Chelsea Gray did it all in Sunday’s Rose club win against the Laces, exploding for an Unrivaled-record 39 points on 15-23 shooting — including 21 points straight in the second half.
Unrivaled’s incredible semifinals featured stunning upset, new scoring record
Chelsea Gray exploded for 39 points to lead the Rose club to a victory over the Laces, while the Vinyl upset the Lunar Owls thanks to a Dearica Hamby game-winner.
Photo by Rich Storry/Getty Images
Noa Dalzell is a senior writer covering the WNBA and all of women’s basketball for Breakaway, SB Nation’s women’s sports vertical, as well as the Celtics for CelticsBlog.
Then, she sealed the deal with a top-of-the-arc three-pointer to lift the Rose to a 63-57 win, securing a spot in Unrivaled’s championship game on Monday.
Gray, who was named to the All-Unrivaled First Team earlier this week, said she never doubted her team’s chances despite them falling down by double-digits early on.
“We were only down 13,” Gray stated simply on the TNT postgame show. “Basketball is a game of runs.”
Photo by Megan Briggs/Getty Images
Thanks to Gray’s run and overall dominance, the Rose manage to advance to the championship game despite being without Angel Reese, who missed the game with a hand injury, and Kahleah Copper, who has missed the second half of the season with a leg injury. Naz Hillmon excelled in her Unrivaled debut as a relief contract player, amassing 8 points and 3 steals in 16 minutes off the bench. Azura Stevens added 8 points and 11 rebounds.
For the Laces, Alyssa Thomas led the way with 20 points, 5 rebounds, and 3 assists, while Tiffany Hayes added 16 points and 4 assists. Kayla McBride, who has been one of the league’s top scorers all year, uncharacteristically struggled, finishing with 12 points on 3-13 shooting.
Vinyl beat Lunar Owls in stunning semi-finals upset
On the other side of the bracket, the Vinyl completed a stunning upset over the Lunar Owls, thanks to a game-winning lefty layup by Dearica Hamby over Napheesa Collier. The comeback was particularly stunning considering the Owls were at full strength and had only lost one game all season, while the Vinyl were without Arike Ogunbowale and entered the semi-finals with a 5-9 record.
Rhyne Howard led the way with with 23 points (9-24 FG), 6 assists, 2 steals, and 2 blocks. Jordin Canada added 21 points on 8-13 FG, 4 assists, and 3 rebounds, while Rae Burrell added 11 points off the bench.
The Vinyl were able to overcome 36 points on 16-24 shooting. Courtney Williams added 13 points off the bench, Skylar Diggins-Smith chipped in 10 points and 8 assists, and Allisha Gray added 11 points. But, the Lunar Owls weren’t able to hold onto a 13-point halftime lead, and suffered just their second loss of the year. In turn, despite being the most dominant Unrivaled team all season, they experience an early exit.
