Ahead of Watch Party PHL opening a new women’s sports venue, The Stoop Pigeon, next year, it is teaming up with the Philadelphia Sisters grassroots organization to release a new beer — the Philly is a Women’s Sports Town Pilsner.
The beer, a relabeled version of Sterling Pig Brewery’s Shoat Pilsner, will be available through the end of January at Sterling Pig Brewery, additional participating bars locally, and online.
They also are selling other “Philly is a Women’s Sports Town” merchandise, a phrase Watch Party founder Jen Leary coined after the announcement that the city would be getting a WNBA expansion franchise in 2030. The phrase blew up after actor Aubrey Plaza wore one of the group’s T-shirts courtside at a New York Liberty game.
Watch Party PHL founder Jen Leary holds the “Philly is a women’s sports town” shirt that went viral after Aubrey Plaza wore it to a Liberty game.
With Unrivaled, the offseason three-on-three women’s basketball league, making its first-ever tour stop on Jan. 30 in Philadelphia and the announcement that Philadelphia will gain a WNBA team, 2025 has been a banner year for women’s sports in Philadelphia. Philadelphia Sisters, which is dedicated to the development of women’s sports in the city from the youth level to the pros, and Watch Party PHL are looking to keep the momentum going in 2026.
Watch Party PHL has hosted a number of watch parties for women’s sports, including the WNBA, women’s college basketball, the NWSL, and U.S. women’s national soccer team. The group is opening The Stoop Pigeon in May 2026. It will join Marsha’s on South Street, which opened in October, as the city’s women’s sports bars.
As the 2024 world silver medalist and the 2023 U.S. champion, South Jersey figure skater Isabeau Levito competes and performs across the country and the globe.
But this weekend, Levito, 18, has an easy commute to the show she is skating in.
American Gold Live! — Holiday Ice Spectacular will be at the Class of 1923 Ice Rink on Penn’s campus on Saturday and features 2026 Olympic hopefuls Levito, Ilia Malinin, and Alysa Liu. Brian Boitano, the 1988 Olympic champion, is hosting the show.
Alysa Liu, the 2025 world champion, won her first Grand Prix Final last weekend in Japan.
This weekend’s show is a particularly good opportunity for Levito.
“I was very happy to hear that it was in Philly when I was asked if I wanted to do the show,” said Levito, who lives and trains in Mount Laurel. “I don’t want to go to the airport.”
But she’s also eager to get up and go.
“I get a little antsy when I’m home for too long,” she said. “I’m used to every month or so I have a competition or something, having to travel.”
This year she had an unexpected break as the first alternate to last weekend’s Grand Prix Final in Japan.
“I’ve been home for, like, five weeks,” she said. “I don’t know what to do with myself.”
So she’s eager to perform. One of her numbers in the show will be this year’s short program, to a medley of music from Sophia Loren movies. (Her long program is to music from Cinema Paradiso. This season’s competitive programs are a nod to Italy, where the 2026 Winter Olympics will be in her mother’s hometown of Milan.)
“I haven’t competed since [the] beginning of November,” Levito said, ”so it’ll be kind a way to [get it out there]. But also, I like that program.”
She’ll also be skating a new holiday program to Jackie Evancho’s “Believe.”
Shows allow skaters to put aside the rules of competition and play up their favorite elements.
Liu, 20, of Oakland, Calif., enjoys executing spins that are not allowed in competition, doing very fast rotations, and trying new positions.
“We all have the same [spins] now,” Liu said, “because of the rules and how to get the levels. It’s so strange and we don’t really have as much creativity. There are so many other spins that we can do.”
Levito said she enjoys making the most out of her illusion spin, in which a skater alternates between spinning upright and with her head down toward the ice and a leg in the air. In shows, she’ll hold it for as long as she can, which would not be allowed in a competition. But it is a crowd pleaser.
“I remember Philly audiences being really into skating and really good,” Boitano said. “So I think it’s going to be fun. You’re going to see them unplugged and having a good time before they gear up to go to the Olympic trials” — the U.S. Figure Skating Championships — “in St. Louis and then to the Olympics in Milan.”
Ilia Malinin won the Grand Prix Final in Japan while successfully completing all seven quadruple jumps.
Malinin, 21, from Vienna, Va., known as the Quad God, competes in the most difficult program in skating today. He won his third Grand Prix Final in Japan last weekend while completing all seven quadruple jumps in his freestyle program.
For shows, though, he often skates something he choreographs for himself. He also likes to explore a different side to his skating.
“In shows, I really love to express myself more and be a little more creative and artsy with my programs,” Malinin said. “Whether that be cool, interesting choreography, or even some cool backflips or those kind of tricks.”
As for competition, Malinin is planning to maintain his difficulty throughout the season — and then maybe raise it even further.
