By: Gabe Zoda
The WNBA was ranked the fastest growing sports brand in 2024 and the Brooklyn Nets G-League affiliate, the Long Island Nets used Friday, March 28th, to celebrate the growth with their 4th annual “Girls Night Out”.
Fans who came to Nassau Coliseum received vanity bags at the gates that had a seafoam green Long Island Nets logo on it. Fans also had the opportunity to take a pregame photo with the 2024 WNBA Championship trophy, participate in an autograph session with Jaylyn Sherrod and meet Ellie the Elephant.
“It’s a special time for us to give our sister team some props and show them that we’re here to support,” said Vice President of Business Operations for the LI Nets and NY Liberty, Morgan Taylor.
Taylor also spoke about the importance of getting more young girls involved in women’s basketball through their “HER Time To Shine” platform that they began last season. This platform holds girls basketball camps year round with CYO of Long Island. “HER Time to Shine” also helps young women off the court as well.
“We work closely with Girls Inc. and have some youth empowerment programming that includes panels, getting them exposed to mentors within our industry and also connecting them with other partners in our ecosystem”, said Taylor.
Even on the business side, Morgan Taylor notices the growth of women's sports.
“Across every vertical of a business you are seeing how women’s sports are affecting … primarily it’s the young women and the youth that are interested and are watching and forcing their parents to become a customer of our game”, said Taylor.
Although the Long Island Nets would lose to the Cleveland Charge 121-114, it was a successful “Girls Night Out” as 2,900 fans, mostly young women, filled the seats at Nassau Coliseum. That number is higher than the 1,640 average fans at NBA G-League games this season.
It wasn’t just the fans who enjoyed the “Girls Night Out”, a couple of the players also talked about the importance of the night. Forward, Tre Scott (Who had 22 points, 9 rebounds and 7 assists in the contest) said “It’s important they get recognized, they do the same exact stuff that we do day in and day out”
Scott also mentioned that he has two twin sisters (Jadyn and Jada) who played college basketball at Miami (Ohio) so women in sports is something that hits home for him.
Kevin Obanor shared a similar sentiment as Scott, saying “It’s very important [to celebrate women’s basketball], their game is evolving, just sad we couldn’t win for them today”.
Obanor finished the game with 20 points and 19 rebounds (8 offensive).
The Long Island Nets wore a New York Liberty inspired jersey during the game that were Seafoam green and they were a massive hit for the players as well.
Tre Scott said, “Yeah it’s dope actually, I like the color, shoutout to the New York Liberty”.
Obanor replied with “The jerseys are very nice, I like the color too”.
The partnership between the Long Island Nets and the New York Liberty continues to grow and continues to bring more eyes to the ever growing women’s basketball landscape.
The 2024 WNBA Champions begin their title defense on May 17th, Stay up to date with EVERYTHING New York Liberty related on X @SSN_Liberty
Comments