Sports
The wait is over: UCLA’s Charlisse Leger-Walker is back for a championship run
There was so much more to this comeback than the monotony of it all.
Sure, Charlisse Leger-Walker had to teach her quadriceps muscle to fire again, the UCLA point guard sitting in her room connecting her mind to her body so that her thigh would tense up, strengthening it just a bit more.
She had to learn how to walk again, run again, jump again, often rising two hours before her teammates so that she could get the work in on the anti-gravity machine and other weight training devices that would put her one step closer to playing again after a devastating knee injury.
Focusing on all those muscle groups eventually left the graduate transfer feeling stronger than ever. She spent so much time on her shooting, hoisting one three-pointer after another, that she developed the most consistency on her touch she’s felt during a decorated career in which she was an All-Pac-12 player at Washington State before going down on that terrible late January day inside Pauley Pavilion.
Washington State guard Charlisse Leger-Walker shoots during a game against Washington on Dec. 11, 2022, in Seattle. Leger-Walker has transferred to UCLA and is poised for a big season after recovering from an injury.
(Stephen Brashear/AP)
Maybe the biggest benefit of being sidelined for almost 1½ seasons came in her new grasp of the game. Watching from the bench allowed her to develop a more nuanced understanding of coach Cori Close’s system and which spots on the court gave each teammate a higher chance of scoring.
“I knew coming back this season,” Leger-Walker said, “that’s going to be a big part of my role on the team is making sure people are in the best positions to succeed and really understanding how I can make the individual pieces of our team come together better collectively.”
The long-awaited payoff starts Monday night at the Honda Center.
A team already filled with talent could overflow upon the return of a player who intends to help put it all together during what the third-ranked Bruins hope is a championship run beginning with their season opener against San Diego State.
It’s conceivable that Close could have four All-Big Ten players by season’s end in Leger-Walker, center Lauren Betts and guards Kiki Rice and Gianna Kneepkens. Leger-Walker gives UCLA another elite point guard and veteran presence alongside Rice, their games complementing one another instead of providing redundancy.
“One’s more of a downhill driver, going to put pressure on the defense with her aggression and off the bounce,” Close said of Rice, “the other is more of a surveyor, pass-first kind of point guard, and isn’t that great that they’re both on our team?”
Leger-Walker tormented her coach before she joined her cause, helping seventh-seeded Washington State make an improbable run in the 2023 Pac-12 tournament. Dominating across the board with 23 points, seven rebounds and three assists, Leger-Walker helped the Cougars hold off the Bruins in the championship.
“She sort of took over the game,” Close said. “It was Charlisse Leger-Walker’s world, and we were just living in it.”
Nearly a year later, having scored 17 points in 19 minutes with her team on the way to another victory over the Bruins, the 5-foot-10 guard crumpled to the Pauley Pavilion court in the third quarter. She briefly rose to test her injured knee before giving up, the pain unbearable.
It was a torn anterior cruciate ligament. Her season was over.
The timing was especially cruel given that she had been scheduled to play for the New Zealand national team the next week, helping the Tall Ferns try to qualify for the 2024 Olympics in something of a family tradition. Her mother, Leanne Walker, had played point guard for their home nation in the 2000 and 2004 Summer Games, but with Charlisse sidelined the Tall Ferns failed to qualify in 2024.
“There were a lot of disappointing things in that moment,” Charlisse said, “involving more than just the injury itself.”
With one season of eligibility remaining, Leger-Walker sought an upgrade — with encouragement from Washington State coach Kamie Ethridge, who realized that her star player had maximized her potential with a team that didn’t have realistic national title aspirations.
What happened next remains a playful dispute between Leger-Walker and her new coach.
Pouncing on the opportunity to pursue Leger-Walker once she entered the transfer portal, Close said she had trouble getting the point guard to return her messages. Informed of her coach’s claim with Close standing nearby at Big Ten media day, Leger-Walker expressed mock exasperation.
“Oh my gosh, that’s her biggest thing,” Leger-Walker said. “I did — you can check the text message receipts.”
As Close broke into laughter, Leger-Walker added, “I did. Maybe it was a couple of hours later, but I definitely returned her messages. She exaggerates that.”
