Medley, Florida – Since its unrivaled entry two months ago, the Rose Basketball Club has cooked on a piece of square paper, cut by a magnet, on their whiteboard.
It was an article on social networks in the ESPN pre-season ranking for the inaugural season of the 3-3-3 female basketball league. The rose should end in the last place behind the lunar owls, ghosts, vinyl, mist and laces.
Kahleah Copper, Kahleah Copper, sent the post to coach Nola Henry before the season, knowing that it would add fuel to the team’s fire. Rose Stars Angel Reese and Brittney Sykes even discussed the painful subject in post-match interviews during Turner’s sports shows.
Two months later, the first unrivaled season ended with the rose with the last laugh.
Chelsea Gray scored 18 points with eight assists to win the MVP of the unrivaled qualifiers, Sykes marked a driving lay-up and the free-Lawy launch, and the rose defeated the vinyl 62-54 to win the first unrivaled championship on Monday evening.
Rose players – directed by the 21 Sykes points and the 19 Azurá Stevens and 18 rebounds – each won $ 50,000 as a bonus for their victory in the championship.
“Everyone in our locker room knew what we were capable of, and what have we done?” Copper said that she was “out of Champagne” at the Pink Press Press Conference.
Rose players walked on the unrivaled training field to speak after the match, wearing unrivaled champion t-shirts and snowboard glasses and holding widow’s widow-widow Yellow label while the celebration continued in Miami’s evening.
Gray wore a black t-shirt with the ESPN ranking.
“They counted us six in this thing,” said Gray. “It is a testimony of my team, and I could not win MVP without them.”
Gray established the unrivaled record with 39 points in the victory in the Rose semi-finals on the laces on Sunday evening to help them go to the match for the title, while vinyl n ° 4 eliminated the owls lunar heads.
She helped the rose overcome a 1-4 start to win the first title in the League. And she was again entirely healthy, after having sometimes fought last season after her return to a broken foot that she suffered in the WNBA 2023 finals.
“Hell yes, there was motivation,” said Gray, a double Olympic gold medalist and triple WNBA champion.
“Last year was difficult. It was difficult. When I came back, I was still not 100%. Some people thought I was,” added Gray. “I just put the work, do my job and speak after winning.”
Reese, the unrivaled defensive player of the year and the all-blade of the second second team team, did not play for the rose during the two-game qualifying series. She reduced her surgically widespread left -wing repair during the regular season final last Monday. We do not know the severity of his injury and how it could affect his next season with the Chicago sky of the WNBA.
Reese applauded the pink bench one day earlier, but was not present for the match for the title on Monday – until she joined the celebration of the Pink title via Facetime Call.
Copper also did not play due to a right leg injury, while Stevens missed a while with a leg injury after the 1 unrivaled tournament last month.
The injuries to rose players were also a source of motivation during the championship race.
“Angel is not there, but we knew that we had to intensify. I knew that I had to bring my game” a “, and I am so happy and proud of my team. They just meant everything for me,” said Stevens.
“Obviously, I had a little injury during the season, and it was a bit difficult. But every day, I had encouragement from everyone, coaches, my teammates, just to continue and stay locked up. We were all locked up today, and I am so proud of us.”
The vinyl was led by the 22 points of Rhyne Howard, while Dearica Hamby and Aliyah Boston each scored 10 points in defeat. Howard scored a mid-range rider to help vinyl take a 49-48 advance with three seconds playing in the third quarter, before Gray made a shot from Beyond Halfcourt while the buzzer was ringing.
The vinyl – which entered the playoffs with a 5-9 file and via an equality break with the mist on the last day of the regular season – has never led after this point again.
“As hard as you work and you don’t want it to end like that, so of course, you can only imagine what they feel,” said Vinyl coach Teresa Weatherspoon. “I feel for them. They were absolutely exceptional. ”
Adding Jordin Canada vinyl guard: “No one thought we could get here, and so we are just proud of that.”
The first unrivaled season saw more than 40 of the best WNBA players in the world participate in a 3 format against 3 in two months. They created an alternative off -season in which they earn equity, not payroll checks. They have endeavored to improve their games which, according to them, will translate into the next WNBA season.
And they may have changed the female basketball landscape.
