As 2022 winds down, Sports Illustrated is looking back at the themes and teams, story lines and through lines that shaped the year.

Tumult is a good way to describe 2022 in the women’s basketball landscape. Triumph also comes to mind. The biggest stories in the sport touched at least one or the other.

Mercury and Team USA star Brittney Griner’s detention in Russia rightfully loomed large over everything else happening not just in women’s basketball, but in sports as a whole, as Sports Illustrated’s Wilton Jackson wrote. Athletes across teams and leagues spoke up in support of Griner. Many events featured campaigns where fans could write letters to send to her. In a marquee November matchup between the No. 1 and No. 2 college teams, legendary coaches Dawn Staley of South Carolina (last season’s NCAA tourney winner) and Tara VanDerveer of Stanford wore identical shirts honoring Griner. Finally, in December, President Joe Biden announced she was coming home.

As we approach year’s end, women’s basketball players can finally focus on, well, basketball. We’re looking toward Athletes Unlimited’s second season, the NCAA tournament, the WNBA draft and then the next pro season. Athletes Unlimited is a triumph. The team-less league captained by different players every week and headlined by Mystics star Natasha Cloud showed that there might be a (less lucrative) path forward for WNBA-caliber players who don’t want to spend their offseasons overseas—especially in light of Griner’s predicament.

The Dream’s AD got more comfortable expressing themself while also experiencing a tumultuous long-COVID journey, as SI’s Ben Pickman chronicled, before bouncing back and ultimately logging a triumphant season after being traded from the Liberty. Speaking of the Dream, Pickman watched up close as guard Rhyne Howard went No. 1 to the franchise, which has been undergoing an impressive rebuild, as Jackson reported, under former player and current owner Renee Montgomery. Speaking of the Liberty, a couple of months before the season tipped off, contributor Howard Megdal dug into owner Joe Tsai and the Liberty’s use of charter planes, a violation of CBA rules—marking the biggest scandal in league history.

The W season was all Aces all along. Other teams were contenders, of course (see weather-themed teams: Sky, Sun, Storm), but 2022 was destined to be new coach Becky Hammon and superstar A’ja Wilson’s year. Their victory was triumphant—and the goofy team chemistry we were treated to along the way was ridiculously entertaining. At season’s end, we said goodbye to two giants of the game: Sylvia Fowles and Sue Bird. Luckily, we’ve got one more year (at least) coming for their peer GOATs, Diana Taurasi and Candace Parker.

As we head into the new year eager for Athletes Unlimited’s return and a possible Aliyah Boston and South Carolina repeat, catch up on a selection of SI’s best women’s basketball stories of the year behind us.—Julie Kliegman

She Wanted a Scholarship. Now She’s the Face of Women’s College Basketball. by Wilton Jackson

How Airplanes Became the WNBA’s Biggest Scandal by Howard Megdal

How Russia Pushed the WNBA to a Crossroads by Howard Megdal

Dawn Staley’s Holistic Approach Defines a Team That Couldn’t Be Stopped by Emma Baccellieri

The Return and Rebirth of AD by Ben Pickman

A’ja Wilson and Becky Hammon Found Each Other at Just the Right Moment by Michael Rosenberg

MVP. Mama. Mortician. And More. by Ben Pickman

Girding for the Goodbye of the Emerald City GOAT by Greg Bishop