NASHVILLE, Tenn. (AP) — Women’s basketball teams finally will be paid for playing games in the NCAA Tournament each March just like the men have for years under a plan approved Wednesday at the NCAA convention.

The vote by NCAA membership was the final step toward a pay structure for women playing in March Madness after the Division I Board of Governors voted unanimously for the proposal in August. Now, so-called performance units that represent revenue will be given to women’s teams playing in the tournament.

A team that reaches the Final Four could bring its conference roughly $1.26 million over the next three years.

The lack of a performance units program for the women’s tournament has been a point of sharp criticism.

EWERS DECLARES FOR NFL DRAFT

AUSTIN, Texas (AP) — Texas junior quarterback Quinn Ewers has declared for the NFL draft, ending a Longhorns career in which he led the program to a Big 12 championship and twice to the College Football Playoff but was not always embraced by a fan base eagerly waiting for Arch Manning to take over. Ewers passed for 9,128 yards and 68 touchdowns in a career that few Texas quarterbacks can match.

His biggest legacy will be leading the program to the playoff semifinals in consecutive years, but Texas fell short of the championship game both times. Ewers’ departure sets the stage for Manning to take over in 2025.

Manning passed for 939 yards and nine touchdowns and ran for four TDs this season but has seen only limited playing time since September.

NAOMI OSAKA IS BACK IN A SLAM

MELBOURNE, Australia (AP) — Naomi Osaka is back in the third round of a Grand Slam tournament for the first time since 2022 and she got there with wins at the Australian Open over two women who blocked her path last year.

Olympic champion Zheng Qinwen won’t be repeating her surprising run to the Australian Open final after a second-round upset loss to No. 97-ranked Laura Siegemund in his first tournament in 2025. Fifth-seeded Zheng lost last year’s final to Aryna Sabalenka and went on to win the Olympic gold in Paris and finish runner-up at the WTA Finals in a breakout season. She had no answers for the 36-year-old Siegemund on Wednesday.

Two-time defending champion Sabalenka won the last five games to overcome Jessica Bouzas Maneiro.

VETERANS PROVIDE BOOST TO CHIEFS

KANSAS CITY, Mo. (AP) — Xavier Worthy credits his late-season surge to working with DeAndre Hopkins and Marquise Brown, a pair of veteran wide receivers who took the first-round pick under their wing. Now, with those three on the field, what had once been the Kansas City Chiefs’ Achilles’ heel has become perhaps their best position group as they prepare to play Houston in the divisional round on Saturday. Worthy gives the Chiefs a speedy, downfield threat while Hopkins has the sure hands and big range. Brown provides a valuable target all over the field, and a bonus given he had shoulder surgery that could easily have ended his season.