The slate of four days of games \u2013 instead of the three days from the\u00a0previous\u00a0season \u2013 has created\u00a0more action for fans to be\u00a0a\u00a0part\u00a0of.\u00a0This past\u00a0weekend\u00a0and Monday\u00a0featured eight different matchups.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Let\u2019s\u00a0dive into those games:\u00a0<\/p>\n
Friday games, Jan. 9<\/p>\n
Friday Jan. 9 featured two games, one between the Vinyl BC<\/a> and Rose BC<\/a> and the other between Breeze BC<\/a> and\u00a0Hive BC<\/a>\u00a0<\/p>\n In the first matchup Rose defeated\u00a0the Vinyl,\u00a069-67 in a thrilling ending. Chelsea Gray <\/a>hit the game-winner for the Rose, who were\u00a0down by 10 points heading into half time but managed to pull off the win. The reigning\u00a0champs\u00a0a 3-0 start to the season.\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cI think\u00a0that\u2019s\u00a0just a part of our identity. You have a locker room full of people who are never going to quit, no matter what the circumstances are,\u201d\u00a0Rose head coach Nola Henry<\/a> told reporters postgame.\u00a0\u201cSo\u00a0I\u00a0think that\u00a0that\u2019s\u00a0just what you saw tonight. We will never count ourselves out, always feel like we have\u00a0a\u00a0opportunity\u00a0to win\u00a0as long as\u00a0we control what we can control. And sometimes you just got to gut it out.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n In the second\u00a0matchup,\u00a0Breeze BC took down Hive BC, 73-62. All five Breeze players that entered the game\u00a0scored in double-digits, including Paige Bueckers<\/a>, who shot the game winner for the team.<\/p>\n With no returning players from\u00a0Unrivaled\u2019s\u00a0first season, Hive BC are still\u00a0trying to find their identity and build team chemistry. Still, five out of six players scored in double-figures with guard Sonia Citron<\/a> leading the way with 16 points and three steals.\u00a0<\/p>\n The IX Basketball, a 24\/7\/365 women\u2019s basketball newsroom powered by The Next Saturday games, Jan. 10<\/p>\n Saturday featured two more matchups including the Lunar Owls BC<\/a> vs Phantom BC<\/a> and Mist BC<\/a> vs Laces BC.<\/a>\u00a0<\/p>\n In the first\u00a0game,\u00a0Phantom pulled in a 94-60 dominating win against the Lunar Owls.\u00a0Forward\u00a0Kiki\u00a0Iriafen<\/a>\u00a0shot the game winner for Phantom.\u00a0<\/p>\n Phantom guard\u00a0Kelsey\u00a0Plum\u00a0<\/a>went off for 38 points, 11 assists and eight rebounds.\u00a0<\/p>\n The Lunar Owls have only five players after losing\u00a0Napheesa\u00a0Collier (replaced by Temi Fagbenle<\/a>) to injury prior to the start of the season and guard Skylar Diggins<\/a> is out with a lower\u00a0body injury. In the\u00a0previous\u00a0game forward Aaliyah Edwards<\/a> took a huge fall and is still recovering from that as well.\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cI\u2019m\u00a0getting\u00a0there,\u00a0I\u2019m\u00a0getting there, but I was hoping to get up to\u00a0the\u00a0free\u00a0throw\u00a0line a little bit tonight. But you know what,\u00a0it is, what it\u00a0is,\u00a0it is what it is. But\u00a0no,\u00a0I\u2019m\u00a0good. Everyone here is helping me.\u00a0We got\u00a0good doctors, good medical\u00a0staff\u00a0and everything.\u00a0So\u00a0[I\u2019m]\u00a0feeling good,\u201d Edwards told reporters.\u00a0<\/p>\n The second game featured\u00a0the Mist\u00a0BC and\u00a0the Laces\u00a0BC. The Mist defeated the Laces 83-81 in a tight game.\u00a0Forward Breanna Stewart<\/a> shot the game-winner for the Mist.\u00a0<\/p>\n Sunday games, Jan. 11<\/p>\n On\u00a0Sunday\u00a0the Rose BC <\/a>faced the Breeze BC<\/a> and the Hive BC <\/a>faced the Vinyl BC<\/a>.\u00a0<\/p>\n The Rose defeated the Breeze, 73-69, in a mostly back and forth game.\u00a0Rose\u00a0forward\u00a0Shakira Austin<\/a> shot the game-winner.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n Chelsea Gra<\/a>y went off again for 37 points to help lead her team to victory.