Connecticut opened the fourth quarter on a 10-3 run, started by Tiffany Mitchell’s steal and fast-break layup. Thomas also had a steal and transition basket to make it 68-55.

Sky guard Diamond DeShields made a 3-pointer with 28.2 seconds left to pull within 79-75. But DeWanna Bonner sealed it with two free throws at the other end.

Bonner finished with 16 points and eight rebounds, and Tyasha Harris had 13 points and seven assists for Connecticut (11-1). Thomas also had six of the Sun’s 13 steals.

Rookie Angel Reese had a season-high 20 points and 10 rebounds for her fourth straight game with a double-double for the Sky (4-7). Reese was 8 of 10 from the field to set another season high for makes. Kamilla Cardoso, Chennedy Carter and Marina Mabrey each scored 10 for the Sky.

The Sun started 1 of 10 from 3-point range until their second make came with 3:33 remaining in the third quarter. Bonner was 0 of 7 from distance and Connecticut finished 3 of 14.

The selection committee didn’t believe the talented Clark had enough of high-level reps to be a member of the group headed to the Paris Games. The team includes seven players from the group that won gold in Tokyo — the seventh straight for the Americans.

The next chapter in The Greatest Dynasty Ever.

The 2024 USA Women's National Team is here.

#USABWNT x #ParisOlympics pic.twitter.com/BdDki5De5O

— USA Basketball (@usabasketball) June 11, 2024

Selection committee chair Jen Rizzotti said the committee was aware of the outside noise and pressure to select Clark, the No. 1 pick in the WNBA draft who has drawn millions of new fans to the sport from her record-setting career in college at Iowa to now with the Indiana Fever.

“Here’s the basketball criteria that we were given as a committee and how do we evaluate our players based on that?” Rizzotti told The Associated Press in an interview. “And when you base your decision on criteria, there were other players that were harder to cut because they checked a lot more boxes. Then sometimes it comes down to position, style of play for Cheryl (Reeve) and then sometimes a vote.”

Diana Taurasi is back for a record sixth time. Her Olympic career started when she was a WNBA rookie in the 2004 Athens Game, and now the 42-year old will be on the team again. Other returners from the Tokyo Olympics are Breanna Stewart, A’ja Wilson, Chelsea Gray, Napheesa Collier, Jewell Loyd and Brittney Griner.

Besides the returners, the Americans also added 5-on-5 newcomers Kelsey Plum and Jackie Young, who helped the U.S. win the inaugural 3×3 gold medal at the Tokyo Games in 2021. Several first-time Olympians will join the team with Alyssa Thomas, Sabrina Ionescu and Kahleah Copper. All three played on the American team that won the World Cup in Australia in 2022.

“It’s a great mix of talent across the board in terms of individual skill sets,” USA Basketball CEO Jim Tooley said. “We have veterans, newcomers and those in the middle. Good perspective and continuity is such an important thing and is why we’ve been successful in the Olympics.”

All 12 of those players had senior national team experience. Clark, to no fault of her own, does not.

“She’s certainly going to continue to get better and better,” Tooley said. “Really hope that she’s a big part of our future going forward.”

The selection committee has a set of criteria to pick the team that includes playing ability, position played and adaptability to the international game. Marketing and popularity aren’t on that list.

“It would be irresponsible for us to talk about her in a way other than how she would impact the play of the team,” Rizzotti said. “Because it wasn’t the purview of our committee to decide how many people would watch or how many people would root for the U.S. It was our purview to create the best team we could for Cheryl.”

Clark wasn’t the only talented player left off the team.

Ariel Atkins was on the Tokyo Olympic team. Shakira Austin, Betnijah Laney-Hamilton and Brionna Jones all played on the World Cup team in 2022. Aliyah Boston and Arike Ogunbowale had gone to nearly every training camp. Ogunbowale has played well to start the WNBA season, averaging 26.4 points a game — second best in the league.