He planned all seven quads last season, “but now I think I really want it to be something that I can repeat and do consistently, especially this at the Olympics. I think it would be another kind of record.”
“A lot of behind-the-scenes [planning and training] is definitely going to be the quints [quintuple jumps, which have never been done],” he said. “I think I want to get that done after the Olympics, for sure.”
For Levito, this year’s elements are set in stone. But she’ll be back after the Olympics and hopes to step up her game as well.
“I’m really excited for next season,” she said, “because I’m going to start finally working on things that I’ve really been wanting to work on, but I’m too scared to get injured.
“When I was 14, I was working on quad toe [loop]. I seriously had it, like I would land it in practice. But then I got a stress reaction in my shin before the Junior Grand Prix Final, and I couldn’t do the final.
“I already know I can do [the jump], so why can’t I do it now?”
Isabeau Levito is highlighting her mother’s native Italy in her programs this year.
Liu competed a triple axel and quadruple lutz when she was a young teenager. When COVID hit, she came to Newark, Del., to train, and she had the whole rink to herself.
“I loved Delaware,” she said. “That was my first break day in my life. Before that, I skated every single day. Delaware was this utopia for me. There was no coach. I would lay on the ice and blast the music.”
Liu retired from skating after the 2020 Olympics and went to college. Then she realized she missed it, so she came back last year with a new love for the sport and a new attitude. (She is on leave as a student at UCLA.)
“If [Alysa] learns a triple axel the day before the Olympics, she’ll land it in the Olympics,” Boitano said.
Liu said she probably would put it in her program that quickly.
“I’m not afraid of failure,” she said. “I invite failure. Skating is my parkour.”
“American Gold Live! — Holiday Ice Spectacular” is at 1 and 6 p.m. Saturday at the Penn Class of 1923 Ice Rink, 3130 Walnut St. Tickets: $96.62-$292.31. Information: americangoldlive.com.
High school basketball has begun already, with several stellar players and teams back in action.
This season, the area has two national-level girls’ basketball players, a pair of sisters who could be the best in the Philadelphia Catholic League, the nation’s No. 1 player in another sport, and a player who suffered a torn ACL two years ago and is now dunking the ball in practice.
Here are some of the area’s top girls’ basketball players to watch out for in the 2025-26 season.
Reginna Baker
Neumann Goretti, 5-foot-7 junior guard
Baker returns as the leading scorer for the defending Catholic League and PIAA Class 4A state champions. She averaged 15 points as a sophomore and will now be the face of the Saints, after Catholic League MVP Carryn Easley and Amya Scott graduated.
She has improved as a two-way player, and received scholarship offers from eight Division I schools. She will likely become a 1,000-point scorer as a junior and earn strong consideration for PCL MVP, alongside Archbishop Carroll’s Alexis and Kayla Eberz.
Carter showed great courage playing in the PIAA Class 5A state championship before going down with an injury. She scored 23 points in Archbishop Wood’s 45-37 loss to South Fayette. This will be Carter’s third school in three years — she played her freshman year at Penn Charter — and she is high on the list of every major college program in the country. She can score from anywhere on the court, and will run the point for Vinny Simpson’s Friends’ Central team this season.
ESPN #12 2027 PG Ryan Carter of FCHS is the BEST thing since sliced bread. Carter made some plays against Germantown Academy that are nearly impossible seem effortless‼️🔥 pic.twitter.com/xXjrKE1hl0
The daughter of Ben Davis, the former major leaguer who was the No. 2 overall pick in the 1995 MLB Draft, Riley Davis is the No. 1 lacrosse player in the country and is committed to Penn State for lacrosse. It is the reason why many schools backed off recruiting her for basketball. She is very athletic and a matchup problem. She has a height advantage over other guards, while being too fast for a center to stay with. She enters this season as one of the top scoring threats in the Inter-Ac League.
Penn State commit Riley Davis of Notre Dame, ranked as the top lacrosse player in the country, scored 15 points against Imhotep Charter, helping to secure a victory at home. pic.twitter.com/4rFbUYSiNP
Like her parents, Alexis Eberz is planning to attend Villanova. The oldest daughter of former Villanova stars Eric Eberz and Michele Thornton, Alexis may be the best player in the Catholic League and is a strong candidate for PCL MVP.
One of her major challengers for that title lives under the same roof, her younger sister Kayla. Alexis is one of the most potent three-point shooters in the area and has become more aggressive driving to the lane. She won a state championship as a freshman and is looking to finish a great high school career with the triple crown of a Catholic League championship, a District 12 title, and a PIAA Class 6A crown.
