UK to extend Northern Ireland’s Brexit grace periods

A’ja Wilson had a season like none other in WNBA history. Caitlin Clark set records and made the Indiana Fever the biggest draw in the women’s game. Angel Reese rebounded like nobody the league has ever seen.

The WNBA regular season is over. And the stat sheets were filled like never before.

Lots of records — most points, most rebounds, most assists, even most people at a game — fell during the WNBA’s 28th regular season. Wilson, Clark and Reese were in the middle of many of those moments.

Here’s a look at some big numbers from the season:

A’ja Wilson: Will it be u’nanimous?

Wilson did things this season that have never been done in the WNBA. (And never been officially done in the NBA, either.)

Most points in a season, most rebounds in a season and most blocked shots in a season. That’s never happened by one player in one year, until now. The Las Vegas star set WNBA records with 1,021 points and 451 rebounds, plus led the league in blocks with 98.

Another record for Wilson: points per game with 26.9, breaking Diana Taurasi’s mark of 25.3 that stood since 2006. WNBA teams didn’t always play 40-game seasons, so 1,000 points wasn’t even a remote possibility in the days of shorter schedules. The scoring-average record takes away any debate from where Wilson’s 2024 season should rank.

It seems certain that she’s going to be MVP for a record-tying third time. The only real question is whether she gets all the votes. “U’nanimous,” Miami Heat center Bam Adebayo said on social media last week, and it didn’t need any explaining.

Caitlin Clark: Rookie numbers stand alone

Clark broke the WNBA single-game record for assists with 19, broke the season record for assists with 337 and finished her rookie Indiana season with a resume of averages beyond compare.

Others have scored more, rebounded more and one player — Courtney Vandersloot — has averaged more assists in a season. But nobody in WNBA history ever averaged as much in all three categories as Clark this season: 19.2 points, 5.7 rebounds and 8.4 assists per game.

There have been only four other instances of a player averaging 15-5-5 in the WNBA. Clark is the first in the 19-5-8 club.

Clark also had 12 games of at least 10 points and 10 assists, another single-season record. Only eight players in WNBA history have more such games in their entire careers.

Clark also had two triple-doubles in her rookie season. No other rookie in WNBA history has ever had one. And her 122 3-pointers — the second-most by anyone in any WNBA season — was another rookie record.

Angel Reese: A rebounding machine

Reese would have set the WNBA record for rebounds in a season had she not missed Chicago’s final six games, citing a wrist injury. (She had the record briefly with 446, before Wilson caught her toward the end of the regular season.)

The rebounds-per-game record is hers though: 13.1, which is 10% higher than the previous mark of 11.9 set by Sylvia Fowles in 2018.

Reese’s 26 double-doubles were another rookie record; Tina Charles had 22 (in a 34-game season) in 2010. There were six instances in the WNBA this season of someone grabbing 18 or more rebounds; Reese had five of them.

Another big number: Ticket sales

Last season, 227,979 tickets were sold for Indiana Fever games. This season, the number was 643,343.

That’s a 182% jump. That’s Caitlinmania.

WNBA attendance soared to a level not seen since the late 1990s this season, with around 9,800 tickets distributed on average for each game. That’s up nearly 44% from last season, and the huge increase in Fever tickets accounts for the overwhelming majority of that leaguewide growth.

The Fever destroyed the previous WNBA record for average attendance; 16,084 tickets, on average, were sold for Indiana games (both home and away) this season, way ahead of the previous mark of 13,398 set by the 1998 New York Liberty.

And Thursday, as the season closed, Clark was involved in another record: 20,711 attended Indiana’s game at the Washington Mystics, a WNBA all-time regular season mark.

Where she went, fans followed: There were 37 games this season that drew crowds of 16,000 or more, and 32 of them were Indiana games.

Notables: A few stats that stood out

— Atlanta’s Tina Charles became the WNBA’s all-time leader in rebounds (4,014) and double-doubles (194), getting those marks with a 10-point, 10-rebound effort Thursday as the regular season ended. She passed Sylvia Fowles on both of those lists.

— Dallas’ Arike Ogunbowale was already the league’s record-holder for minutes in a season (1,493 in 2023), and this year she broke the record for minutes per game that Katie Smith held since 2001. Ogunbowale — who also tied the WNBA single-game record for 3-pointers with nine against Indiana on Sept. 1 — averaged 38.58 minutes; Smith’s record was 38.56. If Ogunbowale played one fewer minute this season, Smith would still hold the mark.

— Minnesota’s Napheesa Collier had eight steals in a game against Los Angeles on June 14. The last time a WNBA player had more steals in a game? July 10, 2003, when Ticha Penichiero had a league-record 10 for Sacramento.

___

AP WNBA:

Nearly two months after announcing an independent, external review into the Paris Olympics drone spying scandal, Canada Soccer — like everyone else — is waiting on its findings.