Any of those players, along with Clark, could be taken as an alternate if one of the 12 members of the team is unable to play. There are some questions about Gray’s status. The Las Vegas point guard has not played yet this season while recovering from a leg injury suffered in the WNBA Finals last year.

Clark has said she will use not being selected for the Paris Games as incentive to get better and potentially make the 2028 Olympic team.

“I think it just gives you something to work for,” Clark told reporters after practice Sunday. “It’s a dream. Hopefully one day I can be there. I think it’s just a little more motivation. You remember that. Hopefully when four years comes back around, I can be there.”

While Clark won’t be headed to Paris, Griner will be playing internationally for the first time since she was detained in a Russian prison for 10 months in 2022. She said she’ll only play abroad with USA Basketball.

“When you represent your country, you’re on the highest stage, it doesn’t get any higher than that,” Griner said. “Anytime you get to put on the red, white and blue, USA across your chest, we’ll get every country’s best shot. … You’re playing for so much more. I can’t wait to go.”

Thomas was excited for her first chance to play in the Olympics.

“It’s a huge honor. I stepped away from USA Basketball for awhile, but it was something I grew up watching with my family,” the 32-year-old Thomas said. “Just an honor to be part of that group of players. It’s a prestigious group.”

Thomas gives Reeve the versatility of being able to guard any position as well as facilitate from the forward spot. The Connecticut Sun forward is currently leading the WNBA with 8.5 assists a game.

“This team fits my style of play. The defense aspect, the way Coach Reeve wants to play, I think I’m a perfect fit for that.”

Taurasi, who turned 42 on Tuesday, will break the record for most Olympics played in the sport of basketball. Five players, including former teammate Sue Bird, have competed in five.

“The thing that Diana does that I’ve never seen anyone else do is that she makes everybody around her confident and play their best,” Rizzotti said. ”Whether she’s scoring a point, whether she starts, whether she plays limited minutes, whether she’s just a voice in the locker room, she infuses people with a level of self-confidence that has been a factor in us winning,”

The U.S. team will train for about week in Phoenix in July. After that, they’ll play an exhibition game against Germany in London before heading to France.

In Paris, the Americans will play Japan, Belgium and Germany in Olympic pool play.

The figures are the latest evidence of the surging popularity of the WNBA since it added prominent rookies including the Indiana Fever’s Caitlin Clark, Chicago Sky’s Angel Reese and Los Angeles Sparks’ Cameron Brink, all of whom drew big audiences playing in college.

Across ABC, ESPN, ESPN2, CBS, ION and NBA TV, WNBA games are averaging 1.32 million viewers, nearly tripling last season’s average of 462,000, the league said on Tuesday.

“What’s happening now in women’s basketball is confirmation of what we’ve always known: The demand is there, and women’s sports is a valuable investment,” said Colie Edison, the WNBA’s chief growth officer. “We’re encouraged by growing engagement across all our verticals, especially as we welcome new and diverse audiences into our fandom. The WNBA continues to experience sustained growth as our league embraces this heightened momentum.”

The WNBA finished May having sold out more than half its games, more than double the number of sellouts last year. Approximately 400,000 fans have attended games, the most through the first month in 26 years.

Arenas have been filled to 94% capacity, a 17% rise from last year, the league said. Some games have been moved to bigger arenas to accommodate increased fan interest, such as Clark and the Fever playing at the Washington Wizards’ downtown arena in front of 20,333 fans last Friday night instead of the Mystics’ usual venue, which seats 4,200.

On the television side, the WNBA said it saw a 96% increase in Hispanic viewers and a 67% increase in Black viewers.

Merchandise sales rose 236% from the same period last year, with Clark, Reese and Brink ranking in the top five for jersey sales during the first week of the season.

Allisha Gray scored 14 points for the Dream (5-4) and Aerial Powers 11. Rhyne Howard finished with 10 points, 10 assists and six rebounds.

Diamond DeShields hit a pullup jumper to make it 4-2 a minute into the game, but the Sky missed six consecutive shots and committed three turnovers as the Dream ripped off a 15-2 run — capped when Gray made back-to-back 3-pointers — before Angel Reese made a layup that cut the Sky’s deficit to 17-8 almost five minutes later.

