Rose BC Set to Repeat?

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Four of the original Unrivaled champions, as well as head coach Nola Henry, will return to Rose BC for another go at the three-on-three title.

“Bienvenidos a Miami,” women’s basketball.

Photo courtesy of Unrivaled

Some of the game’s finest are taking their talents (back) to South Beach as the second season of Unrivaled is set to tip off on Jan. 5.

Co-founded by Napheesa Collier and Breanna Stewart and backed by a lauded group of investors, Unrivaled is a domestic three-on-three league that can and is meant to host more localized offseason endeavors for players who have made their names in the WNBA. Many familiar faces are making their way back to the action, which will briefly make its way to Philadelphia, while others will join the fray for the first time.

In anticipation of tip-off, Ballislife takes a look at each of the eight squads in a dedicated analysis. Our previews are in full bloom with a look at the original champs, as Rose BC is next on the list…

The Team: Rose BCThe Debut: 8-6 (won 2025 Unrivaled championship)The Coach: Nola Henry (2nd season)

The Team

—Shakira Austin—Kahleah Copper*—Chelsea Gray*—Lexie Hull*—Azurà Stevens—Sug Sutton

(*returning to team)

A good bit of last year’s championship group stopped to smell the roses again, even if such experience comes with a small asterisk. Rose retains four women from the title run that scratched Vinyl in the final, including the double-double heroine Azurà Stevens (19 points, 18 rebounds in the finale).

The familiarity is headlined by hardwood royalty with Chelsea “Point Gawd” Gray due to return for another go. An Unrivaled championship (which also granted her title game MVP honors) was but the start of a decorated 2025 for Gray, who also donned her fourth WNBA Finals ring.

Can Rose BC Repeat as Unrivaled Champions?

Shooting just over 45 percent from both two and three-point range, Gray had her foot in many South Beach pools last season, also averaging nearly six assists per game when no returning Rose rep had more than 1.6 in the same category.

Forced to use a variety of medical substitutes en route to the title (i.e., Ariel Atkins, Natisha Hiedeman), Rose is looking for some form of consistency behind her in the form of Sug Sutton, who makes her Unrivaled debut after a busy return to the Washington Mystics.

Other returnees include Lexie Hull and Stevens, who each posted career-best WNBA seasons after a winter in Miami. Hull’s healthy reckless abandon on defense helped the depleted Indiana Fever save its season, while Stevens inched closer to averaging a double-double while she polished her three-on-three medals from Team USA endeavors. Both Hull and Stevens partook in all 44 games last season in brilliant tributes to their longevity.

Rose proved to be a bit thorny in the paint, dominating Unrivaled’s original rebounding ledgers (averaging over 37 rebounds per game while no other squad broke past 34). That, of course, came with the departed Angel Reese on patrol, but Henry’s found the ideal substitute in Shakira Austin, who followed up a sterling comeback season in the nation’s capital with championship honors at the FIBA AmeriCup three-on-three tournament.

The Spotlight’s On: Kahleah Copper

All that and more doesn’t take into account the absence/return of Kahleah Copper, who was forced to take in most of the winter proceedings (including the championship game) with an injury.

In seven showings, Copper was a cherished asset in the mid-range game to the tune of 51 percent in the area while pulling in six rebounds per game before he was forced to leave. Aftershocks of the injury seemed to carry over in the WNBA season (where her respectable averages are proven pedestrian by Copper’s golden standards), but she managed to rediscover her spark during the Phoenix Mercury’s run to the WNBA Finals.

Kahleah Copper, Rose, Unrivaled — Photo courtesy of Unrivaled

A common theme of Henry’s retainers is the idea that the squad is not fighting to defend a championship but rather simply to earn another. That feeling perhaps rings especially true with Copper, who was reduced to a spectator at Wayfair Arena last time around.

As the 2024 Olympics proved, a chip on Copper’s shoulder—one that can be considered extra sharp after a championship redemption was partly denied through the divine intervention of Gray and the Las Vegas Aces—is one of the most dangerous weapons in basketball. The Unrivaled court is one of the few places that hasn’t realized that quite yet, so expect Copper to be on the marquee if Rose returns to its championship garden.

They Said It

“We’re not living too much in last season. This season is about just competing with this group. While we have some returning players, a new season will bring new opportunities, new challenges. I’m approaching this season with the same demeanor and approach that I had last year [while] challenging us to chase a higher standard. It was nice to win last year, but last year is over with… It’s not really much about defending the title as much as it is chasing another one. We’re not defending anything. It’s a matter of just trying to chase a higher standard.”—Henry on being the defending champions

“Last year, it took every single person on our team, and then we had players that stepped in, and it took all of them, too. It was so exciting to win a championship last year. That said, I think we’re really excited about the two new faces we have with Rose. They bring really great things that we need. I think, moving forward, we’ll bring that energy and those relationships we made from last year, but this is a new year. I think, starting fresh, building together, getting to know each other off and on the court, I think that’s what we’re really going to focus on the first few weeks… It’s exciting to see how the group meshes. With new people, the dynamics change a little bit, and it’s going to be exciting to get to know them and build some really good team chemistry.”—Hull on working with the newcomers

Outlook

Familiarity often breeds contempt. Here, it could foster a repeat.

The changes to Rose are seismic yet subtle: Copper at least has the book knowledge of what Henry and Co. established last year, while it shouldn’t take long for the respective skillsets of Austin and Sutton to work their magic.

Combine that with Gray’s heavenly stroke and distribution, the seemingly-indestructible antics of Hull and Stevens, and Henry’s continued sidelined showcase (not to mention an active development pool if medical trouble arises), and Rose should gain at least an opportunity to protect its title come March.

There will be an immediate opportunity for Rose to water its championship mettle: things open with a primetime bout with the Lunar Owls (who will also serve as Rose’s opponent in a return to Copper’s home area of Philadelphia) in what many felt was the presumptive championship match last year before a title game rematch with Vinyl looms. The opening week caps off with the surging youngsters of Breeze.