Once she agreed to become a Bruin, the sidelined star became a de facto coach, not only learning about her teammates’ tendencies but also encouraging them during practices and games.
By last February, having completed her lengthy rehabilitation, Leger-Walker faced a difficult decision: Should she return to help the Bruins contend for a national title or wait to come back for a full season?
She chose the latter path, making everyone grateful for the extended opportunity to play together long before she dazzled with 11 assists and only two turnovers in a recent scrimmage.
Said Rice: “To now be able to be in the backcourt with her, to learn from her, she’s brought a lot of new things.”
Said Betts: “I mean, everybody knows she’s like one of the best guards in the entire country.”
Of course, being surrounded by so many skilled teammates could make things incredibly easy for the Bruins’ new ballhandler. Leger-Walker knows there will be moments when she can almost reflexively help her team.
Just get the ball to Kneepkens beyond the three-point line, where her shots are a coin flip.
“That’s probably an assist,” Leger-Walker said.
Just throw a lob to Betts in the post, where she makes almost everything.
“That’s probably an assist,” Leger-Walker said.
Labeled one of the best passing guards that her coach has ever seen, Leger-Walker has been primed for this moment. The monotony over, those muscles firing again, it’s time to start winning.
Sports
Anthony Richardson free to seek trade after injury setbacks amid Colts’ shift to Daniel Jones
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Anthony Richardson Sr.’s future in Indianapolis faces more uncertainty than ever.
The Indianapolis Colts granted Anthony Richardson, the team that used the fourth overall pick in the 2023 NFL Draft on the quarterback, permission to explore a trade. His agent, Deiric Jackson, confirmed the latest development in the 23-year-old’s tumultuous career to ESPN on Thursday.
Veteran quarterback Daniel Jones beat out Richardson in a preseason competition for the starting job. Jones made the most of another opportunity as an NFL starter, helping the Colts win eight of their first 10 games of the 2025 regular season.
Indianapolis Colts quarterback Anthony Richardson heads off the field after an NFL football game against the Denver Broncos on Sunday, Dec. 15, 2024 in Denver, Colorado. (AP Photo/David Zalubowski)
However, his season was ultimately derailed by an Achilles injury. The setback came two years after he tore an ACL with the New York Giants. The Colts appear ready to move forward with Jones, clouding Richardson’s future in Indianapolis.
Jones is set to become a free agent in March, meaning the Colts must either use the franchise tag or sign him to a new deal. Richardson has started just 15 games in three seasons with the Colts, his tenure largely shaped by injuries.
A shoulder surgery limited Richardson to four games during his rookie campaign, while a series of setbacks cost him four games in 2024.
Indianapolis Colts quarterback Anthony Richardson (5) looks for an open receiver during the game against the Houston Texans at NRG Stadium. (Troy Taormina/Imagn Images)
Richardson suffered what was described as a “freak pregame incident” during warmups last season, landing him on injured reserve after attempting just two passes in two games in 2025. He has thrown 11 touchdowns against 13 interceptions in his NFL career.
Colts general manager Chris Ballard said Tuesday that the vision problems stemming from Richardson’s orbital fracture last October are “trending in the right direction.” He added that Richardson has been “cleared to play.”
Indianapolis Colts quarterback Anthony Richardson (5) celebrates his touchdown against the New York Jets during the fourth quarter at MetLife Stadium in East Rutherford, New Jersey. (Brad Penner/Imagn Images)
Riley Leonard, a sixth-round pick in the 2025 NFL Draft, is expected to return to the Colts next season.
When asked about Richardson’s standing with the Colts moving ahead, Ballard replied, “I still believe in Anthony.”
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William Hudson, a 14-year-old freshman golfer, shot 71 on Monday at Western Hills Country Club in Chino Hills to win the Servite Invitational.
“It was very important to me and my school,” Hudson said.
Some think it’s the first time a St. John Bosco student won an invitational title.
Hudson is a straight-A student who picked up his first golf club when he was 3. He has a daily routine involving practicing at 6 a.m. before heading to school. He’s also enrolled in a school entrepreneur program that involves taking classes at a junior college that will qualify for college credits.
