📰🏟️ WNBA bag secured

Good afternoon. Today’s edition brings you the top news from around the sports world. Let’s rock and roll.

—Kyle

1) Venezuela wins first WBC title

Venezuela defeated Team USA 3-2 last night to win the country’s first-ever World Baseball Classic championship, in the sixth edition of the international tournament.

• DH Eugenio Suárez delivered a go-ahead RBI double in the 9th inning for Venezuela, after Bryce Harper had tied the game with a homer the previous inning.
• The game was played in Miami, home to the highest concentration of Venezuelan immigrants in the US, in front of a raucous pro-Venezuela crowd.
• Venezuela now joins the US, Japan, and the Dominican Republic as WBC winners.

Inside Venezuela’s historic upset

2) WNBA and union agree to new CBA

Following a monthslong labor battle, the WNBA and its players association verbally agreed to a new collective bargaining agreement early this morning, per multiple reports.

• Under the new CBA, the WNBA salary cap will start at $7M (up from $1.5M in 2025), with the supermax starting at $1.4M (from $249K), sources told ESPN.
• The average salary will be around $600K (up from $120K), with the minimum salary surpassing $300K (from $66K).
• Players will vote on the CBA once the term sheet is finalized, followed by a WNBA Board of Governors vote in the coming weeks.

How WNBA players secured the bag

3) CBB All-American teams are out

Duke freshman phenom Cameron Boozer was the only player to earn unanimous first-team All-American honors in the AP’s postseason award.

• He’s joined on the first team by fellow freshman AJ Dybantsa (BYU) and Darius Acuff Jr. (Arkansas), along with upperclassmen JT Toppin (Texas Tech) and Yaxel Lendeborg (Michigan).
• Texas Tech is the only team to have two All-Americans, with G Christian Anderson receiving third-team honors alongside Toppin.

See who else made the cut

4) Morocco wins Africa soccer title in shocking reversal

Two months ago, Senegal beat Morocco 1-0 in one of the most controversial Africa Cup of Nation (AFCON) finals in history.

During the game’s 83rd minute, Senegal’s players had temporarily left the field in protest of the ref’s decisions, during which time Senegal supporters invaded the field and clashed with Moroccan fans and police.

• Senegal later returned to the field and scored the game-winning goal in extra time.
• But yesterday, the Confederation of African Football reversed the game’s result and gave Morocco the title instead, ruling that Senegal’s mid-game departure constituted a forfeit.

Slide into the major soccer controversy

5) Ex-reality TV star repeats grueling Iditarod win

Jessie Holmes, a former cast member on Life Below Zero for eight years, crossed the finish line yesterday for a repeat victory in the Iditarod, the ~1,000-mile sled dog race in Alaska.

• The journey took Holmes more than nine days, with two-year-old lead dog Zeus heading every run except one.
• He’s the third competitor in the Iditarod’s 54-year history to repeat as champion one year after winning for the first time.
• Holmes, who pocketed $88K for first place, says his goal is to threepeat next year.

Holmes has got that dawg in him

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