With Laces and Rose entering Sunday’s matchup with 3-1 records, this was a measuring stick game for each side.
And Laces proved they measured up to the defending champions, defeating Rose 70-66.
While Laces came out on top, Rose led for the majority of the game. Midway through the third quarter, Rose was in front by double figures and appeared to be headed to another victory.
However, that’s precisely when
Laces’ comeback began.
Jackie Young scored four-unanswered points. Then, after Azurá Stevens put Rose back on the board, Young responded with a 3. Naz Hillmon joined Young on her scoring onslaught with five-consecutive points. After another couple of Young points and an Alyssa Thomas basket, it was just a three-point lead for Rose, 58-55, entering the final quarter.
That set the winning score set at 69.
Thomas and Young maintained their offensive rhythm to start the fourth and put Laces on top, 61-60. Kahleah Copper scored and was fouled, making her free throw to put Rose back in front 63-61. Laces then stopped exchanging baskets with Rose, going on a 7-0 run.
Rose was suddenly staring defeat in the face. Stevens knocked down a 3-pointer to give Rose a chance if they got a stop and a score—but the stop never materialized. Young won the game for the Laces off a jumper over Stevens, putting her team at the top of the Unrivaled standings.
Simply put, Laces don’t win this game without Young’s heroics. She scored 35 points for Laces, nearly three times as many points as any other teammate.
Rose stayed in this game thanks to Chelsea Gray and Copper. Gray ended the night with 22 points, and Copper was right behind her with 21.
Phantom dominates Hive behind AB and KP
The second game, unfortunately, was a blow out, with Hive falling to Phantom, 71-59.
The result was known early on as Phantom took control right away. Aliyah Boston was a monster in the paint. She had 22 points and grabbed six rebounds. Natasha Could aslo cleaned up the glass well with six rebounds of her own.
Kelsey Plum has had a great rookie year in Unrivaled, and that continued on Sunday. She scored 20 points for Phantom, hit the game-winner and had a team-high six assists.
For Hive, their woes returned after their one win.
They made only two 3-pointers as a team, shooting a woeful 16.7 percent. Not only is making shots on the perimeter needed for success, but a failure to do so means you also have fewer opportunities to go on a run with a couple of makes. Everything has to be hard-fought baskets at the rim. The opportunity for some massive comeback in the second half, when they were already down by double-digits, was just unrealistic optimism.
The only positive for Hive in this loss was their balanced attack. Hive had four players in double figures, and Kelsey Mitchell led the way with 17 points and eight assists.
