Indiana Fever Guard Lexie Hull to raise the flag at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway to kick off the 2025 IndyCar Series Season Start your engines! Indiana Fever guard Lexie Hull will be raising the NTT INDYCAR SERIES flag above the Pagoda at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway at 1:30pm this afternoon. The Fever guard will join Indianapolis Motor Speedway and NTT INDYCAR SERIES President J. Douglas Boles. The annual ceremony will make the start of the 2025 NTT INDYCAR SERIES season and is also an important milestone in the countdown to the 109th running of the Indianapolis 500 presented by Gainbridge. Hull was drafted with the number 6 pick in the 2022 WNBA Draft by the Fever. Hull is one of only 4 players in WNBA history to shoot at least 70 percent from three-point range in a 5-game span. The first race of the 2025 season is the Firestone Grand Prix of St. Petersburg presented by RP Funding. That race will be on Sunday, March 2nd on the streets of Downtown St. Petersburg, Florida.
IU-Indy Men’s Basketball Team’s Bus catches fire as no injuries are reported Members of the IU Indy men’s basketball program are okay after a bus they were on caught fire on Sunday. The bus was driving back to Indianapolis following the team’s game at Northern Kentucky Sunday afternoon. The IU Indy Athletics Department released the following statement on X, formally known as Twitter: “On the return drive from today’s game against Northern Kentucky, the bus carrying the IU Indianapolis men’s basketball team experienced a mechanical issue, that caused a fire around Kent, Indiana. All members of the team and staff evacuated the bus without injury. Another bus is en route to pick up the team and deliver them back to Indianapolis.” Northern Kentucky beat IU Indy 71-67 in Sunday’s matchup.
#1 Notre Dame Women’s Basketball is upset by NC State in a Double Overtime Thriller Forget March Madness for now. The Notre Dame and NC State women’s basketball teams played an instant classic Sunday afternoon in a clash of Atlantic Coast Conference heavyweights. The host and No. 13 Wolfpack outlasted the top-ranked Irish 104-95 in a double-overtime thriller which featured 21 ties and 21 lead changes in an electric Reynolds Coliseum in Raleigh, North Carolina. Guard Zoe Brooks poured in a career-high 33 points, including 14 of 14 from the free throw line, as the Wolfpack prevailed. Aziaha James had 20 points and Tilda Trygger 19 as the Wolfpack won its 20th straight home game. Hannah Hildago poured in 26 points, Sonia Citron 23 and Olivia Miles 22 to pace the Irish. Both Hildago and Miles fouled out late in the final overtime period. Liatu King added 16 points and 14 rebounds for the Irish.
Notre Dame, which saw its 19-game winning streak snapped, was outscored 12-3 in the final five-minute overtime period as Brooks scored four points. The Irish, who boast seven ACC wins by 30 plus points, had not lost since dropping a 78-67 final to Utah on Nov. 30 in the Cayman Islands. NC State (22-5, 14-2 ACC) lost to the Irish 55-51 in the ACC Tournament title game a year ago after beating them 59-43 in a regular-season clash. The Irish (24-3, 15-1) could have clinched the ACC regular season crown with a win. The Irish, who moved into the No. 1 spot in both the AP Rankings and USA Today Coaches rankings last week, forced overtime when Citron drained an incredible 3-pointer from the right wing with 0.6 seconds to play in regulation. The Irish were outscored 24-8 from the free throw line and shot just 7 of 27 from 3-point range. Notre Dame entered play Sunday leading the country in 3-point field goal percentage as a team at 41%. “We have to get better, learn from it and move forward,” Notre Dame coach Niele Ivey said. “The lesson for us is wanting to be better defensively. “It was a hard-fought game that did not go in our favor. Hats off to NC State. It was an incredible environment. They came out on fire and were fantastic. “Brooks played well. She did a great job getting downhill. She got to the free throw line 14 times. That was more than we did as a team. Hat’s off to her.
“I thought we had some fantastic performances. Hannah with 26 points, Liv with 22 and Liatu (King) with 16 and 14 rebounds. Sonia was fantastic for us. That 3-point shot she hit to tie it was one of the best shots I’ve seen in a long time.” The Irish trailed 23-20 after the opening period and were behind for the first time all season at halftime by a 40-36 count. Citron, who had just two first-half points, popped in 10 points in the third period as her team took a 58-57 lead. The Wolfpack, who had not beaten a No. 1 team at home since 1978, surged to an 80-77 lead on a pair of free throws by Brooks with 22.5 seconds to play in regulation. Brooks was 8 of 8 from the line in the fourth quarter. Miles then hit a driving shot to make it 80-79 before Brooks hit two more free throws with 17.3 seconds to play for an 82-79 lead. King hit a layup to cut the lead to 82-81 with 5.4 seconds left and then NC State’s Madison Hayes hit two more free throws to make it 84-81 with 4.5 ticks left. After an Irish timeout, Citron drained a triple to tie it at 84-84 and then James missed a trey at the final horn for overtime.
