Obscure Sports News (7/20/21)

Here are some sports news of sports, leagues and teams that you probably won't see on Sportscenter...

The Michigan Avengers recently won the Maximum Basketball League title. In the semifinals, the Avengers pulled away in the second half to defeat the Cincinnati Crush 119-89.  In the championship game, Mikquell Jackson had 23 points and scored eight straight points under 4 minutes left. Dayon Haynes led the Avengers with 31 points in their 109-104 win over DFW Just Hoops.  

A new arena football league is planning to start in 2022.  West Coast Arena Football plans to start with four teams in California next season with the Bakersfield Pantheons, Fresno Fog, San Francisco Disruptors and Stockton Scorpions.

The National Lacrosse League (NLL) has announced that its 2021-22 season will start on December 3, 2021 with 14 teams aligned in an eight-team East Conference and a six-team West Conference. The NLL last played in the 2019-20 season with 13 teams aligned in 3 regional divisions. That season was cut short and the 2020-21 season was cancelled due to the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic. Since the 2019-20 season, the NLL has added the Panther City Lacrosse Club (Fort Worth), and the New England Black Wolves relocated from Uncasville (CT) to become the Albany (NY) FireWolves for the 2021-22 season.

World TeamTennis will play its entire 2021 season Indian Wells Tennis Garden near Palm Springs (CA) from November 13 through November 28. Only the league's New York Empire, Springfield (MO) Lasers, Chicago Smash, Orange County (CA) Breakers and San Diego Aviators will participate in the 2021 season. The WTT's other teams called the Philadelphia Freedoms, Vegas Rollers, Orlando Storm and Washington (DC) Kastles will not be participating but will return for the 2022 season when the league hopes teams will again be able to host home matches. The WTT played its entire 2020 season at The Greenbrier resort in White Sulphur Springs (WV) with nine participating teams.

Athletes Unlimited professional lacrosse season will take place at Maureen Hendricks Field in the Washington, D.C. metro area from July 23-August 22, and will feature 56 of the sport’s top athletes.  Athletes Unlimited Lacrosse will feature World Champions, U.S. National Team members, NCAA National Champions and All-Americans. The league will play a short form, fast paced format consisting of eight-minute quarters, 9v9 gameplay and a 60-second shot clock all housed on an 90yd x 60yd playing field. At the end of weekly play, the top four players on the Athletes Unlimited leaderboard will serve as captains and draft four teams of 14 players each. Play will begin with draws at the beginning of each quarter as well as after every goal.

Arike Ogunbowale scored 26 points and the Women's National Basketball Association (WNBA) All-Star team beat the U.S. Olympic team 93-85 in the league’s All-Star Game.  The WNBA team led 75-73 midway through the fourth quarter before Ogunbowale had a four-point play to extend the advantage to six. The Olympic squad closed within 83-78 before Ogunbowale, who earned MVP honors for the game, hit another 3-pointer and posed to the crowd, which included many current and former WNBA players and team owners.  The Olympic team cut its deficit to 91-85 and had a chance to get closer, but Courtney Williams blocked A’ja Wilson’s shot with 1:15 left and they could get no closer. The Olympic team is a heavy favorite to win a seventh straight gold medal at the Tokyo Games. No team they will face has nearly as much talent as the WNBA All-Star team they faced. Still, like the U.S. men’s Olympic team, which lost consecutive exhibition games to Nigeria and Australia, an American loss is rare. The U.S. squad has won 49 consecutive Olympic contests dating to 1992.

Here are the current division leaders in the American Ultimate Disc League (AUDL):  San Diego Growlers (West), Atlanta Hustle (Atlantic) and Minnesota Wind Chill (Central).

The Orange County Stunners won the National Volleyball Association (NVA) Championship by Defeating the Las Vegas Ramblers 3-0.  The Ramblers, the hottest team in the NVA who finished with the best regular-season record, and the Stunners, who started the season at 0-3 and peaked at the right time by defeating two other top teams in the playoffs with better winning records - the Tyrants and Southern Exposure.  Although the Ramblers' outscored the Stunners 49 to 48 in total points and had a higher hitting percentage at 47% over the Stunners' 40%, the Stunners' blocking and defense prevailed in decisively sweeping the Ramblers. Leading the defense were libero Josh Ayzenberg and Matt Hilling, who Coach Adams started at Opposite after being the team's OH2. The Stunners' also had a massive block party which Nick Amado led with 4, Hilling 3, Corey Chavers 2, Nick West 2, and Joey Jarvis 1.