“They are long days, but I get through it,” Hudson said.
He comes from a family that enjoys golf. His great-grandfather played until his death at 98 last year.
“I love how it can take me to interesting places and meet interesting people,” Hudson said. “I can play for the rest of my life. It’s a lifelong sport.”
It’s looking like another strong year for golfers in Southern California, with several individual champions returning, including Jaden Soong of St. Francis and Grant Leary of Crespi.
Now Hudson has thrust himself into the conversation.
This is a daily look at the positive happenings in high school sports. To submit any news, please email eric.sondheimer@latimes.com.
Sports
Dashcam video shows former WWE executive Vince McMahon rear-ending vehicle on Connecticut highway
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Police have released new video showing former WWE Chairman Vince McMahon speeding before crashing his 2024 Bentley Continental GT into another luxury car on a Connecticut highway last summer.
McMahon appeared to be followed by a state trooper in Westport moments ahead of the eventual collision. McMahon’s vehicle reached speeds of more than 100 mph, state police said.
A trooper’s dashcam video showed McMahon accelerating and then braking too late to avoid rear-ending a BMW. The car McMahon was driving then swerved into a guardrail and careened back across the highway. A cloud of dirt, apparently mixed with vehicle debris, was visible in the immediate area of the crash.
WWE owner Vince McMahon enters the arena during WrestleMania at AT&T Stadium on Apr 3, 2022 in Arlington, Texas. (Joe Camporeale/USA Today Sports)
“Why were you driving all over 100 mph?” a state trooper asked McMahon after catching up to the wrecked Bentley.
“I got my granddaughter’s birthday,” McMahon replied, explaining he was on his way to see her. The encounter was recorded on police bodycam video.
No serious injuries were reported in the July 24 crash, which happened the same day former professional wrestler Hulk Hogan died of a heart attack in Florida.
In an image taken from Connecticut State Police police bodycam video, Vince McMahon is questioned in his car after an accident on July 24, 2025, in Westport, Connecticut. (Connecticut State Police via The Associated Press)
Aside from the damage to the rear of the BMW, another vehicle driving on the opposite side of the parkway was struck by flying debris. The driver of that third car happened to be wearing a WWE shirt, police video suggested.
McMahon was cited for reckless driving and following too closely. In October, a state judge allowed him to enter a pretrial probation program that could erase the charges if he completes it successfully.
He was also ordered to make a $1,000 charitable contribution. His attorney, Mark Sherman, called the crash simply an “accident.”
“Not every car accident is a crime,” Sherman said. “Vince’s primary concern during this case was for the other drivers and is appreciative that the court saw this more of an accident than a crime that needed to be prosecuted.”
Vince McMahon attends a press conference to announce that WWE Wrestlemania 29 will be held at MetLife Stadium in 2013 at MetLife Stadium on Feb. 16, 2012 in East Rutherford, New Jersey. (Michael N. Todaro/Getty Images)
State police said a trooper was trying to catch up to McMahon on the parkway and clock his speed before pulling him over. They said the incident was not a pursuit, which happens when police chase someone trying to flee officers. They also said it did not appear McMahon was trying to escape.
“I’m trying to catch up to you, and you keep taking off,” State Police Det. Maxwell Robins said in the video.
“No, no no. I’m not trying to outrun you,” McMahon clarified.
An accident information summary provided to the media shortly after the crash did not mention that a trooper was following McMahon.
The trooper’s bodycam video also shows him asking McMahon whether he was looking at his phone when the crash happened. McMahon said he was not and added he hadn’t driven his car in a long time.
After Robins tells McMahon that his car is fast, McMahon replies, “Yeah, too (expletive) fast.”
Fox News Digital submitted a public records request to obtain the police video, which was first acquired by The Sun.
McMahon stepped down as WWE’s CEO in 2022 amid a company investigation into sexual misconduct allegations. He also resigned as executive chairman of the board of directors of TKO Group Holdings, the parent company of WWE, in 2024, a day after a former WWE employee filed a sexual abuse lawsuit against him. McMahon has denied the allegations. The lawsuit remains pending.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
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