a first-round pick of the Minnesota Lynx in 2021<\/a>. <\/p>\n\u201cThis opportunity for me is different than anywhere else because all of my family is here. All of my friends are here. Everybody I grew up with is here. So, this community is special to me, I\u2019m special to this community so hoping to get some fans in the seats on Friday and moving forward.\u201d <\/p>\n
Orender played professionally in the Women\u2019s Pro Basketball League before segueing into a post-playing career that included work as a production assistant at ABC Sports and later with the PGA Tour. Orender\u2019s most visible role was serving as the second president of the WNBA. <\/p>\n
\u201cIt started with a belief that women\u2019s sports has tremendous value. And that Jacksonville and Savannah and all the cities and the cities that we\u2019re about to go to would benefit from having extraordinary women athletes \u2026,\u201d she said. \u201cWhat we like to say is rising talent uplifts all communities.\u201d<\/p>\n
On Tuesday, Orender said the reason for the strong belief in long-term success is that the Upshot League has planted teams in cities that share the vision about women\u2019s sports. Upshot is launching with four teams (the Waves, Savannah Steel, Greensboro Groove and Charlotte Crown) with plans to expand to 30 teams. <\/p>\n
\u201cJust to win, that\u2019s the main focus for me,\u201d guard Shyanne Sellers said. \u201cWe\u2019ve been blessed with a great group of girls its really competitive in practice. I\u2019m just excited to get back out on the court and just win.\u201d<\/p>\n
Franchises in Baltimore and Nashville are scheduled to start play next year. Zawyer Sports & Entertainment CEO Andy Kaufmann has said Upshot has already secured $40 million in funding for the league. Major names in women\u2019s basketball \u2013 Cheryl Miller and Tamika Catchings are two of the most recognizable women\u2019s players of all time \u2013 are investors and aligned with the league. <\/p>\n
Upshot isn\u2019t the WNBA or Unrivaled, but it is positioned to be successful more than a typical minor league franchise that\u2019s trying to get off the ground. Kauffman has made the Jacksonville Icemen a popular brand locally. The hockey team arrived in 2017 and has thrived. The Upshot League has drawn players with name value and serious credentials. <\/p>\n
Davis, forward Jasmine Walker (seventh in 2021 by the Sparks) and center Adut Bulgak (first round in 2016) give the Waves three players with first-round pedigree. <\/p>\n
Guards Khayla Pointer (second round in 2022), Sellers (second round in 2025), Taylor Soule (third round in 2023) and Lindsay Pulliam (third round in 2021) are all recent WNBA draft picks. Head coach Jessica Bogia said that she feels very good about the roster. <\/p>\n
\u201cFirst and foremost, it was about good people,\u201d she said. \u201c\u2026 It was about bringing in quality people that I felt could not only represent me but represent the brand of Jacksonville Waves but also the city and the community. And I think that\u2019s what we have. At the forefront, we have great human beings.\u201d<\/p>\n
Copyright 2026 by WJXT News4JAX – All rights reserved.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"JACKSONVILLE, Fla. \u2013 The Jacksonville Waves are close to history. On Friday night, the Waves, one of four…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":268620,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[8],"tags":[116,118,117,1631,101270],"class_list":["post-268619","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-jacksonville","tag-jacksonville","tag-jacksonville-headlines","tag-jacksonville-news","tag-sports4jax","tag-upshot-league"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/268619","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=268619"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/268619\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/268620"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=268619"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=268619"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=268619"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}