In 2023, WNBA stars Napheesa Collier of the Minnesota Lynx and Breanna Stewart of the New York Liberty founded the basketball club league Unrivaled. It consists of eight teams: Hive, Lunar Owls, Breeze, Laces, Vinyl, Mist, Phantom, and Rose. Each team has six players, such as Sonia Criton of the Washington Mystics and Paige Bueckers of the Dallas Wings. The league has their season starting in January and usually only plays in Miami at the Sephora Arena, but this year they decided to have their first event outside of Florida, here in Philadelphia.
This was the first live basketball game I have ever seen, and it blew my expectations out of the water! Being able to see something you have watched a thousand times on your TV live is something everyone should get to experience.
The event was held at Xfinity Mobile Arena on Jan. 30, and they had four teams playing, Breeze vs. Phantom for the first game starting at 7:30 p.m., and Lunar Owls vs. Rose for the nightcap game. Paige Bueckers, Kate Martin, and Dominique Malonga were the starters for Breeze. For Phantom, it was Kelsey Plum, Aliyah Boston, and Tiffany Hayes. The first game ran until 8:30 p.m. Phantom won. At the end of it, broadcaster Ros Gold-Onwude interviewed #15 Natasha Cloud. She got emotional with how grateful she was to be able to play and win back in her hometown, as she’s from Delco.
The second game began as the first one ended. The starters for Rose were Kahleah Copper, Chelsea Gray, and Shakira Austin, and the Lunar Owls were Marina Mabrey, Skylar Diggins, and Temi Fagbenle. And, right off the bat, Lunar Owls blew Rose out of the water, and the final score was 85-75. Marina Mabrey broke records that night for most three-pointers in one game (10), highest single-game point total (47), and most points in a single quarter (27). It was so cool seeing how Mabrey’s crash out jar paid off. The Lunar Owls are one of my favorite teams in the league, and they clearly did not come to play around.
During half-time and between quarters, they held many different games. Some of them were pulling fans off the stands for a free throw challenge or naming more pizza toppings than Paige Bueckers. Also, in between games, singer Lay Bankz came out and performed a few songs, including “Tell Ur Girlfriend”, which has blown up on TikTok.
Unrivaled also designed exclusive merch for this game. They brought out new shirts and hoodies for every team and were also selling all the players’ jerseys. Personally, I was wearing Paige Bueckers Dallas jersey. It was really great to see everyone show up and show out for this league, especially since there were a few Philadelphia natives playing. Natasha Cloud, as previously said, is from Delco and plays for Phantom and New York Liberty. Kaleah Copper is from North Philadelphia and plays for Rose and Phoenix Mercury. On the first night in Philly, Copper got Philly cheese steaks for all four teams to welcome them in.
There are people that love to say “nobody watches women’s sports” which is interesting because this game was fully sold out. 21,490 is compacity for Xfinity Mobile Arena and that’s the number of people they had there that night. That was also the highest demand Philly has had for a regular season basketball game in this arena ever. This proves how much Philly wants a women’s basketball team, something we’ve never had before and something we won’t get until 2030.
Women’s basketball has something so electrifying about it. It is truly my favorite sport from arranging my summer to watch games to being known by friends as the one that has a giant Paige Bueckers flag. This sport means so much to me and it’s become clear to me that it means just as much to this city around me.