The Dream hit 12 of 22 from the field in the first quarter and led 29-15 going into the second.

Reese finished with 13 points, 13 rebounds and five steals. The 6-foot-3 rookie had her third consecutive double-double and fourth of the season for the Sky (4-6). Kamilla Cardoso and Dana Evans also scored 13 points apiece and Marina Mabrey added 12.

Lindsay Allen converted a three-point play to cap a 7-0 spurt and cut the Sky’s deficit to 78-75 midway through the fourth quarter, but Charles answered with two free throws. Parker-Tyus followed with a layup and then two free throws and Howard hit a deep 3-pointer that made it 87-79 with 1:42 left.

The person, who provided the full roster to The Associated Press, spoke on condition of anonymity Saturday because no official announcement has been made.

The decision was first reported by The Athletic.

Clark does have some international experience with USA Basketball at a younger level, but she couldn’t attend the national training camp in Cleveland after she was invited because she was leading Iowa to the Final Four. Clark finished her career as the NCAA’s Division I all-time scoring leader.

Clark, now a rookie with the Indiana Fever, has drawn millions of new fans to women’s basketball in her college career and also in her young WNBA career.

While Clark won’t be headed to Paris, the U.S. is expected to take five-time gold medalist Diana Taurasi for a sixth Olympics. Taurasi will be joined by Phoenix Mercury teammate Brittney Griner.

This will be Griner’s first time playing internationally since she was detained in a Russian prison for 10 months in 2022. She said she’ll only play abroad with USA Basketball.

Joining the pair will be Olympic veterans Breanna Stewart, A’ja Wilson, Napheesa Collier, Jewell Loyd and Chelsea Gray. Kelsey Plum and Jackie Young, who helped the U.S. win the inaugural 3×3 gold medal at the Tokyo Games in 2021, also will be on the team.

A bunch of first-time Olympians will join the team with Alyssa Thomas, Sabrina Ionescu and Kahleah Copper. All three played on the American team that won the World Cup in Australia in 2022.

The U.S. women have won every gold medal in women’s basketball since the 1996 Atlanta Olympics.

Taurasi, who turns 42 before the Paris Games, will break the record for most Olympics played in the sport of basketball. Five players, including former teammate Sue Bird, have competed in five.

The U.S. team will train together for a few days in Phoenix in July. Then its off to London for an exhibition game against Germany before heading to France.

The Americans will play Japan, Belgium and Germany in pool play at the Olympics.

Clark was asked before Indiana’s game at Washington on Friday night whether she thinks Carter owes her a public apology, and the rookie standout dismissed the idea.

“No. I mean, basketball’s competitive. I get it,” Clark said. “Sometimes your emotions get the best of you. Happened to me multiple times throughout the course of my career.”

Clark then took the court and made a career-high seven 3-pointers in the Fever’s 85-83 win over the Mystics. She equaled her career high with 30 points.

Carter, who plays for the Chicago Sky, knocked Clark to the floor before an inbounds pass in a game last weekend. The WNBA eventually upgraded the foul to a Flagrant 1, and the incident led to a larger debate over how Clark has been received in her first season in the league.

“People are competitive,” Clark said Friday. “It is what it is, and she’s having a tremendous season. She’s played great basketball, in my eyes probably in first place for Sixth Player of the Year. … There’s no grudges. There’s nothing like that. It’s a sport. It’s competitive. It’s not going to be nice all the time.”

The Sky (4-5) handed the Mystics their 10th straight loss, tied for the fourth longest skid to start a season in WNBA history.

The Mystics scored just 27 points in the second half and finished with 24 turnovers.

Reese was ejected from her previous game Tuesday after receiving a second technical foul that the league rescinded a day later. On Thursday, the No. 7 draft pick made a steal and converted a layup at the other end while being fouled to give the Sky a 60-54 lead with 50 seconds left in the third quarter.

