It’s an East River-West River SD Showdown in the WNBA Finals!

There are at least two big reasons to tune in to the WNBA Finals this season if you're a resident of South Dakota.

A pair of South Dakota natives and Head Coaches collide in the Finals this year, and it's an East River-West River showdown.

Becky Hammon, who is the 'been there, done that' WNBA legend, has led her Las Vegas Aces on a tremendous run after a slow start to the season. Hammon has won 2 WNBA Titles (2022 and 2023) as a coach thus far and was a 6-time All-Star as a player.

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The Rapid City native attended Stevens High School and was named the Aces Head Coach back in 2022.

Nate Tibbetts recently got his first opportunity to lead a WNBA franchise back in 2024 and has led the Phoenix Mercury to the grandest stage in year two.

Tibbetts is a Sioux Falls native, Roosevelt High School graduate, South Dakota (1996-2001) alum, and a former Head Coach of the Sioux Falls Skyforce (2007-2009).

It will be quite the showdown in the series that begins on Friday in Las Vegas.

Here's a little bit more on the Aces' run back to the Finals:

With Tuesday's 107-98 overtime victory against the Indiana Fever, the Aces advanced to the WNBA Finals for the fourth time in the past six years and the third in four seasons under coach Becky Hammon. The past two of those resulted in championships. Yet this season's run, which started with the team below .500 as recently as July 25, required Las Vegas to overcome a new level of adversity.

 

"Our road has been broken," Hammon joked. "It's been a twisty, windy one but here we are."

That route saw the Aces win their final 16 games of the regular season to secure the No. 2 seed, then go the distance in the opening round against the Seattle Storm (winning the deciding Game 3 at the buzzer 74-73) and now in the semifinals against the short-handed Fever.

As for the Mercury and Coach Nate Tibbetts, it was an 8-win improvement from last season's win total, and they aim to continue to meet the moment:

Alyssa Thomas scored 23 points, DeWanna Bonner made two late 3-pointers and the Phoenix Mercury overcame a 13-point, fourth-quarter deficit to beat the short-handed Minnesota Lynx 86-81 in Game 4 on Sunday to advance to the WNBA Finals for the first time since 2021.

 

The Mercury won the final three games of the best-of-five semifinal series. The top-seeded Lynx were playing without Cheryl Reeve, who was suspended for Game 4 because of her behavior and comments toward officials in Game 3.

 

Phoenix will play for the title for the first time in four years in a bid for its first championship since 2014.

 

“It was ugly at times,” Tibbets said. “But we kept fighting.”

The Mercury had just two players on this year's roster — Copper and Natasha Mack — who were with the team in 2024. They are the first team in WNBA history to make two Finals in a five-year span without any of the same players on the two teams.

The best-of-seven WNBA Finals begin on Friday Night, and the Aces are currently listed as a -135 favorite to the win the series at DraftKings Sportsbook.

Friday Night's start time is at 7:00 on ESPN, and the entire series will be broadcast on either ESPN or ABC.

Source: ESPN.com