The first overtime, which was delayed by about eight minutes due to a medical issue in the stands, saw the Irish take a 92-90 lead on a Citron driving layup with 44 seconds to play. James then drained a jumper in the lane with 21.4 seconds left to tie it at 92-92. Ivey then took a timeout with 3.5 seconds to play. Miles misfired on a trey try and Maddy Westbeld grabbed an offensive rebound and was fouled. After an official review, it was determined the foul came after time had expired. The final extra session was all Wolfpack. The hosts scored the first 10 points of the second overtime, highlighted by James making a gorgeous lefthanded layup in transition after going behind her back with the basketball. Miles hit a trey with just 27.6 seconds to play for Notre Dame’s only points of the final overtime.
The Wolfpack, who improved to 15-0 at home this season, finished 36 of 79 from the field, including 8 of 21 from deep. They went 24 of 26 from the line and had 17 turnovers to 12 by the Irish. NC State entered play Sunday shooting just 66% from the line this season as a team. NC State, which lost to South Carolina in the Final Four a season ago, is alone in second place in the ACC at 14-2. North Carolina, which beat the Wolfpack last week, is third at 13-3. Notre Dame entered play Sunday allowing 58 points per game to ACC teams. The Irish host Florida State (21-6, 11-4) at 8 p.m. Thursday and then entertain Louisville (19-8, 12-4) at noon March 2. ESPN’s “College GameDay” show, which was at NC State on Sunday, will be in South Bend for the regular-season finale.
#8 Ohio State dominates Purdue University Women’s Basketball Ohio State women’s basketball had lost three of its last five games coming into its Sunday afternoon showdown with the unranked Purdue Boilermakers. After a loss to the Indiana Hoosiers in their last game, the Buckeyes made sure to put this one away early. Ohio State ended the first quarter up by 16 and went into half with a 29-point lead, entering the break up 55-26. The Buckeyes continued to pour it on, winning the third quarter by 13 and the fourth by 10. They ended up having a double-digit advantage in every quarter as the Buckeyes won 98-46. Chance Gray ended with a game-high 21 points. The Buckeyes leading scorer on the season, Cotie McMahon, had 16 points on 5-for-9 shooting and 3-for-4 from deep.
It was a terrific all-around effort from the Buckeyes, and with top-25 teams like Michigan State and Maryland, the latter of which is on the road, to close out the regular season, this confidence-boosting win came at a good time. It was a historic victory for the Buckeyes on senior day as well, capping a special team that has made the program one of the best ten in the country and should continue to see success heading into the Big Ten Tournament. The Buckeyes will welcome the No. 22 Michigan State Spartans to Columbus for a 7 PM tip off on Wednesday, the next time they take the court. Their last regular season will be on March 2 against the No. 21 Maryland Terrapins which will be featured on FOX.
Paige Bueckers Posts a Double-Double as #5 UConn routs Butler at Sold-Out Hinkle Fieldhouse Paige Bueckers finished with 23 points and 10 assists, and Sarah Strong added 16 points and nine rebounds to lead No. 5 UConn Huskies to an 86-47 rout at Butler on Saturday. Noblesville, Indiana Native Ashlynn Shade scored 14 points while Bueckers had three steals as the Huskies (26-3, 16-0) won their fifth straight since losing to then No. 19 Tennessee. They’ve won 16 of 17 since a mid-December home loss to then No. 7 Southern California and moved within one win of clinching another outright regular season conference crown. Kilyn McGuff and Lily Zeinstra each scored 13 points to lead Butler, which was playing in front of the first women’s game to be sold out at Hinkle Fieldhouse. McGuff’s father Kevin, who coaches Ohio State, was in the crowd for the game.
The Bulldogs (15-15, 5-12) fell to 0-8 all-time against UConn in front of a heavily partisan Huskies crowd. And it was never really close. The Huskies closed the first quarter on a 17-3 run and opened the second with six straight points to take a 27-9 lead. They extended the halftime margin to 42-17 and maintained that edge throughout the second half. UConn guard Caroline Ducharme played in her first game since suffering a head injury last season. Bueckers & Co. continue to overwhelm the Big East. Nobody has figured out how to slow down this team and with the balanced attack improving each game, the Huskies seem primed for yet another Final Four run. The injury-depleted Bulldogs really didn’t have a chance. With two key players, Sydney Jaynes and Lily Carmody playing through injuries, coach Austin Parkinson’s squad did the best it could against one of the nation’s most dominant teams and came up short. Strong’s back-to-back baskets midway through the first quarter gave UConn the only lead it needed, starting the decisive run 23-3 run. Butler lost the turnover battle 22-8 and was outscored 31-5 on points off turnovers. The Huskies can clinch their 24th Big East title Thursday when they host No. 23 Creighton. Butler closes the regular season Wednesday at Villanova.
Big Ten Football Media Days heading to Las Vegas in July The Big Ten Conference announced the 2025 Big Ten Football Media Days will be held at the Mandalay Bay Resort and Casino in Las Vegas. This year’s event will once again feature a three-day format, July 22-24, at Mandalay Bay with Big Ten Network providing coverage all three days. Additional information on school attendance order, credentials, media schedules, hotels and student-athlete attendees will be announced at a later date.