After the game, Reese embraced her former LSU coach, Kim Mulkey, who was sitting courtside.

Rookie Aaliyah Edwards set season highs with 23 points, 14 rebounds and four blocks for the Mystics. Shatori Walker-Kimbrough added 11 points and Ariel Atkins 10.

Late in the fourth quarter, Isabelle Harrison made a basket, and the Sky stole the inbounds pass, leading to a Carter layup and a 72-66 lead. Carter added another layup on a breakaway to make it 74-66.

Harrison added 14 points and Marina Mabrey had 10 for the Sky, who made 1 of 14 3-pointers and shot 38% overall.

A user on X (formerly Twitter) posted — and later deleted — a video of someone he said was himself attempting to ask Carter if she had reached out to Indiana Fever guard Caitlin Clark since Saturday’s game against the Sky. In the video, a Sky security guard quickly intercepted the man and blocked his camera view of Carter.

That X account had been deleted as of Thursday.

Sky forward Isabelle Harrison posted on X that players “couldn’t even step off the bus” because of the man’s presence. Forward Michaela Onyenwere also posted on X, saying security “did a great job of de-escalating the situation (and) protecting us.”

According to a Chicago Sun-Times report, the man was escorted away by team security — which has been bulked up this season — and police were not called to the scene. But players clearly were rattled by the incident.

“Finding out our teams hotel to pull with a camera as we get off the bus and put it in my teammates face & HARASS her is NASTY WORK,” forward Angel Reese wrote on X. “This really is outta control and needs to STOP.”

finding out our teams hotel to pull with a camera as we get off the bus and put it in my teammates face & HARASS her is NASTY WORK. this really is outta control and needs to STOP.

— Angel Reese (@Reese10Angel) June 5, 2024

Carter has been the focus of intense media coverage after a Flagrant 1 foul on Clark in Saturday’s loss to the Fever. She received a warm reception from Sky fans in her first game back in Chicago on Tuesday.

“I’m truly a passionate person about the game and I’m genuine,” Carter said after practice Monday. “You can ask all my teammates. They’ve gotten to know me. They know the real Chennedy Carter. So I’m just saying, don’t form an opinion off of one little clip.”

Reese received two technical fouls during a dead ball after she was called for a personal foul on Jonquel Jones with 2 minutes, 31 seconds remaining. Referee Charles Watson assessed the initial technical after Reese “disrespectfully addressed” him, according to lead official Maj Forsberg, who spoke to the media after the game.

After the first technical call, Forsberg said Reese “waved off the calling official in resentment to the call,” which earned a second technical and automatic ejection.

A league spokesperson confirmed Wednesday morning that after review, the second technical was rescinded.

Forsberg declined to elaborate on the content of the comment that earned Reese the first technical. Reese had not received a warning earlier in the game, Forsberg said. Per league policy, she will be fined $200 for the first technical.

Coach Teresa Weatherspoon said the officiating crew declined to explain the decision to the Sky coaching staff.

“I tried to get an explanation and I did not,” Weatherspoon said during her postgame news conference. “I don’t know at this moment what has happened.”

Before the ejection, Reese had been an anchor for the Sky on both ends of the court, tallying 13 points, 10 rebounds and a blocked shot. The Sky erased a 17-point first-half deficit to lead by three late in the third quarter, but they trailed by 12 when the ejection occurred.

Bulls players Lonzo Ball, Dalen Terry and Patrick Williams were seated courtside directly in front of the ejection and voiced complaints about the call.

“Ref that threw out (Reese) is weak,” Ball wrote on social media. “You know who you are (Keep ya money Angel I got you).”

Reese responded to Ball’s post with emojis and the words “appreciate you gang!”

appreciate you gang! https://t.co/Aupf0jJU6N

— Angel Reese (@Reese10Angel) June 5, 2024

Breanna Stewart scored a season-high 33 points and grabbed 14 rebounds to lead the Liberty. Sabrina Ionescu added 24 points for New York, which won its fourth straight game.

