03/02/26 10:04:00
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03/02 22:02 CST Phantom BC to face Mist in Unrivaled final after teams win
semifinals at packed Barclays Center
Phantom BC to face Mist in Unrivaled final after teams win semifinals at packed
Barclays Center
By DOUG FEINBERG
AP Basketball Writer
NEW YORK (AP) --- Kelsey Plum scored 31 points to lead short-handed Phantom BC
to the Unrivaled championship game as the top seed beat Vinyl 83-75 in the
semifinals of the 3-on-3 league at Barclays Center on Monday night.
Phantom will face Breanna Stewart and second-seeded Mist after it rallied to
beat No. 5 Breeze 73-69 in the second semifinal on a 3-pointer by Arike
Ogunbowale from the corner.
The championship game will be Wednesday night at Unrivaled's home arena in
Miami. The winning team will take home a prize pool of $600,000 that will be
split among the players from the championship club.
Phantom was missing star forward Aliyah Boston, who is out for the playoffs
with a right leg injury.
After the success of taking the league to Philadelphia in late January for a
weekend that drew over 21,490 fans, Unrivaled decided to move the semifinals to
New York a few weeks ago. Playing at Barclays Center was a homecoming for
Stewart, the Unrivaled co-founder who led the New York Liberty to its first
WNBA championship in 2024.
The star-studded sellout crowd of 18,261 included basketball greats Carmelo
Anthony and Sue Bird; actors Ashton Kutcher and Jason Sudeikis, and gold
medal-winning U.S. hockey player Hilary Knight.
The crowd gave a loud ovation to Liberty guard Natasha Cloud, who walked down
to the court through the fans as she was introduced before the first game.
She gave them a lot to cheer about as she rallied Phantom in the third quarter
from a 59-50 deficit. Cloud drew an offensive foul on one end and then had a
three-point play on the other. Her team was up 71-64 heading into the final
quarter, which means it needed 11 points to win under the league's format.
Vinyl got within 78-75 before Phantom scored the final five points, including
the game-winner by Plum on a fadeaway 3-pointer.
Vinyl was looking to get back to the championship game. The team lost to Rose
BC for last year's title. Dearica Hamby led the way for Vinyl with 30 points.
Hamby's Los Angeles Sparks teammate Rickea Jackson got Breeze going early in
the second game, scoring 13 points in the opening quarter as the team went up
26-10. Mist rallied to within 44-38 at the half as Stewart hit a floater in the
lane just before the halftime buzzer.
Breeze extended its advantage to 62-55 after three quarters before Stewart
rallied Mist. Trailing 67-60 in the fourth quarter --- with 73 points needed to
win --- Stewart scored seven straight, including a three-point play to tie the
game.
Alanna Smith then hit a 3-pointer to give Mist its first lead of the game,
70-67. After a layup by Cameron Brink brought Breeze within one, Ogunbowale ---
who was celebrating her 29th birthday --- ended the game when she hit a tough
3-pointer from the corner.
Paige Bueckers had 17 points and 10 rebounds to lead Breeze.
Gray wins MVP
Chelsea Gray of Rose BC won the league's MVP award on Monday. The guard, who
won Unrivaled's 1-on-1 tournament last month, averaged 24.2 points, 5.6
rebounds and 6.1 assists. Gray broke her own league single-season assists
record with 85 in 14 games. She had nine games with 20 or more points and 10
contests with five or more assists. She also tied the league single-game
3-pointers record with 10 on Feb. 22.
Gray accepted the trophy before the start of the first game.
"I want to say thank you to everyone who voted. I love this game. Want to be
great every night and that's always my goal," Gray said. "Women's basketball is
where it's at, shows by all you guys coming out and watching us compete every
single night."
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AP WNBA: https://apnews.com/hub/wnba-basketball
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