After a night of pure excitement and adrenaline, it is finally known which two teams will be vying for the trophy tonight at the Wayfair Arena in Miami. With two of the closest, most entertaining games of the season, fans watched as Chelsea Gray’s Rose Ball Club overtook the Laces at the tail end of the third quarter and even more surprisingly watched as Rhyne Howard and Arike Ogunbowale’s Vinyl completely upset the number one seed Lunar Owls as they took the W with a score of 73-70 at the end of the untimed fourth quarter. It was a glorious night for women’s basketball after a very successful first season for the Unrivaled League, and it all leads to tonight. Who will walk away as the queens of the Unrivaled Court?

Looking at the number two seed Rose first, they would now be considered “the favorite” to win; however, stranger things have happened, as we saw last night. In game one of the double-header, Team Captain Chelsea Gray set an Unrivaled record. With 39 points, Gray managed to set the single-game point record last night, just completely dominating during the second half. After a slow start earlier this season, the Rose really took over as the now-eliminated Laces began to decline. Throughout the entirety of the contest between these two teams last night, the Laces were leading; however, in the third quarter, arguably the most important fourth of an Unrivaled game, the Rose started coming back and ultimately ended up leading by two going into the untimed fourth quarter. If it weren’t for Rose’s starters in addition to the team’s latest addition who played her first game in Unrivaled last night, Naz Hillmon, there wouldn’t have been much competition. Many fans of the club were worried about the team with stars Angel Reese and Kahleah Copper being ruled out for the game; however, the rest of the Rose team came to play and prevailed over the Laces, who recently had Alyssa Thomas return to the team after recovering from her injury. Looking at the numbers, the Rose very clearly outplayed the Laces after making just over half of their field goals and being five for eleven in terms of three-point shots. Both the three starters from the Rose in addition to their three players off the bench scouted their opponents well holding the Laces back defensively when it mattered most while overcoming the offensive hole they were initially put in.

The second game of last night’s semi-finals was one to remember. Fans across the WNBA in general, not just Unrivaled, will be rewatching the tapes from this game over and over again. It was no secret that the Lunar Owls were the team to beat this postseason, having the best record in the league with only two losses throughout the regular season, and from the jump ball last night, many thought this game, the most important of their season, was going to be just like the rest of their unstoppable inaugural run; however, there was a hard record scratch on that about a minute and a half into the game when Dearica Hamby recovered Skylar Diggins-Smith’s two-pointer and tied the game up, showing that they did not come to play. While there were moments where the deficit between the Vinyl and Owls began to shrink, they were just offensively unable to be stopped, no matter what Vinyl’s head coach Teresa Weatherspoon was trying to cook up. Then, when the teams were heading into the untimed fourth quarter, it seemed as though all hope would’ve been lost as they were staring at a 10-point deficit, and the target score to call the game was set eleven points higher than the Owls score going into the quarter. It didn’t matter though, because after Jordin Canada made the three-pointer which led to her team’s score now only being a deficit of two, there was hope where there once was one for the Vinyl. Canada’s two-point free throw was also the reason why the Vinyl was then up 71-70 in the final minute of the game, and if SDS was able to make her three-pointer right before the final moment, resulting in what would’ve been her fifth game-winning shot–third as a three-pointer, but it deflected off the glass allowing Hamby to get the defensive rebound (and an offensive rebound, aiding fellow Vinyl Rhyne Howard) before Hamby herself, fittingly, made the final two-point shot.

With the upset from last night’s second game, many fans are chomping at the bit to see these two teams, specifically the Vinyl, face off tonight in the championship. While many officials are saying that it’s the Rose’s game to lose, Teresa Weatherspoon and the Vinyl are ready to go toe to toe with some of the best, hoping to lock down the first-ever Unrivaled championship title. There has been overwhelming success with this league, and hopefully, tonight’s finals could attract even more engagement than we’ve seen so far. Tune in tonight on TNT, TruTV, or Max at 7:30 PM to see which team will head into the beginning of the WNBA season victorious.