Canada women’s coach Bev Priestman, assistant coach Jasmine Mander and analyst Joseph Lombardi are serving one-year FIFA suspensions in the wake of New Zealand’s Olympic Committee filing a complaint with the International Olympic Committee’s integrity unit, alleging drones were flown over a pair of pre-tournament practice sessions.

Mander and Lombardi were sent home immediately. Priestman initially removed herself from coaching the opening match but left the team after allegations of a wider culture of spying.

FIFA subsequently banned all three “from taking part in any football-related activity for a period of one year.”

Canada Soccer announced plans for the independent probe on July 24, saying it would “address the circumstances of the current matter, and more broadly, will seek to understand the historical culture of competitive ethics within all of our programs.”

“The outcome of this review will be shared publicly and corrective actions, if necessary, will be taken,” it added.

More than eight weeks later, Canada Soccer is still waiting for information to share. Priestman, while suspended, continues to get paid.

“Bev Priestman remains a paid staff member of Canada Soccer pending the conclusions of the review,” Canada Soccer said in a statement to The Canadian Press.

On July 31, Canada Soccer announced it had retained Sonia Regenbogen from the law firm of Mathews, Dinsdale & Clark to handle the review — “a focus on actions taken by Canada Soccer representatives related to the incident at the Olympic Games, and subsequently, any related matters of a historic nature.”

It called Regenbogen “a leading Canadian expert in conducting independent workplace investigations.”

“We will maintain prompt and transparent communication on this matter,” Canada Soccer said at the time.

Asked for a status update on the review, Canada Soccer offered little.

“We appreciate that there is interest in how the investigation is progressing, and we too look forward to its conclusions and recommendations. Given that this is an independent external investigation, we are not in control of its timelines.”

However, it said it remains “committed” to Regenbogen’s review.

The probe could shed light on past incidents of cheating. A ruling by the FIFA Appeals Committee put former Canada coach John Herdman at Ground Zero within Canada Soccer for spying on rival teams.

The July ruling, which dismissed a Canadian appeal of FIFA’s sanctions imposed on the women’s team, says Canada Soccer pointed the finger at Herdman.

“Canada is investigating the history of this matter, but we suspect that the practice of using a drone stems back to John Herdman when he was the head coach of the women’s national team. In other words, this was a practice started by one person — John Herdman — and continued by Bev Priestman,” Canada Soccer said, according to the FIFA document.

Herdman, who has said he will co-operate with the review, has declined to publicly address such allegations, citing the “integrity of the investigation.”

But he has repeated that his record was clean at the Olympics and World Cups.

“I can again clarify that at a FIFA World Cup, pinnacle event, Olympic Games, at a Youth World Cup, those activities have not been undertaken,” he said in July. “And I’ve got nothing else to say on that matter.”

Herdman, now head coach of Toronto FC, led the Canadian women to two Olympic medals, winning bronze in 2012 and 2016, as well as the 2011 and 2015 Women’s World Cup. He also took the Canadian men to the 2022 World Cup in Qatar.

Toronto GM Jason Hernandez offered little this week when asked about the spying investigation, saying he was reserving “feelings, thoughts or determinations until the determinations are made and it all comes out.”

Former Canada captain Atiba Hutchinson was also reluctant to comment on the issue. But he suggested such spying “probably” happens all over the soccer world.

“We’ve seen a lot of things that have happened over the years in my days playing, with people watching and spying on us,” Hutchinson, who played for clubs in Sweden, Denmark, the Netherlands and Turkey and won a record 104 caps for Canada, said in an interview.

“I think countries, clubs, they find ways of trying to get a little bit of an advantage in certain things,” he added.

The sixth-ranked Canadian women return to action Oct. 25 against third-ranked Spain at Estadio Francisco de la Hera in Almendralejo.

Canada Soccer has yet to announce who will coach the team. Assistant Andy Spence ran the team at the Olympics in Priestman’s absence.

Canada managed to reach the Olympic knockout round despite being docked six points for the spying scandal which also saw Canada Soccer fined 200,000 Swiss francs ($319,655).

The Canadians were eliminated in the quarterfinals by No. 4 Germany in a penalty shootout.

—

Follow @NeilMDavidson on X platform, formerly known as Twitter

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Sept. 20, 2024

TEMISKAMING SHORES, Ont. – Ontario Provincial Police say four people are dead after a house fire in Temiskaming Shores.

Police say all four were found dead inside the home on Paget Street, in the community of New Liskeard.

OPP say officers and firefighters in the northern Ontario community near the Quebec border responded to the fire around 5:30 p.m. Thursday.

Police did not identify the victims or their relationship to one another.

OPP say they are investigating alongside the fire marshal and the coroner.

In a written statement, Const. Siobhan Christo said, “due to the ongoing investigation and out of respect for the family, no other information will be provided at this time.”

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Sept. 20, 2024.

The Canadian Press. All rights reserved.