In the latest episode of Locked On Women’s Basketball, host Chelsea Leite takes a look at what is going on across the league, from Rhyne Howard‘s comments on Wednesday night in the postgame press conference after the Dream’s lost to the Las Vegas Aces (87-75), to other surprises so far this season and much more.
In the first segment, Leite discusses what occurred in the fourth quarter of the game, specifically when the Dream’s home crowd started chanting “MVP” towards Aces center A’ja Wilson while she was at the free-throw line. The Aces, who were led by a 34-point performance by Wilson, extended their winning streak to 12, tying the longest in franchise history since the team relocated there from San Antonio.
“This is a challenge. We rely on our fans, and when they pick and choose who they want to cheer for and come in and make it feel like an away game for us and a home game for the other team, it’s easy to go on a run like that,” Howard told the media. “Especially with the playoffs coming up. You want to come see Gamecocks, we have Gamecocks on our roster. The last game, we had MVP chants for one of our players. Don’t get here and switch up because of one player. Yes, we do make mistakes. But it’s easy to lose momentum when you have other people cheering against you.”
The Aces are now the No.2 ranked team in the WNBA, while the Dream are just below them in the standings at third.
In the second segment, Leite gets into the biggest surprises that stand out to her, including the output of Washington Mystics rookie Sonia Citron. “I think the way that she has gone, she’s increased her output from college, which you don’t see very often in the WNBA, because you go from these teams where you’re the number one option in a big college program, and then you end up, sometimes, unless you’re a top and, I mean, she was the number three pick, but like, a lot of times, you’re just still a rookie, you don’t have the exact like, green light to go out and do everything you did in college. And so to see someone like Sonia Citron increase their output, what they did in college, and just adapt so well, has been really exciting and super fun. She’s such an enjoyable player to watch. She’s so ready for the moment.”
As well what has been disappointing so far this season, from an injured Caitlin Clark to the CBA. Lastly, she looks ahead at the playoffs and answers th
e question on everyone’s mind right now: which teams do you have advancing to the next round?
Tune in to Locked On Women’s Basketball to get her thoughts and insight into everything you need to know going into the playoffs.