“Oh, what a night, and what months it was,” said unrivaled commissioner Micky Lawler before the trophy is presenting.
“Thank you to the best fans in the world, night and evening, for having been so noisy and so favorable. Thank you to the best players in the world. Thank you to the best partners, and thank you to the unrivaled staff. It’s not easy, but it is sure that hell was extremely fulfilling. We just marked the story,” said Lawler.
Unparalleled protruding facts: Rose vs vinyl
Watch: Rose Celebrate Championship
Unparalleled score in the third quarter: Rose 51, Vinyl 49
Target victory score: 62
It is a 62 -point race for the first unrivaled championship, before the fourth quarter.
Chelsea Gray scored a three-way buzzer beyond Half Court, and the rose is 51-49 on the vinyl after the third quarter.
Gray has 12 points and eight assists, while Azurá Stevens leads the rose with 19 points. Rhyne Howard leads vinyl with 19 points.
Unparalleled half-time score: Vinyl 37, Rose 32
Rhyne Howard scored a three-point pointer to close the second quarter, and the vinyl bounced from a deficit in the first quarter to take a 37-32 advance on the rose at halftime.
Howard leads the vinyl with 13 points, while Dererica Hamby has eight points and five rebounds in the first half.
Chelsea Gray, who scored an unrivaled 39-point record in Sunday’s semi-finals against the laces, has only three points in the first half. But it feeds the rose with six assists.
Brittney Sykes at 14 points, while Azurá Stevens has 13 points and nine rebounds for the rose.
Unparalleled score of the first trimester: Rose 19, vinyl 16
Chelsea Gray showed a little flair with a pass without look to Azurá Stevens while the rose took an advance of 19-16 on vinyl at the end of the first quarter.
Stevens leads the rose with eight points and five rebounds, while Gray collected three points and three assists.
Dearica Hamby has six points, a rebound and two interceptions in the first quarter for vinyl.
What time does the unrivaled eliminatory match start on Monday?
The rose and vinyl will start at 7:30 p.m. he.
How to watch an unrivaled championship match?
The unrivaled title game is available on TNT and TRUTV on cable television, and live on Max in the United States.
Angel Reese has not been able to play in an unrivaled championship due to an injury
Reese, from the Chicago sky of the WNBA, is unlikely to play in Monday’s match for the Rose Club after having injured his surgically repaired left hand during the unmatched final of the regular season last week. Reese looked at the touchline on Sunday while the rose beat the lunar owls, carrying a splint on her left hand.
How the rose has reached the unequaled end game
Chelsea Gray scored an unrivaled 39-point summit, including a winner of the match, to help the rose beat laces n ° 3 73-67 on the first Sunday in the semi-finals. The rose used a third quarter of 23-12 to overcome a 40-27 at halftime, and ahead of the 13-5 vinyl in the fourth quarter to win despite not having other two-digit player score.
How the vinyl reached the unequaled end game
Déré Hamby marked a driving lay-up Ligue MVP Napheesa Collier To help the vinyl upset the owl lunar n ° 1,73-70 in the second semi-final match on Sunday. Rhyne Howard led vinyl with 23 points, while Jordin Canada scored 10 of his 21 points in the fourth quarter to overcome a deficit of 62-52 after the third quarter. Hamby finished with 16 points and 15 rebounds in victory. Necklace scored 36 points with eight rebounds, three assists and two blocks in defeat.
The Rose-Vinyl final presents unrivaled female coaches
It is almost appropriate that the first final of Invalided will feature the coach of Rose Nola Henry and the vinyl coach Teresa Witherspoon – the only two coaches in the League. Henry led the rose to the seeded n ° 2 after a start of 1-4, while Witherspoon led the vinyl in the match for the title as a seed of playoffs in the four team field.
Rose-Vinyl season series
The rose leads the season series above the 2-1 vinyl, before the unrivaled championship match.
The vinyl beat the rose 79-73 during the opening evening (January 18) behind the 33 points of Rhyne Howard with the 17 points and 13 rebounds of Deare Hamby.
The rose beat the vinyl 61-55 behind the 26 points of Chelsea Gray on February 18. And during the final of the regular season of March 10, the rose dominated the vinyl 74-46.
This article originally appeared on USA Today: Protective facts of the unrivaled championship: pink score vs vinyl, best moments