Kayla Eberz can handle the ball, shoot from a distance, rebound, defend, and at times dominate games. Only a sophomore, Kayla is receiving interest from numerous programs across the country, including Villanova, Michigan, and Marquette. What makes her unique is that she can defend anyone on the court, from point guards to centers. By the time she is a senior, Eberz projects to be one of the best players in the PCL and one of the most sought-after recruits in the country. She is among the best in Pennsylvania right now.
Eberz sisters (from left) Kelsey, Alexis, and Kayla last December.
Jada Lynch
Westtown, 5-11 junior guard
Lynch is the spitting image of her mother, former U.S. Open champion and tennis Hall of Famer Kim Clijsters, but the basketball gene came from her father, Brian Lynch, who played for Villanova. Jada plays for the Belgium under-18 national team. She shoots well and can shoot beyond the college three-point stripe. She is versatile, deceptively quick, can rebound, and has the competitive gene from her parents. She is getting attention from Power 4 schools.
Palmer is the best player in Pennsylvania and one of the best players in the country. She’s been playing high school varsity basketball since she was in eighth grade. She will be able to go to any top-10 program in the country. She simply dominates games with her ballhandling, shooting, rebounding, high basketball IQ, and with the energy she brings.
She can finish left- or right-handed, and has added a more consistent perimeter game. She’s also a team player, making it a point to get her teammates involved. She plays with poise despite the constant attention she has had on her since she was a freshman.
Jordyn Palmer (left) of Westtown shoots over Nasiaah Russell of Universal Audenried Charter during a game on Nov. 30, 2024.
Nasiaah Russell
Audenried, 6-3 junior center/power forward
This should be Russell’s breakout year. With the graduation of Philadelphia’s all-time leading scorer Shayla Smith, who is now at Penn State, it will be up to Russell to lead the defending Public League champions. Russell has grown an inch and gotten stronger since last season, now able to dunk. A dominant shot blocker, Russell averaged nine points, seven rebounds, and two blocks as a sophomore. She has made a complete recovery from tearing an ACL in her right knee as a freshman in December 2023.
Small is an athletic 6-2 forward who can do everything. Her strength is her defense and creating turnovers. She started at Scranton High as a freshman and arrived at Friends’ Central as a sophomore, displaying her athletic versatility to play multiple positions, block shots, rebound, and alter shots.
She is considered one of the best players in the state, and is now teamed with one of the country’s best players in Carter.
Atlee Vanesko
Westtown, 6-foot senior combo guard
Vanesko is bound for Ohio State. She is a three-year captain at Westtown, the premier program in the area. She can shoot, and at 6-foot, she is not afraid to rebound and defend. She is a pass-first guard. She can also knock down an open three.
The Villanova women’s basketball team had vengeance in mind as it beat Temple to open Big 5 play on Nov. 22.
While the teams’ history spans decades, anticipation of the annual Big 5 Classic tripleheader has added a new layer to the competition.
And for some Villanova players, the 30-point win was personal. Temple beat Villanova by 14 to win last year’s inaugural women’s Big 5 Classic championship.
“[The Big 5 championship] was a tough loss last year,” Villanova senior guard Ryanne Allen, a Bucks County native and Archbishop Wood graduate said. “That was a huge impetus for us, especially losing on our home floor. We didn’t want it to happen again, so it was nice to get that win back for us.”
Three days after the Wildcats’ 88-58 win, they secured a return to the Big 5 championship game with a win over La Salle. In the other “pod,” St. Joseph’s (6-2, 0-1 Atlantic 10) came out on top with wins over Penn and Drexel. The Wildcats (7-2, 1-0 Big East) will face the Hawks on Sunday at Finneran Pavilion (4:30 p.m., NBCSP).
After back-to-back years at Finneran Pavilion, the Big 5 Classic will change locations next season, Villanova confirmed. The Palestra, a focal point of Philadelphia basketball history, would be a fitting host as the venue prepares for its its 100th birthday.
Villanova’s Jasmine Bascoe goes up for a layup as Temple’s Tristen Taylor defends on Nov. 22.
“It’s a great rivalry,” said Cindy Griffin, who is in her 25th season coaching the Hawks. “We’ve been battling [with Villanova] for the last couple of years, and we’re ready to come on top of this battle … I think our players are hungry to not only compete, but to win. It’s going to be a great game.”
Villanova will install the Big 5 logo on its court at the Finneran Pavilion as it prepares to host the tripleheader for the second consecutive year.
“I’m hoping this young crew recognizes how [the home court] can work in your favor, and just feed off that energy,” Villanova coach Denise Dillon said. “Our atmosphere here at the Finn is tremendous. We’ve got to feel it and know that it can give us a little bit of an edge in a tough battle against our city rival.”
The Wildcats will ride the high of a five-game winning streak — including wins over No. 25 West Virginia and Georgetown in their Big East opener — into the championship game.