\u00a0Breeze\u00a0guard Paige Bueckers <\/a>had a near triple-double with 15 points, nine rebounds and nine assists. If Bueckers pulled off the triple-double,\u00a0it would have been the first ever in Unrivaled history.\u00a0<\/p>\n In the second\u00a0game\u00a0Vinyl BC defeated\u00a0the Hive\u00a0BC 89-66. Vinyl\u00a0forward\u00a0Dearica Hamby<\/a> shot the game-winner and had a dominant double-double of 40 points and 10 rebounds, setting a new single-game Unrivaled scoring record.\u00a0<\/p>\n Hive BC is still searching for their first win of the season.\u00a0<\/p>\n Monday games, Jan. 12<\/p>\n To close out the four-day slate of games, the Mist BC <\/a>faced off against the Phantom BC <\/a>while the\u00a0Laces\u00a0BC<\/a> played the Lunar Owls BC<\/a>.\u00a0<\/p>\n The Phantom BC defeated\u00a0the Mist\u00a064-61 with a game-winning shot by Plum. <\/p>\n Both of these\u00a0teams are hungry to win after finishing at the bottom of the leaderboard last season and falling out of playoff contention.\u00a0Mist guards Allisha Gray<\/a> and Arike\u00a0Ogunbowale<\/a>\u00a0both had 16 points while Stewart led with 17 points and eight rebounds.\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cShe\u2019s been playing\u00a0amazing. I mean, since the W season, she had\u00a0a career year. And\u00a0she\u2019s\u00a0a great player,\u00a0great\u00a0person, a competitor. I was able to play with her for some years in Dallas, so\u00a0it\u2019s\u00a0fun being able to play with her again,\u201d\u00a0Ogunbowale\u00a0told reporters\u00a0regarding\u00a0her teammate Gray.\u00a0<\/p>\n The Laces BC then defeated the Lunar Owls BC, 84-72 with a game winner from guard Brittney Sykes<\/a>.\u00a0The Lunar Owls are yet to win their first games but have made strides\u00a0of improvement.\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cRight\u00a0now, we are finding our rhythm. We\u00a0haven\u2019t\u00a0been able to practice in a normal flow, like\u00a0most ofof\u00a0the teams here.\u00a0So\u00a0when we have a lineup out there\u00a0that\u2019s\u00a0working\u00a0essentially right\u00a0now,\u00a0we\u2019rekeeping them in because of the rhythm aspect of it. Now, as we get into it a little bit\u00a0more\u00a0and we really get some more practice time together as a unit,\u00a0we\u2019ll\u00a0be able to make more adjustments. Temi [Fagbenle]\u00a0got here a week ago, so\u00a0we\u2019re\u00a0just working through it right now,\u201d DJ Sackmann <\/a>told reporters postgame.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n Despite her recent injury scare, Edwards is averaging a double-double through her first three games with the Lunar Owls.\u00a0<\/p>\n CBA negotiations still looming<\/p>\n As for the WNBA, CBA\u00a0negotiations\u00a0are still looming, as\u00a0the Jan. 9 deadline has been reached. The WNBPA was waiting for a response from the WNBA on their latest\u00a0proposal\u00a0but time ticked away and they never received one.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n The league and its players entered a \u201cStatus Quo\u201d period\u00a0followed by an agreement on moratorium where all\u00a0initial\u00a0stages of free agency\u00a0will\u00a0be halted.\u00a0<\/p>\n Multiple players were asked how they are balancing everything going on with CBA\u00a0negotations\u00a0while playing in Unrivaled.\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cHonestly,\u00a0it\u2019s\u00a0hard, especially these past few weeks, I feel\u00a0like\u00a0when\u00a0I\u2019m\u00a0here,\u00a0I\u2019m\u00a0locked in,\u00a0I\u2019m\u00a0practicing with my team. But when I go home\u2026we have\u00a0EC [executive committee]\u00a0calls, we have all these things that you\u00a0have to\u00a0be a part of, because you want to make sure that everything is going\u00a0exactly in\u00a0according to plan.\u00a0So\u00a0I told Marta\u00a0[Xargay]\u00a0today, I said,\u00a0\u2018You know my brain is hurting a little bit like having to think about all these things\u2019,\u00a0but\u00a0it\u2019s\u00a0the position I want to be in,\u201d Stewart told reporters.