Unrivaled: Howard, Thomas shine in victories for Vinyl, Laces

After the first week of Unrivaled action, three teams stand undefeated, while three remain winless. On Monday night, Vinyl and Laces joined Lunar Owls at 2-0, as Phantom and Mist fell to 0-2 with Rose. Vinyl won 84-71 over Phantom before Laces dominated Mist, 63-43.

Is a league hierarchy already taking shape? Or, will much change over the regular season’s six remaining weeks? We’ll find out. For now, here’s how Vinyl and Laces earned their dubs on Monday night:

Vinyl hit right notes against Phantom

Phantom introduced a new starting lineup, with Natasha Cloud joining Sabrina Ionescu and Satou Sabally as part of the club’s first three. After a sloppy start, Phantom found their footing, benefitting from better shooting from Ionescu and Sabally. Reserves Natisha Hiedeman and Katie Lou Samuelson also offered some timely shotmaking, with Hiedeman, making her Unrivaled debut, hitting a triple at the end of the first to give Phantom a 20-19 advantage after the first seven minutes.

However, by the middle of the second, Vinyl had edged ahead, with the club’s starting trio of Arike Ogunbowale, Rhyne Howard and Dearica Hamby doing damage in their second stint, giving Vinyl an 11-point, 49-38, lead at the half.

Throughout the second half, every time Phantom hit a shot that could have spurred a run, Vinyl responded, maintaining their comfortable margin over the competition. Head coach Teresa Weatherspoon distributed the team’s minutes, resulting in contributions from all six players. Hamby was especially effective, shooting 9-for-11 and scoring a game-high 22 points, while Ogunbowale, who scored 21 points and dished four assists, was named Player of the Game.

The game ended at 84-71 when Howard hit the winning score shot for Vinyl. For the game, she had 14 points, eight boards and four assists.

Phantom was led by Ionescu’s 16 points, six rebounds and six assists, while Griner, who played 10 minutes from off the bench, scored 13 points and grabbed five boards.

Laces unbothered by Mist

In the second game, Laces again announced that they are not interested in messing around. A 16-4 lead after the first became a 35-21 halftime lead. And when Mist cut the margin to five points midway through the third on a Jewell Loyd jumper, Laces responded with three-straight scores, with 2-pointers from Kayla McBride and Stef Dolson and a 3-pointer from Kate Martin.

With the Laces up 11 points entering the fourth, the Mist, who had struggled to see their shots fall all evening, went even colder, scoring just two points in the period to allow Laces to cruise to the 20-point win, 63-43.

An Alyssa Thomas putback pushed Laces to the winning score. It was an appropriate conclusion as Thomas, named Player of the Game, was the best player on the floor, finishing with 12 points, 15 rebounds and four assists.

While Laces’ shooting was not great, with a 31.6 mark from 3 and 38.5 overall, Mist was particularly poor at finding the bottom of the net, shooting 31.6 from the field and making just two 3-pointers for 13.3 percent from behind the arc.

Mist started with same grouping of Loyd, Breanna Stewart and Courtney Vandersloot, with head coach Phil Handy again relying heavily on that threesome over reserves DiJonai Carrington, Rickea Jackson and Aaliyah Edwards. Stewart led the team with a 17-point and 13-rebound double-double. Again without Jackie Young (left knee), Laces shifted their starting three, with Tiffany Hayes joining Thomas and McBride. McBride scored a game-high 21 points, while Hayes added 16 points; both grabbed seven boards.