MEDLEY, Fla. – The Lunar Owls and the Rose have the most heated rivalry in Unrivaled women’s basketball.
And the best part about it: They could potentially face each other again in the Unrivaled finals later this month.
The Lunar Owls won the latest matchup in the brewing rivalry, coming back to beat the Rose 66-56 in the second of two games Friday night to begin the league’s final weekend.
The Lunar Owls already own the No. 1 seed in the playoffs, which begin with two semifinal matchups on March 16 before the March 17 final.
And they already have their eyes on the prize money – Unrivaled announced Friday that players from the championship team will earn $50,000 each.
“We’re public enemy No. 1,” Lunar Owls guard Courtney Williams said during a postgame interview on the court.
“This is not a Super Bowl for us. This is like another rodeo. We’re going to continue stacking days, and we’re going to keep taking down whatever team is in front of us, because we’re going to get those 50 bands.”
Napheesa Collier hit the game-ending shot to finish with 16 points, but the Lunar Owls’ “bench mob” of Williams and Shakira Austin took the game over in the third quarter.
No team led by more than four points until the Lunar Owls turned a four-point deficit into an eight-point lead before the fourth quarter, and extended it to 12 points during the fourth quarter.
Austin finished with 17 points in less than 14 minutes, while Williams scored 12 points in nearly 12 minutes as the Lunar Owls improved to 12-1.
“Me and Court, we came in and had that fire,” Austin said. “We’ve been trying to set our own tone. Not just building on what the starters did, but making people stay on their toes a little bit more.”
“Shakira and Courtney just gave us unbelievable minutes,” Lunar Owls coach DJ Sackmann said. “They’re both starters, and they can play on any team in the world and get a lot of minutes. We all know that.”
The fierce and heated competition between both teams – sparked by the fact each club beat each other once already this season – was evident throughout the game.
Rose guard Brittney Sykes and Lunar Owls forward Skylar Diggins-Smith were competitive against each other on both sides of the floor. Austin and Rose center Angel Reese got into several brief dustups under the basket. Reese got called for an offensive foul when her elbow appeared to hit Collier in the face in the third quarter.
The Rose remains in second place in Unrivaled with a 7-6 record, already clinching one of the four playoff spots. Reese and Sykes each scored 17 points, while Chelsea Gray had 10 points in the loss.
“You look at these teams from top to bottom, and you see nothing but passionate and competitive-ass players. So, when you put this type of format with players that we have on our teams, respectively, it’s going to be a dog fight every time,” Sykes said.
“You want that. We knew coming into this game it was going to be a type of game with a playoff atmosphere. Obviously, we hate that we lost tonight. Nobody likes to lose, but also we got a taste of what playoffs could potentially be. … By all means, we would love to see them again.”
The Lunar Owls beat the Rose 79-70 on Jan. 18, and the Rose handed the Lunar Owls their first loss of the season, 72-63, on Feb. 21. The Lunar Owls used their 24-16 advantage in the third quarter Friday to take the third matchup between both teams.
In the first game Friday, the Laces beat the Phantom 73-59. Kayla McBride scored 22 points and the game-winning 3-pointer, Jackie Young had 18 points and Stefanie Dolson added 16 points off the bench in the win. The Phantom (3-10) were eliminated from playoff contention with the loss.
The Laces (6-7, No. 3) will face the Mist (5-7, No. 4) in the first of two games on Saturday, beginning at 6 p.m. ET. The Vinyl (5-7, No. 5) will face the Phantom in the second game at 7 p.m. ET.
On Monday, Unrivaled’s regular season will end with the Lunar Owls meeting the Mist at 7:30 p.m. ET, and the Vinyl playing the Rose at 8:30 p.m. ET.
Only two more clubs will join the Lunar Owls and Rose in Unrivaled’s inaugural postseason.