MEDLEY, Fla. – Unrivaled’s postseason is taking shape with just four nights remaining in the regular season.
Napheesa Collier’s Lunar Owls clinched the No. 1 overall seed in the Unrivaled playoffs Saturday. They got a 78-72 win over the Vinyl in the first of two games and then got some help.
Skylar Diggins-Smith led the Lunar Owls with 27 points, Allisha Gray scored 17 points and the game-winning free throw and Collier added 16 points and nine rebounds in the victory.
The Lunar Owls (10-1) needed the Rose to lose the second game. They got a helping hand from the surging Mist.
Breanna Stewart scored 22 points to help the Mist beat the Rose 71-62 despite Chelsea Gray scoring 38 points, tying the league-high set by Collier on Feb. 8.
“It’s March Madness outside this bubble, and inside this bubble now. Everybody is fighting for position, trying to clinch playoff spots” Diggins-Smith said after the victory.
“People are playing their best basketball. Maybe, some are coming back from injury. People are getting in a rhythm. So, it’s going to be competitive all the way to the end, and that’s the type of basketball we expected when we first started.”
The battle for the final three playoff seeds will only heat up in the final stretch.
The Rose (6-5) are still in second place, followed by the Laces (5-6) in third place. Both teams will meet on Monday night.
The Mist have won three straight games, rising from last to fourth place with a 5-7 record.
“The way we’ve played the last three games has been tremendous,” Mist coach Phil Handy said of wins over the Rose, Phantom and Laces in the last week.
The Vinyl, who started the day in third place, have fallen to fifth place with a 5-7 record after a loss where Dearica Hamby had 31 points and 11 rebounds and Rhyne Howard scored 18 points.
Jordin Canada, who had 11 points and eight assists in the Vinyl’s defeat, says the club can still build from its close showing against the Lunar Owls, and their defeat of the Laces one day earlier.
“Even though we didn’t get the win today, I still feel like we’re competing to the buzzers. We just started, and we have to keep that momentum going in these next two games,” Canada said.
The Phantom are in last place at 3-8. They face the Lunar Owls in the second game on Monday.
Only four of the six Unrivaled clubs will reach the postseason.
After Monday’s games, the final days of Unrivaled’s first season will be on March 7, 8 and 10.
Unrivaled’s two-day postseason begins with semifinal games on March 16 before the March 17 final.
“You’re going to see the intensity pick up because everybody in this league is super competitive, and everybody wants to make the playoffs,” Rose coach Nola Henry said. “The intensity level will just go up.”