\u00a0\u201cI wanted to obviously be here at Unrivaled\u00a0and help bring this to fruition,\u00a0as a\u00a0co-founder, but also I want to make sure that the league,\u00a0the W,\u00a0when it comes time to get back to that, it\u2019s going to be something that\u2019s going to be a generational shift in the CBA,\u201d Stewart told reporters.\u00a0<\/p>\n Plum also weighed in on the situation as\u00a0the Vice President of the WNBPA\u00a0executive committee.\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201c\u2026To be completely transparent,\u00a0I was on some calls today\u2026being part of the EC[executive committee], being VP like, you have to\u00a0inform\u00a0players,\u00a0ask their opinions, try to get the best pulse on how we\u2019re feeling and how we want to move forward. Obviously, too\u00a0talking to the media, you have to be on your Ps and Qs, you know, if you slip, that\u2019s going to be a national media headline, to be honest, in terms of figuring out how to be respectful in this process, and\u00a0continue to go about in good faith negotiations. And what we\u2019re in now, which is status quo\u2026To be honest, it is difficult, and we\u2019re all just trying to do the best we can and navigate and\u00a0at the end of the day, we all want to play basketball, so hopefully we can\u00a0get this done sooner than later.\u201d<\/p>\n Want even more women\u2019s sports in your inbox?<\/strong><\/p>\n Subscribe now to The IX Sports<\/a> and receive our daily women\u2019s sports newsletter covering soccer, tennis, basketball, golf, hockey and gymnastics from our incredible team of writers. That includes Basketball Wednesday from founder and editor Howard Megdal.<\/p>\n Readers of The IX Basketball now save 50% on their subscription to The IX.<\/p>\n Free-throw challenge update<\/p>\n Unrivaled launched a unique, new free-throw challenge for their sophomore season. The player who\u00a0has the highest free-throw percentage through their\u00a0clubs\u00a0first five games will win a $50,000 prize.\u00a0<\/p>\n Fans also had the opportunity to vote on who they thought would win the challenge in exchange for courtside seats and travel funds for \u2018Philly is Unrivaled\u2019.\u00a0<\/p>\n The current standings are led by\u00a0Paige Bueckers who has shot a perfect 100%\u00a0from\u00a0the free-throw\u00a0line\u00a0making all eight attempted free throws so far.\u00a0Azur\u00e1\u00a0Stevens<\/a>, Dominique\u00a0Malonga<\/a>\u00a0and Veronica Burton<\/a> follow and are all tied for second place making all five of their free throws each.\u00a0<\/p>\n New Unrivaled records<\/p>\n This week was full of multiple\u00a0record breaking\u00a0games for Unrivaled\u00a0players\u00a0including\u00a0but not limited to\u00a0Hive BC guard Saniya Rivers<\/a> and Hamby.\u00a0<\/p>\n Rivers set a new single-game block record with six blocks against the Breeze on Jan. 9.\u00a0She has always had pride in her\u00a0defense\u00a0always emphasizing that it is the one thing you can control if your shots\u00a0aren\u2019t\u00a0falling on offense.\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cThis\u00a0isn\u2019t\u00a0new. I\u00a0don\u2019t\u00a0know why coaches\u00a0be\u00a0telling them to go post me up because\u00a0I\u2019m\u00a0a fight.\u00a0I\u2019m\u00a0a fighter on both ends of the floor.\u00a0So\u00a0I mean,\u00a0they\u2019re\u00a0gonna\u00a0keep doing it and\u00a0I\u2019m\u00a0gonna\u00a0keep doing what I do,\u201d Rivers\u00a0rold\u00a0reporters. \u201c\u2026All of\u00a0my blocks feel\u00a0really good.\u00a0I feel\u00a0feel\u00a0like it gets the momentum going, gets the crowd into it.\u201d<\/p>\n
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The IX Basketball<\/a>: A basketball newsroom brought to you by The IX Sports<\/a>. 24\/7\/365 women\u2019s basketball coverage, written, edited and photographed by our young, diverse staff and dedicated to breaking news, analysis, historical deep dives and projections about the game we love.<\/p>\n