Since 2004, Villanova has a 15-4 record against the Hawks.
“We had a couple disappointing losses to start the season, but you can just see this group figuring out who they are and what they’re doing. … Getting that tough La Salle win at their place to put ourselves in position was the first step,” Dillon said. “We’ll focus all of our attention on Saint Joe’s, hopefully redeeming ourselves and getting that win on Sunday in front of our fans.”
The Hawks are led by homegrown talent in returning junior guards Gabby Casey and Aleah Snead.
Casey, who attended Lansdale Catholic, and Snead, a graduate of Penn Charter, will bring an extra level of intensity to the Big 5 matchup. Casey currently leads St. Joe’s with 15.9 points and 6.9 rebounds per game.
“Gabby [Casey] and Aleah [Snead] are the ultimate competitors and Philadelphia kids,” Griffin said. “ … they understand what [the Big 5] is. They understand the pride and the value of playing in Philadelphia and representing St. Joe’s.”
St. Joseph’s guard Aleah Snead (left) celebrates with teammates Talya Brugler and Gabby Casey after a game last season.
As dynamics between Big 5 schools shift entering the 2025 Classic, the tripleheader will serve as a platform for each school to promote its program.
“There’s a lot of different brands of basketball in the Big 5,” Griffin said. “I think just with the growth of women’s basketball, the more we promote women’s basketball in our area, the better off all these young women are going to be.”
Growing up in a family of six in Poughkeepsie, N.Y., former Villanova women’s basketball star Maddy Siegrist said the closest thing she witnessed to a sports bet was when the Super Bowl rolled around. And even then, it was friendly wagers.
“It just wasn’t a thing in our house,” said Siegrist, who now plays for the WNBA’s Dallas Wings. “I didn’t grow up with people who bet. Plus, there were no apps or anything. I knew people that did boxes on the Super Bowl. That was the extent of my knowledge.”
Maddy Siegrist didn’t grow up around sports betting, but it’s now inextricably tied to her profession.
Since Siegrist went pro in 2023, however, legalized sports betting has infiltrated virtually every corner of sports. Siegrist said the WNBA benefits from the sports gambling population laying bets on games. That translates to more eyes watching women’s professional basketball, which generates a bigger fan base, which spurs continued growth of the sport and its brand.
But Siegrist, 25, is quick to point out a darker side to the sports-gambling intersection, “one of the rougher parts that people don’t think about,” she said.
Public vitriol directed at athletes is nothing new. But add the sports gambling component and a bettor’s ability to wager on virtually any aspect of a game or performance at the click of an app, and the result can be toxic. Often, negative fan reaction is the result of a losing bet, and social media has exacerbated the issue.
“Any pro athlete will kind of give you the same [story]: These are people betting from their house that you’re going to go under [a projected stat total] or your team’s going to win,” Siegrist said. “With the world of social media, just how much hate people get is truly amazing. I’m not a super controversial player. I don’t have the spotlight like some of my other teammates. But if you have a bad game or a good game, you can get anywhere from 50 to 100 [direct messages] or comments on your social media that are crazy.”
Dallas Wings guard Paige Bueckers, a teammate of Maddy Siegrist, is one of the WNBA’s brightest young stars.
Betting burden
No longer are the WNBA and college women’s basketball considered unattractive markets for sports gamblers. Players like Indiana Fever star Caitlin Clark and Paige Bueckers, Siegrist’s teammate on the Wings, are among the stars generating buzz, and, by extension, causing a spike in gambling activity on the sport.
Female athletes, professional and amateur, shoulder many challenges beyond maintaining elite performance on the court or field. That includes playing in the age of the ever-growing legalized sports betting industry — especially the proliferation of multimillion-dollar business partnerships between pro sports leagues like the WNBA and gaming companies like BetMGM.
And sports remain corrupted by the underworld of illegal gambling, where pro athletes can turn to a side hustle to try to score millions illicitly. The recent unsealing of the federal indictments that involve illegal gambling schemes, the NBA, and purported organized crime members is one such example, and Siegrist said she had followed those recent announcements.
While the WNBA and the players’ union continue collective bargaining negotiations, there are developments regarding salary structure in the league’s latest proposal. The changes could temper a longstanding gripe by professional women’s basketball players: that their compensation is not commensurate with the gargantuan salaries made by male pro hoops players — as they shoulder the shared burden of scrutiny from bettors and fans alike.
According to a source with knowledge of the situation, the league’s latest proposal includes language that defines a maximum salary structure with a guaranteed $1 million base for 2026 and projected revenue sharing pushing total earnings for max-salary players to more than $1.2 million. This follows an agreement to extend the current labor agreement to Jan. 9
The average player’s salary is projected to exceed $500,000 in 2026, while the minimum salary is projected to be more than $225,000 — up from approximately $102,000 and $66,000, respectively, in 2025.
