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Friday night, 16 players were still in contention for the Unrivaled 1-on-1 Tournament crown. When the night was over, only four remained with Kelsey Plum, Chelsea Gray, Aliyah Boston, and Allisha Gray advancing to the semifinals.
The quartet will spend Valentine’s Day competing to determine who is the queen of the court—and who will take home the $200K prize. Before we preview the semis and final, let’s review how we got here.
No. 1- seed Kelsey Mitchell defeats No.5-seed Veronica Burton, 11-5
Mitchel took control of this matchup, scoring nine-straight points. Burton responded with three points and converted on a free throw. But after that, Mitchell finished things with a game-clinching layup.
No. 2 Kelsey Plum defeats No. 7-seed Natisha Hiedeman, 12-0
In the opening round, Courtney Williams lost 12-0. In the second round, Hiedeman paid homage to her Stud Budz partner by also losing 12-0. Plum was just too good with her handles, and she obliterated her opponent in well under three minutes.
No. 1-seed Paige Bueckers defeats No. 4-seed Arike Ogunbowale, 12-4
Considering that Ogunbowale and Bueckers are teammates in the WNBA, this matchup was an enticing one.
The contest was a grind with no 3-pointers being made. Instead, it was all about driving into the paint and getting buckets. Ultimately, this was a game of runs. First, Ogunbowale scored four-straight, and then Bueckers scored all 12 of her points to advance.
Bueckers won the game by driving to the basket, pump faking and banking the shot in before the shot clock reached zero. Ogunbowale grabbed the ball out of the net and grinned as the younger Bueckers got the better of her. After the win, Paige gave props to Arike, saying:
Arike is a really good 1-on-1 player, in isolation, creating her own shot, getting to the rim, using her physicality, and obviously that’s my dog. So to be able to compete against each other, we’ve been competing with each other the past year, so that was really fun.
No. 2-seed Chelsea Gray defeats No. 3-seed Jackie Young, 12-6
Similar to the Ogunbowale-Bueckers matchup, the Gray-Young contest offered the appeal of watching WNBA teammates competing against each other. (Although, not for A’ja Wilson.) Unlike the previous game, however, the older Gray beat the younger Young.
Early on, both players exchanged baskets. Young scored first, and then Gray hit a fadeaway inside to even the game, losing one of her contacts in the process. Another layup by Young gave her the lead, but Gray got a stop and scored again. They traded buckets again, and it was all even at six.
From here on out, Gray dominated. She kept relying on her strength and ability to hit that turnaround jumper to overwhelm Young. On the game-winning basket, Young was draped over Gray, but it didn’t make a difference. Gray hit the basket at the free throw line and eliminated her Aces partner.
No. 4-seed Aliyah Boston defeats No. 1-seed Breanna Stewart, 11-7
Stewie was the top seed, but on Friday, Boston was the better player.
At first, Stewart was in control, leading 4-0. But Boston found some momentum and even hit a 3-pointer to take the reins and jump in front 9-4. Stewart responded with a three of her own, but Boston banked a basket in to reach the quarterfinals.
No. 2-seed Aaliyah Edwards defeats No. 6-seed Shakira Austin, 11-9
Austin-Edwards gave us our closest contest in the second round. Momentum oscillated through the game, first going to Austin when she went on a 7-0 run, then to Edwards, who scored six-straight points.
Austin ended the run with a floater, but Edwards wasn’t going away that easily. She was fouled twice, which gave her an automatic point, and then Edwards scored inside after missing multiple shots near the rim. With the shot clock winding down, Edwards knocked down a long basket inside the arc to complete the comeback.
No. 1-seed Allisha Gray defeats No. 8-seed Saniya Rivers, 12-9
It looked like Rivers was going to cruise to victory in this one. She jumped out to a 9-3 lead, and considering that only 11 points are needed for the W, Gray was in trouble.