The Liberty opened with a 21-6 run, making five of their first seven 3-pointers, while the Sky started 3 of 16 from the field. After falling behind 29-12 late in the first quarter, the Sky responded by scoring 33 points in the second to get within 49-48 at the break.

The Liberty started the fourth quarter on a 15-2 run, including 10 straight points, to wipe out a one-point deficit after three quarters and lead 80-68. The score was 83-71 when Reese was ejected.

Betnijah Laney-Hamilton added 14 points for the Liberty, who avenged a 90-81 loss to the Sky on May 23 in New York.

Chennedy Carter scored 16 points off the bench to lead the Sky, while Marina Mabrey scored 15 and Elizabeth Williams had 10 points and eight rebounds.

Kamilla Cardoso, who scored 11 points in her WNBA debut Saturday, was held to one point in 12 minutes. She is on a minutes restriction after her return from injury.

Associated Press contributed.

We’re less than a month into the season and the discourse is out of control. For many years, interest in the league was considered pretty niche. A dedicated community of fans held down the WNBA space by creating blogs to share news and stories, designing and selling apparel and other merchandise, and starting communities both online and in real life with the intention of “growing the game.”

Now that the growth, investment and interest that the league’s longtime supporters have wanted are here, it doesn’t look as pretty.

In fact, it’s downright messy. And it’s not about basketball.

Indiana Fever guard Caitlin Clark and her logo 3-pointers have brought a great number of eyes to the WNBA. Through no fault of her own, the constant coverage of her college career and the beginning of her rookie season has put every aspect of every game she plays under a microscope — including the actions of her opponents.

Was the hip check by Chicago Sky guard Chennedy Carter on Saturday unnecessary and not a basketball play? Absolutely. Was it the end of the world and a reflection of how everyone feels about Clark? Absolutely not.

Referring to the foul as assault is dangerous and extreme rhetoric. Using language that implies criminal activity plays into stereotypes and racial undertones that are pervasive throughout these discussions. Basketball players, including Clark, push and shove all the time. Physical play is a characteristic of the game, and calls for Clark to be handled softly seemingly miss that.

If she draws a double team, Clark is being defended unfairly. If she is fouled, the other team has it out for her. If she is on the bench, the coach clearly doesn’t know what she’s doing. (There are multiple change.org petitions calling for Fever coach Christie Sides to be fired due to disapproval of how she has managed the team with Clark.)

Fans and media new to talking about the WNBA seem surprised by the league’s physicality, skill and diversity of personal stories that have gone untold. But instead of watching, listening and learning — in addition to contributing to the conversations at such an exciting time in WNBA history — some are quick to dismiss just about anyone with even a game-related criticism of Clark. People who would admit they’re new to the league or to women’s basketball suddenly are positioning themselves as experts on the W’s culture.

And they’re dominating the conversations.

Sweeping generalizations have been made by people such as Charles Barkley, LeBron James and Stephen A. Smith. Veteran players have been called jealous, “haters” and “thugs” by people who believe there is some concerted effort to dull Clark’s shine. These are professional athletes in competition, and I wonder if some of this is fueled by the idea that women are supposed to play nice and get along.

There also have been conversations that every good thing happening currently for the WNBA and its players is thanks to Clark — and that they should simply be grateful for her presence.

While there’s some validity to the idea that some players resent Clark for being put on a pedestal and anointed the G.O.A.T., signing record-breaking endorsement deals and having most of her games on national television, we should be careful not to paint all of the players with such a broad stroke. Takes like these thrive on us versus them and an either/or mindset that has overtaken the WNBA community.

Chicago Sky fans temper newfound attention with heightened expectations at home opener: ‘It’s transformative’

There are more than 100 players in the WNBA, so there is likely a mixture of feelings throughout. The thing about humans is we can feel more than one thing at a time and not necessarily act on any one emotion. It’s important we don’t assume to know what anyone is thinking. Projecting malice says more about us than the people we’re projecting our feelings on.