Once the WNBA season starts, Siegrist said she drastically reduces her social media use to keep her mind clear of clutter and keep the focus on basketball.
“You have to take it for what it is. Obviously, social media helps you build your brand, stay connected,” she said. “From that perspective, it’s great. It’s really allowed athletes to monetize off of themselves, and it gives fans a unique perspective into seeing these people’s lives, which I think is great.
“Twitter [now known as X] is the worst. I definitely try to not go on at all during the season. … Sometimes I like to scroll on TikTok, take my mind off stuff. But I don’t ‘like’ anything that has to do with the WNBA on TikTok. I think for me, it’s definitely a balance.”
The WNBA has taken steps to combat hate and negative fan behavior directed at the league’s players and personnel. Earlier this year, the league launched the “No Space for Hate” initiative, a “multidimensional platform designed to combat hate and promote respect across all WNBA spaces — from online discourse to in-arena behavior.”
One of the campaign’s goals is the use of artificial intelligence to safeguard the players’ and teams’ social media pages and to automatically detect, report, and delete hate speech and harassment.
“As interest in sports betting grows around the WNBA, we are taking clear, concrete steps to protect players and safeguard the integrity of the game. Player safety remains our highest priority,” the WNBA said in a statement. “We’ve enhanced security, expanded monitoring of online threats, and increased fan education. We are also working closely with our gaming partners to monitor betting activity and ensure our systems protect the game. These safeguards are constantly being reviewed and strengthened to ensure we keep the players safe and our game secure.”
Around the time the WNBA launched “No Space for Hate,” sportsbook behemoth BetMGM announced its partnership with the reigning champion Las Vegas Aces. BetMGM also is an authorized gaming partner with the league.
Even while injured, Caitlin Clark (right), here with another former top overall pick in Aliyah Boston, generates a ton of buzz around the WNBA.
“The NBA and WNBA are very different in terms of scale and seasonality — the NBA is a much bigger league, but both have shown strong year-over-year growth,” said BetMGM trading manager Christian Cipollini. “The WNBA benefits from its summer schedule when there’s less competition for attention, and star power like Caitlin Clark has driven a major uptick in engagement. Even after Clark’s injury this [2025] season, handle remained well above pre-Clark levels, which speaks to the league’s momentum.”
Cipollini said BetMGM — and the gaming industry as a whole — is committed to sports integrity.
“That includes athlete harassment, and we’re working with the leagues on this issue from several angles,” he said.
During his 42 years (1978-2020) as head coach of the Villanova women’s basketball team, Harry Perretta said gambling on women’s college basketball was never an issue for him and his players, simply because the interest wasn’t there. Of course, the bulk of Perretta’s Villanova coaching career unfolded before the 2018 Supreme Court ruling that legalized sports betting state to state.
“I guess you always might have bookies on campus. But I used to tell [players], ‘You really don’t want to get involved,’” said Perretta, 70. “People who get themselves in trouble are people who make bets without putting money down. Next thing you know, they’re behind the eight ball.”
There was that 1998 ’Nova-UConn women’s game, though. Nykesha Sales was on the cusp of becoming Connecticut’s career scoring leader before she sustained a devastating Achilles injury. But before UConn’s game against Villanova, Perretta and longtime UConn women’s coach Geno Auriemma agreed to let Sales score an uncontested basket after tipoff to reach the milestone. Villanova then was allowed to score its uncontested basket, before the “real” game began. Then-Big East commissioner Mike Tranghese also had agreed to the gesture.
“We let Sales score a basket, and I checked to see if there was an over/under on that game,” Perretta said. “I checked out of curiosity. When we let her score the two [points], and then Connecticut let us score two, I didn’t want anybody saying something crazy. There was no betting on that game, but I checked. That did go through my mind when that whole sequence occurred.”
In the final two years of Perretta’s Villanova tenure — during which he coached Siegrist, Perretta said he started to see a lot more betting lines on women’s college basketball games, particularly around the start of the NCAA Tournament. The dual salvos of legalized sports betting and amateur athletes securing name, image, and likeness deals had reshaped the sports landscape.
Siegrist — who married Perretta’s son Stephen, a Drexel assistant women’s basketball coach, in late October — said that going back to her ’Nova playing days, players were consistently educated on the dangers of associating with any illegal gambling operation or people within that culture.
“I have it ingrained from college and the NCAA, ‘No gambling ever, or else you’re not going to be able to play.’ I’ve tried to keep that mentality,” Siegrist said.
The bigger challenge, she said, is now balancing her career in the online sports wagering fishbowl.
