Vinyl, Breeze advance to Unrivaled semifinals after first-round wins

MEDLEY, Fla. — Rhyne Howard scored 30 points to lead Vinyl past Laces and into the Unrivaled semifinals on Saturday, while Paige Bueckers’ 29 points led Breeze past Rose to secure its semifinal berth.

Veteran Dearica Hamby hit the game-winning shot against No. 3 Laces in Game 1 of the first round of Unrivaled’s playoffs. Once they secured the 82-69 win, players from the sixth-ranked Vinyl club — the last Unrivaled team to clinch a spot in the playoffs — jumped into Hamby’s arms in celebration.

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Dominique Malonga had 17 rebounds to help Breeze rout Rose, last year’s Unrivaled champion, 69-50 and advance to the next round, which will be played at Barclays Center in Brooklyn, New York, on Monday night.

Top-seeded Phantom and No. 2 seed Mist earned automatic berths to Monday’s semifinals.

The title game will be Wednesday at Unrivaled’s home arena in Miami, with a prize pool of $600,000 to be split among players from the championship-winning club.

Unrivaled announces end-of-season award winners

Phantom forward Aliyah Boston, who is entering her fourth season with the WNBA’s Indiana Fever, was named Unrivaled’s Defensive Player of the Year on Saturday after emerging as one of the league’s biggest defensive standouts.

Boston, who was also named to the league’s second-team All-Unrivaled list, led the league with 29 blocks in 14 regular-season games and finished second in total defensive rebounds (111). She led Phantom in rebounds (136) and points off turnovers (39). She averaged 18.9 points, 9.7 rebounds and 2.1 blocked shots — a significant leap from her first Unrivaled season, when she averaged 5.9 points, 5.4 rebounds and 0.4 blocks.

Boston’s Phantom teammate Kelsey Plum was named first-team All-Unrivaled along with Bueckers and Rose guard Chelsea Gray.

Bueckers led her Breeze club in points (22.1) and assists (5.5) per game and shot 38% from 3-point range this season. Gray, who won Unrivaled’s 1-on-1 tournament earlier this month, had four game-winning baskets and became the first Unrivaled player to surpass 600 points, 200 field goals and 100 assists.

Phantom’s Roneeka Hodges was named Coach of the Year after leading her team to a league-best 11-3 record in her first season at Unrivaled.

Up next

Phantom will face Vinyl on Monday in the first of two semifinal games in Brooklyn. Mist will go against Breeze in the second matchup.