Two games, two buzzer-beating finishes: Lace stayed unbeaten when Brittney Sykes buried the target-score three, while expansion Hive washed away an 0-3 start on Kelsey Mitchell’s last-second lay-in.
Lace 76, Phantom 75: Target-score chaos in Miami
Lace led 65-60 entering the fourth, but Kelsey Plum (25 pts, 7 ast) and Aliyah Boston (23 pts, 6 reb) flipped the script. Boston’s layup with under a minute left put Phantom up 75-73—one point from victory.
Jackie Young answered with a driving layup plus the foul, knotting the game at 75 and setting the stage for Sykes’ heroics. On the ensuing inbound, Sykes caught, set her feet, and buried the target-score three to seal a 76-75 win that keeps Lace atop the standings at 3-0.
Alyssa Thomas paced Lace with 19 points, while Sykes and Young each added 17. The victory keeps Lace tied with Rose for the league’s best record and reinforces why many picked them to contend for the Unrivaled title after last year’s 7-7 third-place finish.
Hive 78, Rose 75: Expansion blues washed away in one layup
Kelsey Mitchell took the hand-off, sliced left around a Monique Billings screen, and beat Azura Stevens to the rim for the game-winning layup that snapped Hive’s 0-3 start. The bucket pushed Hive past the 77-point target and set off the franchise’s first celebration.
Hive led 66-54 after three, but Chelsea Gray caught fire from deep, pouring in 36 points and trimming the deficit to 72-69. Mitchell’s drive—part of her 24-point, 11-for-17 masterpiece—ended the comeback and dropped Rose to 3-1, tying them with Lace atop the table.
Billings posted a double-double (12 pts, 10 reb) and rookie Sonia Citron chipped in 14, giving Hive the balanced scoring they lacked in their first three outings. The win also proves the target-score format can ignite any roster—no matter the record—into instant chaos.
What it means for the title race
- Lace and Rose are deadlocked at 3-1, setting up a potential early-season showdown for pole position.
- Phantom fall to 2-2 but showed they can erase double-digit deficits against elite competition.
- Hive’s breakthrough vaults them past 0-4 Breeze in the expansion standings and injects belief into a roster built around Mitchell’s scoring punch.
With Napheesa Collier already ruled out for the season and marquee names like Breanna Stewart and A’ja Wilson still on the horizon, every win carries added weight in the six-week sprint to the Unrivaled playoffs.
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