“People are crazy. They’ll post something from five years ago and comment a hundred times, ‘You suck.’ It’s a pain to go through and delete it all,” Siegrist said. “The Wings pay a company to manage social media, the outside comments, and take them down right away if they’re threatening or hate[-related]. We’re going to see more and more of that, which I think is great.
“These leagues and organizations are just trying to protect their players. At the end of the day, everyone is just trying to play the game they love to the best of their abilities. When you try and focus on that, these are all ways to keep the main thing the main thing.”
Before the 2018 Supreme Court ruling that legalized sports betting, professional squash player Amanda Sobhy said players were allowed to have their cellphones during matches to communicate with coaches.
After that landmark decision, the rules changed. Not that squash boasts a large betting handle (the amount of money wagered by sports bettors).
“I have never encountered anything remotely close to betting,” Sobhy said. “We’re too nice of a sport.”
Yes, U.S. gamblers probably aren’t scrambling online to lay down a wager on squash matches that feature Sobhy — No. 11 in the women’s squash world rankings — and another elite opponent. Even if a bettor wagers on a squash event, there are limited types of bets an individual can place. Predicting the match winner is the simplest bet.
But Sobhy said she hopes the tide changes, and that betting enthusiasts will turn their attention to the squash court, too.
“[Squash officials] know that’s a huge avenue to get more eyeballs onto the sport and get more people invested in it,” said Sobhy, 32. “I always say, to make a successful event, you basically need booze and betting. In a lot of events, we don’t have either. It’s a great sport, but when you don’t have people who know about the sport, and they’re trying to get into it, you need something else.”
Unlike some of her peers in other sports, Sobhy said squash affords a comfortable living — for men’s and women’s players — and that pro squash athletes would not be tempted to earn separate income through illicit gambling schemes, as was the case in the federal indictments unsealed in October, which involved illegal poker games and a prop betting scheme, and which named NBA coaches and current and former players as defendants.
“We’re very lucky as a sport. We are big enough where top players can make a living, and that’s their sole job,” said Sobhy, who resides in Florida after living in Philadelphia for several years after the pandemic. “We get sponsorships, and players can be OK financially. Our association [U.S. Squash] has been adamant for equal prize money in majors. Men and women have an equal amount of tournaments and opportunities. In order for the sport to grow, we need to work together and elevate as equals, rather than profiling only the men.”
Sobhy, a Harvard graduate who has won six national titles, said her sport is popular with bettors around the globe, but that interest hasn’t yet translated to the U.S. market, where the gaming industry has partnered with many pro sports leagues in multimillion dollar deals.
“You don’t have big American betting platforms engaged in squash,” Sobhy said. “Europeans and Brits bet on squash. I’m all for betting. You can’t be a cookie-cutter, safe sport but want the sport to be bigger at the same time. You have to be bold, take risks, be a bit more controversial. You have to elevate the platform to get more eyeballs. If we want squash to become bigger, we definitely need to get betting included.”
STATE COLLEGE, Pa. — Jocelyn Nathan, a defensive specialist in her third season with Penn State women’s volleyball, is from Delaware, a state not known for its volleyball prowess.
Her graduating class at Wilmington Friends had just 50 students, a “second family” she had attended classes with since elementary school.
“I think that [family-like] dynamic is something that I really wanted to bring to the rest of my life,” said Nathan, a Wilmington native. “Penn State is huge, but I wanted to bring a close-circle vibe to campus. I wanted to bring that small-town aspect to a bigger stage. And I feel like I’ve done a really good job of it.”
Nathan enjoyed her upbringing, but it didn’t help her gain traction on the recruiting trail. She wasn’t on a top club team, which meant she wasn’t invited to U.S. training sessions and didn’t attend nationals every year like most high-profile recruits.
So, the 5-foot-6 defensive specialist took charge.
She switched club teams to Conshohocken-based East Coast Power, an uncomfortable change for a then-15-year-old who went from knowing nearly everyone in her hometown to knowing none of her teammates or coaches.
But that move set Nathan up for success she never dreamed of.
“When I set my hopes out, I was like, ‘Maybe I’ll get noticed by some lower Division I teams,’” Nathan said. “And it never had anything to do with not believing I could get to that level. It was just, you see what you are working with because not many people knew who I was.”
Her father, Len, who played soccer and baseball at Swarthmore College, compiled highlight tapes to send to college coaches. Nathan sent countless emails to schools in search of offers.
And with the help of Roberta McGuiney (née Holehouse), who played volleyball at Penn State from 2005 to 2008 and coached Nathan with East Coast Power, Nathan secured an offer from the Nittany Lions.
She appeared in just two sets during her freshman year. She said she spoke “maybe 100 words” all season as she acclimated to a her new, environment.
