Liberty Stars Fall to Napheesa Collier in Unrivaled Opener

New York Liberty stars were unable to withstand a fourth quarter comeback in the debut of the new 3-on-3 league.

Geoff Magliocchetti | Jan 18, 2025

Jan 17, 2025; Miami, FL, USA; Skylar Diggins-Smith (4) of the Lunar Owls drives toward the basket as Breanna Stewart (30) of the Mist defends during the first half of the Unrivaled women’s professional 3v3 basketball league at Wayfair Arena. Mandatory Credit: Jim Rassol-Imagn Images / Jim Rassol-Imagn Images

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New York Liberty

On the wrong end of the New York Liberty's first WNBA Finals win, Napheesa Collier took her revenge against two of the big stars on Friday night.

Debuting the new Unrivaled league alongside seafoam star Breanna Stewart, Collier helped guide her team, Lunar Owls BC, to an 84-80 comeback victory over Mist BC in the 3-on-3 excursion's series premiere in Miami. Mist BC features both Stewart and her Liberty teammate Courtney Vandersloot.

Collier posted a 27-point, 10-rebound double-double in the win, while Skylar Diggins-Smith sank the game-winner in an untimed fourth quarter. Stewart is her league's early all-time leading rebounder, as she pulled in 14 in defeat while Vandersloot had 11 points on 4-of-7 from the field.

On a night of firsts, Stewart appropriately got things started by sinking the first points in Unrivaled history. She and Collier founded the league in 2023 and have given way to numerous innovations both on and off the floor: numerous high-profile investors, such as United States women's soccer star Alex Morgan and NBA legend Steve Nash, took in Friday's game and every participant in the debut season will own an equity stake in the league.

Stewart struggled shooting the rest of the night (missing nine of her next time) but was happy to feed former Seattle Storm teammate Jewell Loyd and fellow Connecticut alumna Aaliyah Edwards, who staged a 12-3 run that sustained Mist for at least the rest of the debut period.

With tip-off staged on Friday, the in-game adjustments were on prominent display: trips to the foul line were shortened to one try each (each given numbered designations of one, two, or three depending on the scenario) and the fourth quarter turned off the clock and had both teams play to a target score of 84, eleven points ahead of Mist's leading tally after three.

Jan 17, 2025; Miami, FL, USA; Napheesa Collier (24) of the Lunar Owls drives toward the basket as Courtney Vandersloot (25) of the Mist defends during the first half of the Unrivaled women’s professional 3v3 basketball league at Wayfair Arena. Mandatory Credit: Jim Rassol-Imagn Images / Jim Rassol-Imagn Images

From there, however, Lunar Owls staged late game heroics to pull off the takeover: Loyd put in a successful and-one off a feed from Vandersloot to expand the lead to nine, but Allisah Gray, an accomplished 3-on-3 player in her own right after securing gold for the United States in the department at the Summer Olympics in 2021, united with Diggins-Smith to deliver the final blow.

After Edwards' fellow 2024 WNBA entrant Rickea Jackson made it a seven-point game and left Mist six points away from victory, Diggins-Smith and Gray staged a 13-2 run on their own to close things out. Gray provided the turning point by forcing a 78-all tie via another and-one before Diggins-Smith gave Lunar Owls the lead with a triple. Loyd briefly extended the game by putting back Stewart's last miss in via offensive rebound but Diggins-Smith put in the closer to ignite the first Unrivaled celebration.

Mist returns to action when it takes on Laces BC on Monday night (9:30 p.m. ET, TNT).

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Published Jan 17, 2025|Modified Jan 18, 2025

GEOFF MAGLIOCCHETTI

Editor-In-Chief at All Knicks