However, the Gray isn’t your typical guard. The Mistie hit a 3, scored from the high post, drove inside for a layup and ended it all with another basket inside. This was an incredible offensive showing from Gray, who ended the game shooting 5-for-6 from the field in the win.
No. 7-seed Rae Burrell defeats No. 6-seed Sonia Citron 11-0
People are finding out just how good Burrell is thanks to this 1-on-1 tournament. She beat Citron with ease, winning 11-0.
Burrell only missed one shot, and Citron got the ball for just a possession in this game. After that, Burrell never gave back the ball and won with a top-of-the-key 3-pointer.
With Burrell winning, we had our quarterfinals set with the Grays (Chelsea and Allisha), Edwards, Boston, Plum, Bueckers and Mitchell joining the aforementioned Burrell in the next round.
No. 2-seed Kelsey Plum defeats No. 1-seed Kelsey Mitchell, 11-7
The quarterfinals began with two elite guards facing each other in Plum and Mitchell. Plum scored the first four points, contorting her body inside the paint to earn a basket and a foul. Mitchell reacted with five-straight, and Plum earned three the hard way to regain the lead at 7-5.
Near the high post, Mitchell converted another basket, but that was it for her. Plum scored the next four points to earn her semifinal spot. The game was tightly contested, but given Plum’s experience as a leader, WNBA champion and Olympian, it was just another day, as she expressed after advancing to the semis:
I play in a lot of big games, so I feel like I’m pretty steady, pretty even keeled. You can’t get too up and down by the physicality and everything. Just got to stay steady.
No. 2-seed Chelsea Gray defeats No. 1-seed Paige Bueckers, 11-2
Another 1-vs.-2 game, and once again the lower seed came out on top. The difference, though, is that Gray dominated Bueckers, winning 11-2. Gray scored the first four points, and Bueckers’ sole basket came on a driving jumper. After that, Gray scored seven-straight, winning with ease.
No. 4-seed Aliyah Boston defeats No. 2-seed Aaliyah Edwards, 12-0
Speaking of winning easily, Boston won the Aliyah-Aaliyah battle with a 12-0 blowout.
Edwards couldn’t make a basket to save herself from elimination. She went 0-for-5 from the field. While Boston grinded her buckets out and dominated in this physical contest between these two bigs.
No. 1-seed Allisha Gray defeats No. 7 Rae Burrell, 11-2
Burrell was the lowest seed to advance to the quarterfinals, but her journey ended on this loss to Gray. Allisha dominated possession and pace, and her shot was in rhythm. Gray went 50 percent from the field in this game, winning on a layup.
Semifinals & Championship preview
The competition concludes on Saturday, but which of the four players left will actually win it all? They’ve all secured at least $25,000. Who will capture an even bigger bag? The battles begin at 6 p.m. ET on TNT/truTV.
No. 2-seed Kelsey Plum vs. No. 2-seed Chelsea Gray (6:00 p.m. ET)
This is the battle of the No. 2 seeds and the guards. I expect it to be tightly contested, and with each player being such an offensive force, either can win. However, Gray is the Point Gawd, and she has an unreal ability to make shots that are incredibly difficult even when guarded perfectly. So, I think she’ll hit enough of those baskets to beat Plum.
No. 4-seed Aliyah Boston vs. No. 1-seed Allisha Gray (6:15 p.m. ET)
This big against guard matchup will be interesting. Can Gray use her speed to control the pace on Boston? Or will Aliyah’s size and aggression be too much to overcome? I’m going with Boston, but she’d better do it quickly because if Gray gets the ball and finds a groove, she can run away with it.
Prediction: Aliyah Boston
And the $200K champion will be…
If it does end up being Boston-Gray, I’ll go with the guard in this one. Gray doesn’t have Boston’s strength, but she’s tough to bully. I think Gray will force a couple of key misses and can move Boston enough to get to her spots and win.
We’ll see if it goes this way, and the Point Gawd wins the $200K, or if Boston, Plum or the other Gray comes out on top.