But during her sophomore campaign, Nathan broke out. Penn State coach Katie Schumacher-Cawley lauded Nathan’s “fiery” personality, one she noticed during the recruiting process and has only grown since.
“I think [Nathan] is one of the best teammates around,” Schumacher-Cawley said. “I never question if she’s ready or if we should put her in. She knows the game well. She competes hard. She’s a great teammate. And I’m really happy for her success.”
Nathan tallied 69 digs in 59 sets across 22 matches as a sophomore. And she saved her best for last.
In the national championship match against Louisville, she totaled a season-high-tying 10 digs as Penn State won its eighth NCAA title. Nathan believes she’s the first Delaware native to win a national championship in women’s volleyball.
“It gives me goose bumps to think about it, just knowing where I came from,” Nathan said. “I think it just made everything feel so great. Not only could I represent Delaware, but [I could] also be a symbol for the little girls who are trying to get to a Division I school.”
One year after adding an eighth star to their uniforms, the Nittany Lions are back in the NCAA Tournament for a 45th straight season. As the No. 8 seed in the Texas Region, Penn State will face South Florida at 5:30 p.m. Friday in Austin, Texas. If the Nittany Lions advance, they will face the winner of No. 1 Texas and Florida A&M.
Nathan is having another strong season in Happy Valley. She has appeared in all 30 matches and tallied career-highs in digs (130), sets played (94), and assists (17).
And through her success at the national level, she has remained grounded in her roots.
“I’ve always wanted to make people feel welcome,” Nathan said. “And I strive to do that with one new person every single day. That was something I wanted to carry with me, not just to the volleyball court, but to school and to everyday life.”
Penn State’s Jocelyn Nathan celebrates during a game against Iowa.
The third annual men’s Big 5 Classic returns to Xfinity Mobile Arena on Saturday. The event will feature the teams from the Division I Philadelphia schools, a tradition that has been around for more than 70 years.
The Villanova women are in the championship for the second consecutive year on Sunday at Finneran Pavilion in the women’s Big 5 Classic.
Here’s a look at the men’s and women’s Big 5 brackets:
Men’s bracket
Fifth place: Drexel vs. La Salle, 2 p.m. Saturday
Third place: St. Joseph’s vs. Temple, 4:30 p.m.
Championship: Penn vs. Villanova, 7:30 p.m.
All games will be broadcast on NBC Sports Philadelphia. The championship features two teams that are seeking their first Big 5 crown in the new format. This also is the teams’ first appearance in the championship game.
Both teams have first-year coaches, with Kevin Willard at Villanova and Fran McCaffery at Penn, and both won pod games by double digits to earn a spot in the final.
The men’s side tips off on Saturday for the third straight year, but there is one change in the matchups. For the first time since the format debuted, St. Joe’s will not be in the championship to defend its crown.
St. Joe’s will play Temple in a rematch of the 2023 title game for third place. St. Joe’s beat Drexel on Nov. 8 to begin pod play, setting up a showdown with Penn. The Quakers’ 83-74 upset win sent them to their first Big 5 championship game.
Temple returns to the third-place game for the second consecutive season. Coach Adam Fisher’s team defeated La Salle, 90-63, but was unable to beat Villanova in what essentially was a semifinal game. The Wildcats outscored the Owls by 17 in the second half for a 74-56 victory.
La Salle will take on Drexel in the fifth-place game . The Explorers lost to St. Joe’s in the championship last season but lost both of their pod games, to Temple (90-63 on Nov. 11) and Villanova (70-55 on Nov. 19) this season.
Drexel coach Zach Spiker uses a timeout to draw up some plays for his team against St. Joe’s on Nov. 8.
Drexel is in the fifth-place game for the third consecutive year after being added to the Big 5. The Dragons lost to St. Joe’s (76-65 on Nov. 8) and Penn (84-68 on Nov. 21) in pod play.
Women’s bracket
Fifth place: Penn vs. La Salle, noon Sunday
Third place: Drexel vs. Temple, 2:15 p.m.
Championship: St. Joe’s vs. Villanova, 4:30 p.m.
Temple entered the season on a mission to defend its Big 5 championship. Those aspirations were dashed after the Owls’ 88-58 loss to Villanova on Nov. 22 in a rematch of last year’s final.
Now the Wildcats will be playing in the main event on Sunday (all games on NBC Sports Philadelphia+ and the NBC Sports app) after losing a year ago. They will play St. Joe’s, which is a year removed from a third-place finish. The Hawks earned their way to the championship game after defeating Penn, 74-53, on Nov. 24 and beating Drexel, 57-55, five days later.
Temple’s loss to Villanova sends it to the third-place game against Drexel. The last time the teams played was Nov. 23, 2024, and the Owls won, 52-43.
