Unrivaled, the growing 3-on-3 women’s basketball league, made its New York debut in front of a full house in Brooklyn on Monday night. Big names like Kelsey Plum, Breanna Stewart, Paige Bueckers, and Arike Ogunbowale took the court, giving women’s basketball fans a taste of their favorite players during what’s typically the WNBA offseason.
The league hosted two semifinals, the first pitting Vinyl against the Phantom and the second being the Breeze against the Mist. The games are fast-paced, full-court, 3-on-3 battles. There’s no fourth quarter; instead, 11 points are added to the winning team’s total at the end of the third quarter, resulting in exciting endings and a game-winner every time.
Plum dominated the first game, knocking down four three pointers and scoring 31 points to lead her Phantom to an 83-75 win. New York Liberty guard Natasha Cloud chipped in with 12 points and four assists off the bench, getting massive cheers from her home WNBA crowd whenever she made a big play.
“Barclays was Barclays, New York was New York,” Phantom head coach Roneeka Hodges said. “It’s always electric, it’s always a show. It’s even better when the basketball game is high quality, the product is good, a lot is on the line. I think New York has done a good job at showing up for women’s basketball and I think that Unrivaled is doing a great job at showing up and putting forth for women’s basketball, so tonight was a good indicator of all those things.”
It looked like the Phantom were going to get a matchup against the Breeze in the final. Bueckers and her team took a big lead in the second semifinal. The uber-popular guard had a double-double with 17 points and 10 rebounds, but it wasn’t enough for her team to secure the win. The Mist were down 16 points but roared back, largely on the back of Stewart and Ogunbowale, the latter who hit a massive game-winning three-pointer to push her team to the final after an offensive rebound by Stewart.
The big shot made by Ogunbowale resembled the famous three-pointer she hit while at Notre Dame in the 2018 Final Four.
“It might not be the same level, but it’s more money…it’s $100k on the line,” said Ogunbowale post-game, getting lots of laughs from reporters. “Stewie, she was in there rebounding, she had two people on her, but she still got that rebound and kicked it out and just made it happen.”
The official attendance was announced as 18,261, a sell-out for 3-on-3 basketball at Barclays Centre. Unrivaled also announced they brought in $1 million in revenue from the gate last night alone. By all accounts, the league making their New York debut was a huge success.
This big event follows a sell-out of more than 20,000 fans in Philadelphia back in January, which was the league’s first venture away from Miami. There is clearly a demand for Unrivaled to do more tour stops.
“Speaking to the fans before the game, that was something that was really cool for me,” Stewart, a star of the Liberty, said. “Because it just shows the passion that the fans have as well as the excitement…to see where [Unrivaled] has gone from year one to year two, and where we want to keep going, it’s something that is really special.”
The one-game final will take place in Miami, the league’s home, on Wednesday. The game is being broadcast on TNT and TruTV as Plum, Tiffany Hayes, and the Phantom look to take down Stewart, Ogunbowale, and the Mist.
“One and done, we’re going to give everything that we have,” Hodges said. “We’re going to get some rest, get back to Miami, get some rest, and give it our all for this last game.”
