship.
LONG BEACH, Calif. (AP) — Los Angeles Sparks star Candace Parker needed a lot of ice to get her ankle ready for Thursday night.
And yet, it's the Phoenix Mercury at risk of getting frozen out.
Parker had 24 points and 13 rebounds — showing no effects of an injury — to help Los Angeles beat Phoenix 86-72 in Game 2 of a WNBA semifinal series.
The defending champion Sparks have won nine straight games and can sweep the best-of-five series Sunday in Arizona after taking a commanding 2-0 lead.
ATLANTA (AP) — Angel McCoughtry has no regrets about becoming the latest WNBA player to sit out the season to rest and recover from playing professional basketball year-round.
"I'm not waking up aching, nothing is hurting right now," said the 30-year-old Atlanta Dream forward. "It's a good feeling."
Breanna Stewart can now compete against other WNBA players in a video game.
NBA Live 18 is adding women's basketball players to the popular game this fall. It's the first time players on all 12 WNBA teams will be featured.
LOS ANGELES (AP) — Multiple stars from last summer's Rio Olympics highlight this year's nominees for best male and female athletes for The ESPYS.
Swimmer Michael Phelps, who won five gold medals in Rio, joins National League MVP Kris Bryant of the Chicago Cubs, Pittsburgh Penguins captain Sidney Crosby and Oklahoma City Thunder guard Russell Westbrook as the four nominees for best male athlete.
NEW YORK (AP) — There hasn't been a back-to-back champion in the WNBA since Los Angeles won consecutive titles in 2001-02.
The Sparks are trying to accomplish that feat again, but have struggled recently, dropping their last two games. They didn't lose their second game last season until July 17 — 22 games in. They play New York Tuesday night.
NEW YORK (AP) — It took Candace Parker nearly a decade to win a WNBA championship. Now the Los Angeles Sparks will try to make sure she's there to enjoy another celebration of last season's title.
The Sparks postponed their ring ceremony a week because Parker, Jantel Lavender and Essence Carson are still playing overseas in the Turkish League finals.
"I'm glad they'll be able to be a part of it," Sparks coach Brian Agler said.
NEW YORK (AP) — Sue Bird is thrilled for a chance to show off Seattle.
The Emerald City will host the WNBA All-Star Game next year for the first time, the league announced Wednesday.
MINNEAPOLIS (AP) — For all Candace Parker had accomplished on the court, that glowing resume had one glaring omission — a WNBA title.
The championship she'd been chasing with Los Angeles since the Sparks made her the first pick in the 2008 draft was all the more special at the end of a trying season.
MINNEAPOLIS (AP) — Candace Parker and the Sparks jumped with joy on the court, joined in celebration by a guy named Magic Johnson who once made basketball championships a habit in Los Angeles.
Parker's old college coach, the late Pat Summitt, was there in spirit, too.
LOS ANGELES (AP) — Midway through the first quarter, Maya Moore was looking in her teammates' eyes, searching for clues as to how the game would go.
She could see their passion and resolve.
"I knew we were going to fight," she said.
Moore scored 31 points and Minnesota's defense held Nneka Ogwumike and Candace Parker in check to help the Lynx beat the Los Angeles Sparks 85-79 on Sunday night and force a decisive fifth game in the WNBA Finals.
LOS ANGELES (AP) — Candace Parker watched video of herself in every game the Sparks played against Minnesota this season.
She didn't like what she saw.
Parker brought a different mentality into Game 3 of the WNBA Finals, leading an aggressive charge from the opening tip in the Sparks' 92-75 victory Friday night that put the franchise on the brink of its first championship since 2002.
"That was a product of me being non-existent in every game we played Minnesota this year," Parker said.
MINNEAPOLIS (AP) — In a championship series filled with stars, Alana Beard sometimes can get lost with so much attention on Minnesota's four Olympians and the two MVPs in Los Angeles.
That's exactly what happened in the closing moments of Game 1 of the WNBA Finals, and Beard hit a jumper from the baseline just before time expired to lift the Sparks to a 78-76 victory over the defending champion Lynx.
ROSEMONT, Ill. (AP) — Candace Parker is finally in the WNBA Finals.
Her first trip to the championship caps off an eventful, and at times difficult, year for the Los Angeles Sparks star.
She was left off the Olympic team despite being a two-time gold medalist and mourned the passing of her college coach, Tennessee's Pat Summitt. Now she has a chance to win her first WNBA title, the only thing missing from her incredible basketball resume.
The Los Angeles Sparks and Minnesota Lynx are one win away from meeting in the WNBA Finals after double-digit victories in the first two games of their respective semifinal series.
The defending champion Lynx are seeking their fourth crown in six years, buoyed by a quartet that won Olympic gold with the U.S. national team in Rio. The Sparks have a shot at their first title since 2002 behind league MVP Nneka Ogwumike and two-time MVP Candace Parker.
LOS ANGELES (AP) — Candace Parker is one game away from getting the Los Angeles Sparks to the WNBA Finals. This time, she doesn't want to miss.
Parker had 20 points, 12 rebounds and eight assists in a 99-84 victory over the Chicago Sky on Friday night to take a 2-0 lead in the best-of-5 semifinals.
"My rookie year, it seems like just yesterday, barely missing the finals," said Parker, now in her ninth season. "When I left the court, I was like, 'Oh, we'll be back' and that hasn't happened."
LOS ANGELES (AP) — The Chicago Sky have much work to do in order to slow down the Sparks' dynamic duo of MVP Nneka Ogwumike and Candace Parker.
Perhaps Chicago's biggest obstacle is owning the belief it can beat Los Angeles, a team it has lost to by double digits in all four meetings this season.
The Sparks dominated Game 1 of the best-of-five Western Conference semifinals series, 95-75, on Wednesday. Game 2 is on Friday at Staples Center.
RIO DE JANEIRO (AP) — Brittney Griner would love to be the second woman to dunk in the Olympics, though it's not the piece of history she really hopes to get.
That individual goal would be setting the shot block record.
"That's the one I really want," the 6-foot-8 Griner said. "Dunking is nice, but blocking shots helps us defensively and also can lead to offense."
The problem for the Phoenix Mercury center is that no one really knows what that shot block...