Napheesa Collier, Chelsea Gray and Kayla McBride named to All-Unrivaled first team
Napheesa Collier, Chelsea Gray and Kayla McBride named to All-Unrivaled first team
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Sabrina Ionescu explains Unrivaled league provides new opportunities in women's basketball
New York Liberty's Sabrina Ionescu explains Unrivaled, a new league founded by WNBA players, provides opportunities for players to continue to better themselves.
MEDLEY, Fla. — Napheesa Collier, Chelsea Gray and Kayla McBride were named First Team All-Unrivaled, while Rhyne Howard, Angel Reese and Skylar Diggins-Smith were named Second-Team All-Unrivaled on Thursday as the women's basketball league approaches the final weekend of its inaugural season.
Collier – a league co-founder with Breanna Stewart of the Mist – led the No. 1 seed Lunar Owls to a 13-1 record during the regular season while leading the league in scoring at 25.7 points, 2.0 steals and 1.4 blocks per game.
Collier is also a favorite to win Unrivaled MVP, and a frontrunner for Unrivaled defensive player of the year. Both awards, along with the Unrivaled coach of the year award, will be announced later this week.
McBride was Unrivaled's second-leading scorer at 22.2 points per game for the Laces, who finished a 7-7 record and the No. 3 seed in the postseason.
Gray led Unrivaled with six game-winning shots and 5.4 assists per game, while her 21.3 points was third in the league for the Rose.
Gray and Reese were instrumental in the Rose's five-game winning streak after a 1-4 start, securing the No. 2 seed in the Unrivaled playoffs with an 8-6 record.
Reese's second-team honors comes as she was one of three players (along with Collier and Stewart) to average a double-double during the Unrivaled season.
Reese averaged 13.1 points, but led the league with 12.1 rebounds per game. She also produced the first 20-20 game in Unrivaled history, when she had 22 points and 21 rebounds against the Lunar Owls on Feb. 21.
Howard was fourth in Unrivaled scoring with 20.5 points per game, while being in the Top 5 in steals and blocks, helping the Vinyl secure the fourth and final playoff spot.
Diggins-Smith, also of the Lunar Owls, is second in Unrivaled with five-game winning shots, 4.8 assists and 1.5 steals per game, while her 17.9 points ranked ninth in the league. Along with Collier and Allisha Gray, Diggins-Smith helped form arguably the best starting lineup in Unrivaled's first season.
Four of the six Unrivaled teams were represented in the first- and second-team awards – the Mist and Phantom did not have a representative.
Unrivaled players, head coaches and assistant coaches, along with 19 media members submitted votes for All-Unrivaled teams. The voted were weighted: The players' vote was 40%, coaches 35% and media 25%.
The Unrivaled two-day postseason begins Monday with two semifinal games: The Rose will face the Laces in the first game at 7:30 p.m., while the Lunar Owls will face the Vinyl in the second game. The semifinal winners will advance to the Unrivaled championship game Tuesday.
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