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Colts coach Shane Steichen praises Fever’s ‘resilience’ after dramatic WNBA playoff upset

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Colts coach Shane Steichen praises Fever’s ‘resilience’ after dramatic WNBA playoff upset


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It took a decade, but the Indiana Fever finally celebrated a WNBA playoff series victory. The injury-depleted team upset the Atlanta Dream in the first round, winning Game 3 on Thursday in dramatic fashion.

After avoiding elimination by winning Game 2, Indiana’s fourth-quarter heroics resulted in a stunning 87-85 upset. Indianapolis Colts head coach Shane Steichen took notice of the Fever’s remarkable playoff run and offered his praise.

“Shoutout to the Fever and Coach White for getting it done last night and moving on. Obviously, they’ve dealt with some adversity, with some injuries, and it’s the next person up for them. So it’s been fun and [I] wish them all the best of luck in the next round for sure,” Steichen said during his media availability on Friday.

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Indianapolis Colts head coach Shane Steichen walks the field before an NFL football game against the Tennessee Titans, Sunday, Dec. 22, 2024, in Indianapolis.  (AP Photo/Darron Cummings)

“I thought it was awesome to find a way to win there, it shows just the grittiness, the toughness, the resilience that they’re playing with right now. You can see they’re all playing together. So, it’s exciting for them, it’s exciting for the city.” 

CAITLIN CLARK SAYS SHE WAS FINED FOR CALLING OUT WNBA REFEREES AFTER FEVER’S PLAYOFF WIN

Fever star Sophie Cunningham reacted to Steichen’s comments. “wait this is so cool! love you are reppin’ the Fever Girlies coach,” she wrote on X. 

Meanwhile, Fever guard Kelsey Mitchell praised her head coach Stephanie White after Indiana advanced to the semifinals. 

“I’ve had so many coaches in eight years, I’ve been on the worst record teams in the Indiana Fever (history), so I know where my career started at,” Mitchell said after the sixth-seeded Fever rallied in the final minute to beat the third-seeded Dream 87-85 in a decisive Game 3. “I know what I’ve had to go through to kind of be in this position, and I’ve never had a coach that poured into me respectfully, like Steph has. I’ve never felt that as a pro.”

Indiana Fever head coach Stephanie White

Indiana Fever head coach Stephanie White on the sideline during Game 2 of a WNBA first round playoff matchup between the Fever and the Atlanta Dream at Gainbridge Fieldhouse in Indianapolis.

The Dream finished the regular season with 30 wins, the most in the Eastern Conference. Atlanta entered the playoffs as one of the favorites to make it to the WNBA Finals.

Despite being short-handed throughout much of the year due to injuries, the Fever won the WNBA Commissioner’s Cup and finished with 24 wins.

Five players who started the 2025 season on the Fever’s roster were lost to season-ending injuries. To make matters worse, those setbacks occurred within a two-month window.

In early September, Caitlin Clark announced she had been ruled out for the rest of the season. Clark has been sidelined since July 15, when she suffered a groin injury in a game against the Connecticut Sun.

Indiana Fever players embrace

Indiana Fever players react after defeating the Atlanta Dream during Game 3 in the first round of the WNBA Playoffs at Gateway Center Arena, Thursday, in Atlanta.  (Dale Zanine/Imagn Images)

“I spent hours in the gym every day with the singular goal of getting back out there, disappointed isn’t a big enough word to describe how I am feeling,” the point guard wrote on X on Sept. 4.

Fellow Fever guards Sydney Colson and Aari McDonald each went down with their own significant injuries during a matchup with the Phoenix Mercury last month. Colson suffered a torn ACL, while McDonald was diagnosed with a broken foot.

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Cunningham suffered a season-ending MCL injury on Aug. 27. 

The Fever will meet the Las Vegas Aces in the semifinals. Game 1 tips off on Sunday.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.

Follow Fox News Digital’s sports coverage on X, and subscribe to the Fox News Sports Huddle newsletter.





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Iran’s soccer team honors victims of elementary school airstrike

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Iran’s soccer team honors victims of elementary school airstrike


ANTALYA, Turkey — Players held small backpacks as Iran‘s national soccer team used a match against Nigeria on Friday to honor the victims of a deadly missile strike on an elementary school.

More than 165 people were killed, most of them children, when a Feb. 28 strike, likely launched by the U.S., hit the school in southern Iran.

Iran bans sports teams’ travel to ‘hostile’ nations

Neither the United States nor Israel has accepted responsibility for the attack, which has come under staunch criticism from the United Nations and human rights groups. The U.S. military is investigating and has said it would never target civilians.

During the national anthem Friday, the Iranian team honored the memory of the slain children by placing small pink and purple school backpacks in front of them.

Video of the ceremony also showed the players wearing black armbands in remembrance of those killed since the war began.

The match was played in Antalya, southern Turkey.

Nigeria won 2-1 in a game that was a World Cup tuneup for Iran, ahead of the tournament being co-hosted by the United States, Mexico and Canada.

