Even with the sky-high build-up to the debut of the Unrivaled League, it was yet to be seen as to what sort of debut there would be.
Unrivaled’s debut was nothing short of exhilarating. And it began with the first-ever game that took place at Miami’s Wayfair Arena.
That first game would feature Mist BC taking on Lunar Owls. Unrivaled and TNT had to know what they were doing by having its first-ever contest feature a team with Jewell Loyd vs. a team with…Skylar Diggins-Smith.
And a highlight of that opening contest occurred when Loyd got an emphatic block on Diggins-Smith. Notre Dame on Notre Dame hostilities…
Ultimately, Diggins-Smith got the last laugh. One of the rules of Unrivaled play is that a team automatically wins if it reaches 84 points. Diggins-Smith drained a game-winner to get her Lunar Owls to 84 in a narrow win over the Mist which tallied 80 points.
Lunar Owls, without Cameron Brink, got 27 points and 11 rebounds via Napheesa Collier plus 21 points via Diggins-Smith. Allisha Gray added 15 points plus six boards and Courtney Williams contributed 14 points, seven rebounds and four assists.
Loyd’s 30 points and five rebounds were complimented by the 15 points courtesy of Rickea Jackson. Courtney Vandersloot also chimed in with 11 points and Aaliyah Edwards added 10 points with eight rebounds and three assists.
The second game on the Unrivaled slate featured Rose BC and Vinyl BC. Neither team would reach the magic number of 84 this time, but Vinyl would join Lunar Owls in the win column via its 79-73 victory to dispatch Rose.
Rose was given plenty of problems courtesy of Rhyne Howard. She dropped the second 30-piece of the day as her 33 came on six-of-12 from behind the 3-point line. In addition, she also grabbed six rebounds. Dearica Hamby added 17 points and 13 rebounds and Arike Ogunbowale also chimed in with 10.
Out of the 73 points that were put on the scoreboard by Rose, 24 of those occurred courtesy of Kahleah Copper in 16 minutes. In addition, 21 of those were courtesy of Chelsea Gray. Rose and the Las Vegas Aces’ resident Point Gawd was one rebound shy of a double-double as she hauled in nine boards along with dishing out six assists. Angel Reese did Angel Reese things as the 305 Barbie brought down 14 rebounds in addition to scoring 10 points.
The following Saturday would see Laces BC and Phantom BC take to the court for their Unrivaled debuts. That contest was all Laces all the time as they emphatically defeated Phantom with the final score being 86-48.
All five that played for Laces finished in double figures points wise. That included Kayla McBride whose 28 points, six rebounds and five assists included a very Kayla McBride-esque seven-of-15 from 3-point range. That also included Alyssa Thomas. It was an 18-point, eight-rebound, four-assist game for The Engine.
Tiffany Hayes and Stefanie Dolson would contribute 14 points each. Hayes also dished out 10 assists and grabbed seven rebounds. Dolson grabbed five rebounds and sent out three assists. Kate Martin finished with a double-double of 12 points and 10 rebounds.
Phantom did get big games from Sabrina Ionescu (19 points, four rebounds, two steals, five-of-13 from 3-point range), Satou Sabally (11 points, seven rebounds) and Natasha Cloud (10 points).
That same day, Lunar Owls would be back on the court to take on Rose. Despite five of six Rose players concluding their games with double-digit point outputs, Lunar Owls still ran its Unrivaled record to 2-0 after a 79-70 victory over Rose BC.
When Collier is giving a team 31 points, six rebounds and four assists that will lead to wins more often than not. That will also happen when Gray gives a team 21 points and nine rebounds. That will also take place when Williams contributes 10 points and eight assists to a team’s winning cause.
Those five for Rose that finished in double digits for points included Azurá Stevens who scored 17 points and also grabbed four rebounds. Two for Rose finished with 14 points. One of those was Gray whose performance also included six assists. The other was Copper who also added seven rebounds. Rose also benefitted from the 13 points, five rebounds and three assists courtesy of Brittney Sykes. Not to mention a 12-point outing from Reese.
The two games that were on the card for Monday’s play in South Florida included Vinyl taking on Phantom and a get-together between Mist and Laces. That day’s play would begin with Vinyl joining Laces as 2-0 teams by virtue of its 84-71 victory over Phantom.
Hamby went ham(by) once again for Vinyl BC. She led all point-getters with 22 and also brought down five rebounds along with distributing four assists. Ogunbowale also had a big game with 21 points and four dimes. Howard finished two boards away from a double-double with 14 points plus eight rebounds not to mention four assists and it was an 11-point, seven-rebound outing for Aliyah Boston.
As was the case for Rose against Lunar Owls, Phantom also had five of its six players conclude their games with double digits for point totals. That once again included Ionescu whose 16 points were complimented by the seven rebounds and six assists she also mustered. Brittney Griner played 10 minutes and tallied 13 points plus grabbing five rebounds. It was a 12-point, four-rebound, three-assist performance for Sabally.
Katie Lou Samuelson – along with Cloud – also finished with 11 points. Cloud’s performance included six rebounds and Samuelson managed three boards.
The lowest scoring matchup of the six that have taken place so far featured Laces and Mist – and it saw a 63-43 win for Laces over Mist.
McBride was Laces’ leading scorer with 21 points and also added seven rebounds but she did struggle somewhat uncharacteristically from deep as she only made two of her seven 3-point attempts. Hayes added 16 with seven rebounds in 13 minutes. Thomas grabbed 15 rebounds plus scoring 12 points and sending out four assists. Martin finished with 10 points and four boards.
Only Breanna Stewart (a double-double of 17 points and 13 rebounds plus three assists and two blocks) and Jewell Loyd (10 points and four rebounds) were double-digit scorers.
Someone is guaranteed to earn its first Unrivaled win when Phantom takes on Mist this Friday. Also, Laces will match up with Vinyl in a battle of unbeatens.