Temple’s Tristen Taylor drives against Villanova’s MD Ntambue on Nov. 22.
The Dragons beat Penn, 72-55, on Nov. 3 and had the two-point loss to St. Joe’s on Saturday.
The first game of the day will feature La Salle and Penn. The Explorers are 5-2 but have yet to win a Big 5 pod game in the two seasons of the new format for the women. La Salle has lost its four pod games by an average of 17.8 points, and both of its losses this season are by double digits.
FT. LAUDERDALE, Fla. — Catarina Macario scored in her third straight international match and the United States women’s national team defeated Italy 2-0 on Monday night in the final game for the national team this year.
The United States has scored in 16 straight matches, including all 15 this year. The national team wrapped up 2025 12-3-0.
Macario scored the opening goal in the 20th minute with a strike from the corner of the box and up over Italy goalkeeper Francesca Durante’s head and into the side netting of the far post.
Jaedyn Shaw added a second goal before halftime, taking a pass from Alyssa Thompson before squaring up and calmly finishing out of Durante’s reach to make it 2-0.
Claudia Dickey earned her fifth clean sheet in her sixth appearance in goal for the USWNT.
Macario had a pair of goals a 3-0 victory over Italy on Friday night in Orlando, Florida. Olivia Moultrie, who scored the other goal on Friday, was available off the bench Monday.
Macario, who plays for Chelsea, led the team this year with eight goals, including seven goals in her last seven starts. She nearly got a second goal at Ft. Lauderdale’s Chase Stadium but it was disallowed because of a foul, denying her a third brace in her last three international games.
Macario and Emily Fox were among the players named earlier Monday as nominees for the women’s U.S. Soccer Player of the Year award, joining Rose Lavelle, Thompson, and Sam Coffey.
U.S. coach Emma Hayes made five changes to the starting lineup from Friday’s victory in the first game against Italy, going with veterans Naomi Girma, Lindsey Heaps, Fox and Macario. Three teenagers started for the United States, including 19-year-olds Claire Hutton and Jordyn Bugg and 18-year-old Lily Yohannes.
The USWNT will next gather from Jan. 17-27 for the team’s annual camp in Carson, Calif., with a match planned against Paraguay and another against an undetermined opponent.
One day after the WNBA and Women’s National Basketball Association (WNBPA) agreed to extend the current collective barging agreement (CBA) through Jan. 9, the league has reportedly come to the negotiating table with a new proposal that increases player compensation.
The league’s latest offer includes a maximum $1 million guaranteed base salary with projected revenue sharing raising max players’ total earnings to more than $1.2 million in 2026, a source close to the situation told USA TODAY Sports. They spoke on condition of anonymity because they’re not authorized to speak publicly about ongoing negotiations.
The offer also raises the league’s minimum salary to more than $225,000 and the average salary to more than $500,000, up from $220,000 and $460,000, respectively, in the WNBA’s previous proposal on Nov. 18.
The latest proposal also raises the salary cap to $5 million a season per team, an increase from $1.5 million salary cap in 2025. The salary cap would reportedly increase over the length of the CBA and be directly tied to the league’s revenue growth each year, although the specific revenue sharing details weren’t disclosed.
USA TODAY Sports reached out to the WNBA and WNBPA for comment.
Although the WNBA and WNBPA are on the record saying players deserve a significant pay increase in the next CBA, the sides have differing opinions on how to go about it has led the current standoff.
The league previously proposed a maximum salary of more than $1.1 million — including both the base salary and revenue sharing component — available to more than one player per team on Nov. 18, but the proposal didn’t move the needle for the players. Both sides subsequently agreed on the Nov. 30 deadline to extend the CBA for a second time as revenue sharing and pay structure remain points of contention in negotiations.
Last season, the minimum salary was $66,079, while the supermax was worth $249,244. Only five WNBA players made more than $225,000 last season: Kelsey Mitchell at $269,244, Arike Ogunbowale at $249,032, Jewell Loyd, at $249,032, Kahleah Copper at $248,134, and Gabby Williams at $225,000
The current CBA was previously set to expire on Oct. 31 after the WNBPA exercised its right to opt out of the agreement in October 2024. However, the WNBA and players association agreed to a 30-day extension to extend the deadline to Nov. 30 to allow more time for a deal to be reached. The new deadline has been moved to Jan. 9, 2026, and both sides have the option to terminate the extension with 48 hours’ advance notice.
The league and players association previously agreed to a 60-day extension in 2019, three days before the last CBA was set to expire on Oct. 31, 2019. A new deal was subsequently reached on the current CBA on Jan. 14, 2020 and singed into effect three days later on Jan. 17, 2020. The WNBA has not had a work stoppage in its nearly 30-year existence.
