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Yep, Dominique Malonga dunked!
The 20-year-old French phenom’s first Unrivaled slam, and the second in league history behind one from Brittney Griner last season, is the headliner from Saturday night’s action.
About halfway through the first quarter, Rickea Jackon recovered a defensive rebound, saw Malonga behind the defense and Dom then did the deed, electrifying Sephora Arena. Her club, Breeze, would also come away with their second-straight win, defeating Lunar Owls, 75-68.
The win arguably was earned with a crucial close to the first half.
After a Marina Mabrey layup for Lunar Owls knotted the game at 43 all, Breeze went on an 8-0 to take a 51-43 advantage into the break. Jackson grabbed an offensive board and converted the putback, Paige Bueckers stole the ball and cashed in on a transition score, Cameron Brink was fouled and made the 2-point free throw and then Jackson snuck in another bucket at the basket just before the buzzer.
Late in the third quarter, just before the winning score would be set, Lunar Owls charged back to make things interesting.
An Aaliyah Edwards 2-point free throw followed by a Skylar Diggins steal that led to Mabrey triple cut the margin to just three points. After Brink scored for Breeze, Diggins registered the final two scores of the third, a layup and free throw, to put Owls down by a single point, 63-62, entering the fourth, as the winning score was set at 74 points.
Owls extended their momentum into untimed fourth, netting the first four points. But they would only manage two more.
While Jackson got the scoring started for Breeze in the fourth, it was Paige who powered Breeze past the finish line, putting in seven of her club’s 12 points, including the game winner, to secure the seven-point win.
Bueckers finished with 28 points, seven assists, five boards and two steals. In addition to her slam, Malonga had 21 points and eight rebounds. Edwards was the high scorer for Lunar Owls, scoring 23 points while collecting 16 rebounds.
Naz’s career night leads Laces to 5-1
Early on, Laces looked like they were going to make this one of laugher, leading by 10 points after the first period.
Hive, however, found their fight, with an energetic second-quarter boost from Monique Billings helping her club get back in contact to trail by just three points, 34-31, at the break. But in the second half, Laces reasserted their superiority. Up by 14 points after three quarters, they cruised to an almost 20-point win, 70-52.
As the game featured Unrivaled’s best club taking on the weakest one, the result was unsurprising.
Naz Hillmon hit the game-winner for the Solemates, capping off her 16-point and 13-rebound double-double.
Maddy Siegrist likewise scored 16 points from Laces’ bench, while Brittney Sykes led the starting group with 14 points and Jackie Young added 12 points and nine assists.
Although off from 3, Laces still managed to shoot better than 50 percent from the field as a team. Led by Hillmon, they also absolutely owned the glass, grabbing 43 rebounds to Hive’s 19. With such an extreme rebounding deficit, Hive had to shoot well to have a chance—and, once again, they didn’t. Unrivaled’s least-potent offense, Hive went 4-for-18 from 3 and shot less than 40 percent overall from the field.
Hive has to find something they do well if they want to return to the win column.
