Rose started the year hot, but now Laces are the club to beat in Unrivaled.
With their 74-70 win over Lunar Owls, Laces became the first team this season to guarantee themselves a playoff spot.
In the other Friday matchup, Hive rallied from a third-quarter deficit to beat Breeze 70-68. With the victory, Hive keep their hopes of playoff basketball alive, while the Lunar Owls are now sitting at the bottom of the standings.
How Laces outlasted Lunar Owls to clinch the 1st playoff berth
Despite sitting at opposite ends of the Unrivaled standings, Lunar Owls stayed
within striking distance of Laces all game long. In the fourth quarter, they were down by just two, and four points away from the winning score, but couldn’t even up the game.
Brittney Sykes eventually ended things in Laces’ favor with the game-winning free throw. Sykes finished the game with 22 points, four rebounds and three assists. Naz Hillmon also had a strong game for the Laces. She had a double-double with 17 points and 11 rebounds.
Aaliyah Edwards did everything possible to win this game for the Lunar Owls. She had 28 points and a whopping 18 boards. Skylar Diggins contributed 16 points, but it wasn’t enough. Lunar Owls have talent, although they were without Marina Mabrey and Rebecca Allen on Friday night, but they just haven’t been able to put it together enough to win these close contests.
Edwards scored the first points for the Lunar Owls, but after that, it was a 14-0 run by Laces. The scoring burst was built by getting in the paint and applying pressure on the rim. Laces had four different players contribute offensively to this early run. Edwards finally ended the scoring drought for Owls, and then back-to-back 3-pointers by Rachel Banham made this a six-point game. However, Maddy Siegrist scored eight of Laces’ final 10 points in the quarter to put them on top 26-15.
In the second quarter, Lunar Owls strung together multiple runs to get back in this game. Diggins began to get hot from deep, knocking down a pair of 3s during the opening minutes of the period to put Lunar Owls within five. Hillmon scored for Laces, but buckets by Aziaha James and Edwards made it a one-possession game. Scoring oscillated between Laces and Lunar Owls the rest of the quarter, but Hillmon and Siegrist scored six unanswered to put the Laces ahead 45-38 at the break.
In the third, Edwards continued to dominate. She scored 10 of Lunar Owls’ first 13 points to start the second half. Thanks to her efforts, Lunar Owls were down by just four points with under three minutes to go in the quarter.
The Hillmon-Sykes combo kept the Laces in front, but the Diggins-Edwards duo matched that energy and it was 61-60 score as time ticked away at the end of the third. Hillmon was fouled on the next Laces possession and they took a three-point advantage into the fourth.
With the winning score set at 74, Sykes rattled in a corner three to get the Laces closer to that mark. Edwards and James gave the Owls a mini-run, and the score was 68-66 Laces.
Both sides kept exchanging baskets the rest of the way until Laces finally got a stop combined with a score to end the game. Sykes was crucial in this sequence, grabbing the defensive rebound and getting fouled and ultimately hitting the winning shot from the charity stripe.
How Hive rallied for the improbable upset over Breeze
While the Laces winning was expected, Hive defeating the Breeze was not.
Hive was down by 11 points in the third quarter, and it looked like Breeze was going to cruise to a victory. However, Hive flipped the script with a Sonia Citron 3-pointer, followed by Monique Billings scoring three the hard way. Citron then scored inside again, and Billings did as well to shrink the double-digit deficit down to just one point.
Paige Bueckers finally scored for Breeze to end the drought, but Saniya Rivers immediately scored for Hive, ensuring the game would remain close.
To start the fourth, Breeze was ahead 59-58. Kelsey Mitchell drove inside and scored, giving Hive the lead. Rickea Jackson calmed things down with a 3-pointer for Breeze, but Mitchell scored on the following play to make things even at 62. Jackson scored a mid-range jumper, and Breeze was at 64 points, needing 70 to win. After each team missed a couple of shot attempts, the offenses got going again.
Mitchell evened the score for Hive, and then Bueckers and Billings exchanged makes, and it was 66-66. Breeze had a chance to go ahead, but Buekcers missed a 3-point attempt, and Hive recovered the ball. Billings scored over Dominque Malonga, but Cameron Brink scored for Breeze to make it 68-68 with the next field goal make determining the winner.
Hive called for time and set themselves up. Citron inbounded the ball to Billings, who immediately handed it back off to her, and Citron finished the easy make to seal the result.
Hive’s Big 3 got it done in this game. Citron ended the night with 17 points, Mitchell had a team-high 22 and Billings scored 15, along with grabbing 17 boards.
Despite the physicality, Bueckers found a way to score. She ended the game with 28 points on 13-for 23 shooting. Jackson had a 15-point and 11-rebound double-double in the defeat.