The Islamic Republic’s team is scheduled to play three group-stage matches in June in the U.S. The Iranian ambassador in Mexico City has said the country asked FIFA to move those three games to Mexico after U.S. President Donald Trump discouraged the team from attending, citing safety concerns.

Iranian government and soccer officials have said they do not want to boycott the World Cup but that it is not possible for the national team to go to the U.S. because of military attacks on Iran by Israel and U.S.

FIFA president Gianni Infantino has dampened Iran’s attempts to move its matches, saying global soccer’s governing body wants the tournament “to go ahead as scheduled.”

Separately on Friday, Iran’s judiciary threatened to seize the property of soccer player Sardar Azmoun, two semiofficial news agencies said. The announcement follows threats from Iran’s hard-liner judicial chief that authorities planned to seize the assets of celebrities viewed as critical of the government.



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Tiger Woods arrested at crash scene on suspicion of DUI, sheriff says

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Tiger Woods arrested at crash scene on suspicion of DUI, sheriff says


Tiger Woods showed signs of impairment and was arrested Friday at the scene of a car crash in which he struck another vehicle and rolled his Land Rover, authorities said.

Martin County Sheriff John Budensiek said Woods and the person in the other vehicle were not injured. Woods was able to crawl out of the passenger side of his Land Rover.

The crash occurred just after 2 p.m. not far from where Woods lives on Jupiter Island. Budensiek said Woods attempted to pass a pressure cleaner truck while driving on a two-land road. He swerved to avoid a collision as he was passing the truck, but clipped the back end of the truck’s trailer. Woods’ vehicle then rolled onto its driver’s side.

Budensiek said investigators at the scene found Woods to be showing signs of impairment. He did a breathalyzer test, which came out negative, but he refused to take a urine test. Authorities charged him with driving under the influence with property damage and refusal to submit to a lawful test, Budensiek said. Both charges are misdemeanors.

Woods’ manager at Excel Sports did not immediately respond to a text message seeking information.

Woods, 50, had spent the past several months recovering from a ruptured Achilles tendon and another back surgery in October. The 15-time major champion competed for the first time in more than a year during Tuesday’s TGL finals, where his Jupiter Links GC team lost to the Los Angeles Golf Club.

He had been weighing whether to return to the PGA Tour at the Masters at Augusta National Golf Club, the first major of the season, which begins April 9.

Woods last competed on the PGA Tour in July 2024 when he missed the cut at the Open Championship at Royal Troon Golf Club in Scotland. He last played four rounds in a PGA Tour event at the 2024 Masters.

In February 2021, Woods suffered significant leg injuries in a one-car crash outside of Los Angeles, in which his SUV rolled several times and left him trapped in the car. He later had surgery to deal with “open fractures” to his lower right leg, had a rod placed in a tibia and had screws and pins inserted in his foot and ankle during emergency surgery. Woods was hospitalized for three weeks following the surgery.

At the 2021 Hero World Challenge in the Bahamas, Woods said, “I’m lucky to be alive and also have a limb.” He said it was 50-50 as to whether part of his right leg could have been amputated.

He had at least one more surgery related to injuries from the crash in April 2023.

ESPN’s Mark Schlabach and The Associated Press contributed to this report.



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FIFA clears Fulham’s Diop, Ajax’s Bounida to play for Morocco

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FIFA clears Fulham’s Diop, Ajax’s Bounida to play for Morocco


Morocco got FIFA permission to select Fulham defender Issa Diop and Ajax midfielder Rayane Bounida among seven players recruited this month by the 2022 World Cup semifinalist ahead of the next edition in North America, and 16 in total since last March.

The 29-year-old Diop was a France youth and under-21 international and Bounida is among six players aged 20 or under changing eligibility this month to represent Morocco after playing youth games for Belgium or the Netherlands.

All have direct family ties to Morocco that allow them within FIFA rules to change national eligibility, typically when players have not played a senior competitive game for the first country they represented.

Diop and Bounida are in new coach Mohamed Ouahbi’s squad for World Cup warmup games against Ecuador on Friday in Madrid, and Paraguay on Tuesday in Lens, France.

At the 2026 World Cup Morocco is in a group with Brazil, Scotland and Haiti playing games, respectively, near New York, Boston and in Atlanta.

Morocco gets direct entry to the 2030 tournament as a co-host with Spain and Portugal, plus single games to be played in Argentina, Paraguay and Uruguay.

The Morocco federation, under the leadership of Fouzi Lekjaa, an increasingly influential figure in soccer politics, has actively recruited players from a diaspora in Europe.

The squad which made World Cup history in Qatar as the first semifinalist from Africa included stars such as Hakim Ziyech and Sofyan Amrabat who had been Netherlands youth internationals.

The eligibility changes FIFA approved in March include Bounida and Genk midfielder Saif Eddien Lazar who had represented Belgium.

Players switching to Morocco from the Netherlands were Benjamin Khaderi and Sami Bouhoudane, both aged 18 from PSV Eindhoven, 20-year-old Utrecht defender Oualid Agougil and 18-year-old Ayoud Ouarghi from Feyenoord.

FIFA also approved nine more players changing eligibility from March to December last year, from France, Belgium, the Netherlands and Norway.



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