The Unrivaled inaugural season picked up on Tuesday night after the 1×1 Tournament. Rose met Vinyl in the first game, and Phantom met Laces in the second.
A week off shouldn’t show any rust, but in the first quarter, Vinyl was blown out 13 – 2. Not that Rose didn’t miss their fair share of shots, but Vinyl just couldn’t get anything going. However, in the second quarter, Vinyl came roaring back, outscoring Rose 24 – 16 to bring the game to within three, 29 – 26. The game stayed close in the third, with Vinyl taking the lead at 43 – 41.
They held that although Rose came back, the quarter ended 49 – 48 in Vinyl’s favor. In the untimed fourth quarter, Rose had just a little more gas in the tank and managed to secure a 61 – 55 win, with Chelsea Gray making the winning two-point shot.
POINT GAWD FOR THE WIN 🌹
— Unrivaled Basketball (@Unrivaledwbb) February 19, 2025
Rose was missing Kahleah Copper, and Azurá Stevens did not score. Lexie Hull only contributed 2 points, so the game was a combination of Gray with 26 points, Angel Reese with 16 and 10 boards, and Brittney Sykes with 17 points. For Vinyl, only Rhyne Howard and Dearica Hamby scored in double digits, with Howard scoring 24 and Hamby 22.
The surprise was Arike Ogunbowale who failed to score, and Aliyah Boston with 5 and Rae Burrell with 4. Jordin Canada did not play.
Rose is now 4 – 4 and Vinyl is 3 – 5. Since the top four teams will make the playoffs, each of these teams has a spot, for now. Both have a lot of work to do to secure a spot because nothing is guaranteed in such an unpredictable league like Unrivaled.
Phantom Versus Laces in Game Two of Unrivaled Doubleheader
The second game featured Phantom and Laces proved to be a far more exciting game. Neither team looked rusty, and considering that Laces had only two of their original players, Kayla McBride and Stefanie Dolson, one might think they’d be at a disadvantage.
However, the subs, Natisha Hiedeman, Kiki Jefferson, and most notably Betnijah Laney-Hamilton, all scored, with Laney-Hamilton second in scoring behind McBride, who scored 30, and Laney-Hamilton with 23. Looking as though she’d been there from the beginning, Laney-Hamilton fit right into the pace and style of the game, making an impressive showing. Jefferson scored 6 points on two made 3s and Hiedeman contributed 8 points.
Phantom played a good game, keeping it fairly close in the first quarter and only trailing 13 – 19. The second quarter saw Laces start to pull away, but Phantom managed to end the quarter only 4 points back at 37 – 41. Phantom managed to take the lead with three minutes left in the quarter, but Laces scored on a series of two free throws to lead 63 – 61 at the quarter’s end. In the fourth,
Laces pulled away to take a 69 -61 lead, and although Phantom scored some key buckets from Brittney Griner and Sabrina Ionescu, but just couldn’t pull ahead. Fittingly, it was Laney-Hamilton who scored the winning bucket for Laces, with a score of 75 – 68.
HOPPED OFF THE PLANE READY TO BALL OUT 🏀
— Unrivaled Basketball (@Unrivaledwbb) February 19, 2025
Betnijah Laney-Hamilton gets 23 points, including the game-winner in her FIRST game 👑 pic.twitter.com/pXvvC5EFEg
Laces is currently in second place at 5 – 3, while Phantom is tied for last with Mist at 2 – 6. Now impossible, but it is an uphill battle for Phantom at this point. Play resumes Friday night with Lunar Owls facing Rose and Mist facing Vinyl.
And that, my friends, as they say, is that.’ — Martin Ruben.
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