There always will be someone who doesn’t like the person getting the most attention and sympathy, but there’s an ugliness to these conversations that isn’t being put in proper context. The WNBA is predominantly Black and substantially queer, and most discussions surrounding the league lately try their hardest to avoid those facts. Any attempt to bring this up in conversation is met with “Why is it always about race?” or “It’s not that deep, it’s just sports.” But as WNBA veteran Imani McGee-Stafford wrote on social media, “It actually IS that deep.”

When we talk about why the WNBA was largely ignored for decades or even the language used in defense of Clark, you have to mention the Blackness and queerness. It would be naive to act as if these aren’t important layers to the nastiness we’re seeing. The truth of the matter is until we stop acting as if these aren’t issues — whether conscious or subconscious — we’ll never be able to move forward.

Since its inception, the WNBA has fought against perceptions of its queerness.

“The WNBA kind of fell into the trap that women’s sports throughout history have fallen into, which is the belief that in order to find an audience, the women have to appeal to men, particularly straight men and the male gaze,” Frankie de la Cretaz, a journalist who covers the intersection of sports and gender, told the Tribune.

“The players’ femininity was played up in a lot of the advertisements. They didn’t really talk about their personal life or family, or the players that they did allow to speak publicly were ones who were married to men or had children or families. And so those straight partnerships were really emphasized in the press.”

That issue is mentioned in 13-time All-Star and four-time WNBA champion Sue Bird’s documentary, “Sue Bird: In the Clutch”. Bird, the No. 1 pick in the 2002 draft, came out in 2017, more than a decade after entering the league.

“I think (Bird) is relevant here because there’s this pattern in the WNBA of kind of looking for the next ‘Great White Hope’ who will ‘save’ a predominantly Black sport and make it appeal to more mainstream — read: white — audiences,” de la Cretaz explained. “And the important thing is not just that person is white, but that person is straight. And so we see that with Caitlin Clark. You can look at Sue Bird and see the way that was done when they put her on a red carpet with Nick Carter of the Backstreet Boys her rookie year.”

Bird discussed it earlier this year in an interview with Pablo Torre.

“It was basically told to me that the only way I was going to have success from a marketing standpoint is to really sell this straight, girl-next-door (image),” Bird told “Pablo Finds Out” in February. “At 21, I was afraid.”

.@S10Bird speaks for the first time about the fear she felt as a young player in the WNBA to not come out publicly.

"It was basically told to me that the only way I was going to have success from a marketing standpoint is to really sell this straight, girl-next-door [image]. …… pic.twitter.com/dLDGemmtVy

— Pablo Torre Finds Out (@pablofindsout) February 15, 2024

In 2021, the Sports Business Journal found a disparity in media coverage of WNBA players.

“A’ja Wilson, the 2020 WNBA MVP who is Black, received half as much media coverage last season as Sabrina Ionescu, the first pick in the 2020 WNBA draft who played in just three games before a season-ending injury and who is white,” the report said.

Longtime fans are on high alert, aware of the WNBA’s history of promoting white players and pushing back against new narratives, as those fans have been the unofficial keepers of the game for more than two decades. They’ve pointed to this as the reason Clark fans refer to her as “more marketable” than Wilson and others, but in their zeal to protect the players they love, the arguments on social media have descended into chaos. Their points, rooted in both truth and history, are dismissed as “hating on Caitlin Clark”.

While Clark is not to be blamed for that, her presence has highlighted or perhaps even exacerbated the issue. The expectations placed on her by her own fans have put Clark in a position where her basketball game is hardly discussed. There’s no talk of shot selection, efficiency or a single show-stopping highlight. There’s also no talk of her demeanor on the court when things aren’t going her way. Instead, we are subjected to multiday discourse over a flagrant foul.

In their rush to defend Clark, newcomers fail to see the historical, systemic issues at play and instead assume everyone is picking on their favorite player. And until the disparity is addressed, the fighting and debates will continue.

Maybe one day we’ll get back to the basketball of it all.