A few weeks into the Unrivaled League, it was a fair question as to if either Vinyl BC, Laces BC or Lunar Owls was the team to beat. Following the third week of play at Miami’s Wayfair Arena, it is clear that those Lunar Owls are the team the other five groups are looking to ascend to.
Lunar Owls, 4-0 entering play on Friday – were involved in one of the games that day and it had a tough opponent against another of Unrivaled’s top teams in Laces BC. Both squads were 4-0 entering play and it came down to, yet, another Skylar Diggins-Smith game-winner to lift Lunar Owls to a 75-73 victory over Laces.
Diggins-Smith’s game-winner concluded what was a 16-point, four-assist performance for the veteran. The leading scorer for Lunar Owls was Napheesa Collier. Phee put her team in position to win by dropping 26 points in addition to grabbing seven rebounds. It was a 19-point, six-rebound performance for Allisha Gray.
Speaking of 26 points, that was the same amount of points that were placed on the scoreboard by Kayla McBride to lead Laces BC. And in vintage McBride fashion, she connected on six of her eight attempts from long range in addition to grabbing eight rebounds. Tiffany Hayes added 17 points and dished out five assists. A pair of 12-point scorers also helped Laces. One of those was Stefanie Dolson who also hauled in four rebounds. Jackie Young also chimed in with 12 and she added three assists to her performance.
Prior to the Lunar Owls-Laces contest, the Wayfair Arena court saw a get-together between Rose BC and Phantom BC. Perhaps Diggins-Smith got inspiration from Satou Sabally who also drained a game-winning shot that gave Phantom its second Unrivaled victory. The final score was 75-63.
Sabrina Ionescu was one of Phantom’s starters and Rose could do little with her. In vintage Ionescu fashion, she scored 32 points and connected on seven of her 10 attempts from behind the 3-point arc. Ionescu’s performance also included nine rebounds, eight assists and a pair of blocks. In addition to Sabally’s game winner, she also contributed 13 points and six rebounds. Brittney Griner would conclude her game with 12 points and four board and Natasha Cloud added 11 points with four assists and three rebounds.
Saturday’s play would tip off with Mist BC taking on Vinyl BC. Vinyl appeared to be one of the teams to beat at Unrivaled but have since returned to the pack. Meanwhile, Mist was still in search of its first victory entering play.
As tough as Mist has played teams, that first victory was going to happen. It did against Vinyl with the final being 77-67.
Keeping with what was becoming a theme throughout the weekend, Aaliyah Edwards would connect on a game-winning two to put Mist BC in the win column for the first time at Unrivaled this season.
Breanna Stewart was one of the three starters for Mist BC against Vinyl. She paved the way to victory for Mist with a double-double of 23 points and 10 rebounds plus four assist and three steals. Edwards’ game-winner capped off a 16-point, six-rebound performance for the rising star who will begin her sophomore WNBA season with the Washington Mystics. Jewell Loyd also had herself a game with 15 points. Rickea Jackson would also chime in with 13 and Courtney Vandersloot tallied nine points and distributed nine assists to put her one dime shy of a double-double.
On the Vinyl end of the ledger, it read that Dearica Hamby finished with 35 points and 15 rebounds and that Rhyne Howard contributed 11 points with five rebounds. Arike Ogunbowale may have only scored seven points, but she led the team in assists for Saturday’s matchup with six.
Following the close defeat to Lunar Owls, Laces were looking to bounce back against a Rose team that only had one victory entering Saturday’s Unrivaled play. Laces already had an earlier victory over Rose (71-64) on Jan. 27 but the early February result would be much different as Rose would manage the 83-69 victory over Laces.
Four games played with four game-winning shots. This time, it was the Point Gawd herself – Chelsea Gray – who sealed the victory for Rose.
Rose bloomed on Monday night at Wayfair Arena thanks to a trio of 20-point scorers. One of those was Gray herself. She finished with 28 points, eight assists and three rebounds. Rose also benefitted from the 23 points and eight rebounds that were courtesy of Azurá Stevens. Kahleah Copper also managed a 21-point performance with eight rebounds. The 15 points that were brought down courtesy of Angel Reese also played a massive role.
For Laces, the team was led by the 20 points and six rebounds of McBride. Young also had another productive evening at the South Florida Unrivaled office with 16 points and three assists. Hayes would finish with 14 points. Dolson’s performance would include 11 points, four boards and three rejections.
Fresh off finally getting into the win column on Saturday, Mist BC was looking to keep its winning ways going against Phantom BC. When these two teams had a get-together in late January, it went the way of Phantom with the final score being 74-69.
With a free throw from Stewie, Mist would be three points better than Phantom BC with the final score being 64-61.
Not only did she have the game-winning free throw, she also put together another Stewie-like performance as she scored 19 points and brought down 13 rebounds for a double-double. Jackson had another impressive performance with 17 points and four rebounds. It was a 13-point and four-rebound performance for Loyd and an 11-point outing for DiJonai Carrington.
Phantom’s portion of the scoreboard would read that Satou Sabally finished with 22 points and also grabbed seven rebounds. BG did BG things as she scored 20 and brought down eight boards. Ionescu contributed 12 points while also dishing nine assists and hauling in five rebounds.
Last, but not least, to close out the third weekend of Unrivaled play was a contest between Lunar Owls and Vinyl BC. When these two teams did battle the first time, it resulted in a 67-57 victory for Lunar Owls.
The lone undefeated team remaining in Unrivaled would remain so following Monday as Lunar Owls would notch the 85-68 win over Vinyl BC.
Stop if one has heard of this before – Diggins-Smith connected on a game-winner. She may have connected on said game-winner, but another double-double from Phee was what led the way to victory once again for Lunar Owls BC. Collier led all point-getters with 36 and she also added 12 rebounds and five assists as part of her performance.
Gray would manage another great game with 20 points and three assists. The game-winning triple from Diggins-Smith put a lid on what was a 14-point, six-assist outing. Courtney Williams would also chime in with 10 points, three rebounds and three assists.
Vinyl’s attack was spearheaded by Howard who concluded her game with 21 points and five rebounds. It also included a double-double for Hamby who contributed 14 points and 10 rebounds to the Vinyl BC cause. Rae Burrell would add 13 to Vinyl’s efforts and Ogunbowale finished with 12.
This Friday, Lunar Owls will look to keep its unblemished record at Unrivaled intact in a matchup with Phantom BC. Mist also looks to keep its recent momentum going when it takes on Rose.
