SAN FRANCISCO (AP) — Gabby Williams scored her team’s final 11 points of the third quarter and dazzled through the fourth on the way to 30 points, and the Golden State Valkyries captured a championship in just their second season by beating the Atlanta Dream 68-63 in a sensational first WNBA Finals Game 7. Jordin Canada scored 18 points, Allisha Gray 16 and Angel Reese eight points and 12 rebounds for the Dream, denied another championship in the franchise’s fourth try.
Yet another big shuffle is in store when The Associated Press Top 25 is released Sunday afternoon. For the fourth straight week a No. 1 or 2 team lost to an unranked opponent and a total of seven Top 25 teams lost in Week 9. The biggest loss belonged to No. 2 Ohio State. The Buckeyes were without injured quarterback Julian Sayin and went down 30-18 at Southern California. Miami escaped North Carolina 38-35 and should hang on to the No. 1 ranking for a third straight week.
March Madness is famous for its underdog stories, but Cinderella teams are struggling in the world of bigger conferences spending more money. The NCAA Tournament is expanding to 76 teams in the 2026-27 season. This change could favor larger schools with more resources. Smaller teams, like UMBC and St. Peter's, often lose top players and coaches to bigger programs. The expansion will likely include more big-conference teams, potentially sidelining smaller schools. While America loves an underdog, the most-watched finals often feature big names like Duke and North Carolina. The financial gap between schools continues to grow.
ROME (AP) — They’ve been blessed by the pope. And now it’s finally time for some hoops. The Villanova and Notre Dame men’s and women’s teams are meeting in a doubleheader in Rome to open the college basketball season. The Eternal City Tip-Off was created to honor the first American pope. Villanova alumnus Pope Leo XIV received all four teams in an audience at the Vatican on Saturday. The men’s game starts at 9:30 a.m. Eastern and is being shown on Fox with Bill Raftery the analyst. The women’s game is scheduled for noon Eastern on FS1.
GAINESVILLE, Fla. (AP) — Florida’s nearly 40-year scoring streak almost came to an end against Southeastern Conference rival Georgia on Saturday. The Gators needed to convert two fourth-down plays on a fourth-quarter drive to extend their NCAA-record streak to 481 games. TCU holds the second-longest streak at 427 consecutive games. Tramell Jones Jr.'s keeper on put the Gators on the scoreboard with 6:59 to play in a 27-8 loss in Atlanta. The touchdown prevented the relocated “Cocktail Party” from becoming a shutout celebration for the Bulldogs.
CHAPEL HILL, N.C. (AP) — Mark Fletcher Jr. punched in the go-ahead 2-yard touchdown on fourth down with 7:49 left and No. 1 Miami’s defense followed with a critical takeaway on a struggle-filled Saturday night to hold off North Carolina 38-35 and avoid a seismic upset. Marquise Lightfoot stripped UNC's Billy Edwards Jr. from behind for a critical takeaway after Fletcher's score. Miami added Darian Mensah's TD throw to Malachi Toney to make it a two-possession game. Edwards threw for a season-high 341 yards to go with four touchdowns for UNC, which had a shot at a huge win under NFL coaching icon Bill Belichick.
LOS ANGELES (AP) — Southern California has stunned No. 2 Ohio State 30-18 for the biggest win of head coach Lincoln Riley’s tenure. Jayden Maiava passed for 222 yards and a touchdown, and King Miller and Waymond Jordan rushed for scores while USC rebounded from a bad loss to unranked Wisconsin last week to beat a top-12 team for the first time in Riley’s half-decade in charge. Freshman sensation Trent Mosley made a 69-yard TD catch on the second play from scrimmage. Buckeyes freshman quarterback Luke Fahey passed for 260 yards in his first career start.
BLOOMINGTON, Ind. (AP) — Backup quarterback Grant Wilson threw a 25-yard touchdown pass to Charlie Becker on the first play of overtime, and No. 4 Indiana came up with a stop on Minnesota’s possession to close out a 23-16 victory Saturday. Indiana (8-1, 5-1 Big Ten) needed overtime for the second straight week to avoid a potentially damaging second loss as it tries to defend the national championship. Last week, the Hoosiers beat won 13-6 at Michigan. And this one looked was over when the Golden Gophers (5-3, 3-2) took a 16-13 lead with 19 seconds to go on Luke Drzewiecki’s career long 60-yard field goal. But Charlie Becker’s 33-yard catch set up Paddy McAteer for a career-long 60-yarder to tie it as time expired.
BOISE, Idaho (AP) — Max Cutforth threw three touchdown passes in the final seven minutes in relief of injured starter Maddux Madsen, and No. 20 Boise State rallied to beat Texas State 46-45 on Saturday night after blowing a 25-point halftime lead. Boise State (7-1, 4-0 Pac-12) needed a furious comeback after the Bobcats scored the first 36 points of the second half, taking a 39-28 lead with 8:58 left when Jayden Bradley returned Madsen’s first interception of the season for a touchdown. Texas State (4-4, 2-2) was poised to pull the upset behind Brad Jackson, the quarterback who threw for 327 yards and four TDs. Cutforth found Akeem Wright for an 18-yard scoring strike with 2:40 remaining to put Boise State ahead for good.
Call it the college football season of chaos. A year of top-10 teams falling like leaves in October continued with No. 2 Ohio State’s 38-10 loss to Southern California. Playing without injured quarterback Julian Sayin, the Buckeyes struggled to keep up with the once-ranked Trojans to become the fourth team ranked No. 2 or higher in the AP Top 25 to lose in the past four weeks. That’s 11 top-10 teams to lose in the same span. Top-ranked Miami nearly made it losses by Nos. 1-2 for the second time this season before scoring two fourth-quarter touchdowns to hold off North Carolina 38-35. No. 17 SMU, No. 20 Northwestern, No. 24 Oklahoma State and No. 25 Wisconsin also lost.
Finals
NATIONAL HOCKEY LEAGUE
Final St. Louis 5 Detroit 4
Final OT Boston 5 Chicago 4
Final Edmonton 4 N-Y Islanders 0
Final SO Nashville 5 Tampa Bay 4
Final Ottawa 5 San Jose 1
Final Buffalo 3 Los Angeles 2
Final Toronto 4 Vancouver 2
Final Montreal 5 Pittsburgh 4
Final Dallas 3 Columbus 1
Final Colorado 5 Calgary 2
TOP-25 COLLEGE FOOTBALL
Final (3)Georgia 27 (17)Florida 8
Final (13)Texas Tech 34 (22)Arizona 26
Final Iowa 30 (25)Wisconsin 0
Final (5)Notre Dame 35 Navy 13
Final Syracuse 30 (19)SMU 27
Final (12)Mississippi 45 Auburn 15
Final (8)BYU 27 Arizona St. 20
Final (4)Indiana 23 Minnesota 16
Final Oregon 34 (20)Northwestern 26
Final (6)Utah 49 Cincinnati 25
Final (14)Wake Forest 51 Virginia 7
Final (7)UCLA 27 Nevada 0
Final Iowa St. 51 (24)Oklahoma St. 49
Final Southern Cal 30 (2)Ohio St. 18
Final (1)Miami 38 North Carolina 35
Final (11)Texas 31 Mississippi St. 3
Final (23)Missouri 34 Arkansas 10