The lights turned off as purple and blue confetti began to fall from the rafters. The Mist BC players met near half court, jumping up and down as they celebrated winning the 2026 Unrivaled Championship.
The Mist BC defeated the Phantom BC 80-74 in the final to claim the throne and join the Rose BC as the only two clubs to win an Unrivaled title thus far.
As Mist BC forward Breanna Stewart settled into her press conference seat, her teammate, Mist BC wing Arike Ogunbowale, approached the microphones and referred to Stewart as the “greatest player in the WNBA.”
Stewart then responded by calling Ogunbowale clutch and asking her if her name was “Marchike,” alluding to Ogunbowale being a reliable player under pressure, especially in the notable month of March, when the women’s NCAA college basketball tournament takes place. Ogunbowale has numerous game-winning buzzer beaters in this tournament, most notably in 2018, when she did it back-to-back in the Final Four for Notre Dame.
Her first buzzer-beater came in the semifinals game against the UConn Huskies and her second in the National Championship game against Mississippi State. Ogunbowale’s composure in these big moments led her to win her alma mater its first title since 2001.
Her same clutch impact has now been carried over to Unrivaled. Ogunbowale showed up big for the Mist during the postseason, scoring 21 points during the semifinals in Brooklyn, NY and 19 points in the championship game.
Stewart shines on all levels
By capturing the Unrivaled title, Stewart added another accomplishment to her resume — winning a championship at every level of basketball.
Stewart has won two New York Class AA state titles in high school (2011, 2012 with Cicero), four NCAA championships (2012-2016 with UConn), three WNBA championships (2018 and 2020 with the Seattle Storm and 2024 with the New York Liberty), three Olympic gold medals (2016, 2020, 2024) and now her first Unrivaled championship.
“I think I pride myself on being a winner and continuing to kind of uplift and build a space for all players, and that’s what I’m really excited about,” Stewart told reporters after the championship win. “Unrivaled has been a tremendous success from year one to year two, but to be on top, crowned as the champions, it doesn’t feel any better. I think that at halftime, I was like, I’m not celebrating if we don’t win, there’s nothing to celebrate if we don’t win. … We were not going out, and we wanted to just leave it all on the line, it was tied at halftime. We came in, [head coach] Zach [O’Brien] gave a speech at halftime … And we came out and knew that the third quarter was important, and really played for each other.”
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Championship game recap
At the start of the game there was a lot at stake for both teams, the only two to miss last year’s postseason. The first half was a tight back-and-forth game with neither team having a lead larger than three points.
But at halftime, something seemed to change for the Mist. Stewart accredits the vibe shift to rumored comments made by their opponents, saying that they play hard against every team except the Phantom.
It is unclear if this was brought up during halftime or not by Mist BC head coach Zach O’Brien after Stewart jokingly brought it up during the press conference.
“No big message,” O’Brien told reporters when asked about what his message was to his team at halftime. “I think the character in this group and the winning mentality, the winning history in this group. I think they’ve seen every situation they know how to close these games. So I’m just proud of them and happy they could get it done.”
In the third quarter, the Mist went on a 12-2 run singlehandedly fueled by Stewart which put them up double-figures over the Phantom.
In the fourth quarter the lead continued to grow but the Phantom did not go away. Rather, the Phantom went on a 12-4 run of their own to cut the lead back down to four.
Stewart was able to close the game out by drawing a foul from Phantom guard Tiffany Hayes and making the game-winning free throw.
“Somebody ran into me when I was on the free throw line,” Stewart said postgame. “But I think the first thing that I thought of when we won was just like, we deserve this. We’ve been tested, we’ve gone through things, we’ve lost games. We got punched in the mouth in Brooklyn. But this group, we don’t we don’t ever waver. Our confidence doesn’t waver, and it doesn’t matter if we’re down 20 or up 20, we’re just going to still play hard every single time.”
Stewart’s standout performance ultimately led her to win the tournament’s Most Outstanding Player (MVP) award.
Phantom fall without Boston
With the Phantom falling short and Stewart playing the way she did, it is nearly impossible not to wonder what impact Phantom BC forward Aliyah Boston would have made if she was never placed on the injury list.
Boston was ruled out prior to the Unrivaled playoffs with a right lower-extremity injury after the Phantom’s 72-68 win over the Rose BC. Thus, the Phantom were without their second leading scorer, who also earned Unrivaled 2026 Defensive Player of the Year honors. This season Boston averaged 18.9 points, 9.7 rebounds and 2.1 blocks, making her absence well felt by the Phantom, especially when it came to guarding Stewart, who finished with 32 points in the championship game.
“And we’re down AB, it’s an all-Unrivaled player, all-WNBA player, Defensive Player of the Year,” Phantom BC guard Kelsey Plum told reporters postgame. “Obviously, you saw tonight, there was some breakdowns and I think AB fills the gap right, offensively and defensively. And it was tough man, you know, you got to give them a lot of credit.
“I thought in particular, Stewie was phenomenal,” Plum continued. “And Arike, their whole team, … made big plays, and AB has been our anchor defensively all year. That’s kind of where we’ve hung our hat on. She does an incredible job of being able to guard, … guard bigs, rebound the ball. I thought we missed her a lot tonight.”
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Plum concludes first Unrivaled season
After the game, Plum became emotional during her press conference following her team’s result of not being able to finish the job.
This season was Plum’s first season in the league after she chose to forfeit her roster spot on the Laces BC last season and sit out. She had cited the reason as a need for personal time after the 2024 WNBA season.
“I don’t know. I don’t know,” Plum paused and looked down getting choked up a bit. “Sorry, it kind of stings. It’s kind of fresh on my mind. But, overall it’s hard when it ends like this … it was an amazing season, and [we] really just had an amazing group, coach leading the way. I think our chemistry, that’s kind of what I learned, how important chemistry is, and how important it is to have everyone firing at all cylinders and really just having a team.”
Emotions ran high throughout the championship match, with Hayes displaying them late in the game after being called for a foul that ultimately led to Stewart sealing the game. The Phantom BC tried to challenge the call, which they thought should have been called an offensive foul, but the referees didn’t overturn the original ruling.
Phantom Head coach Roneeka Hodges was asked about the officiating and players emotions, but said that the team’s focus remained the same throughout the season.
“You know what, I don’t want to get into that,” Hodges told reporters. “For me, my message is always the same. I’m always proud of my team. I’m always proud of the resilience that we show, the way that we fight. Today we fell a little bit short, but I’m not going to get into what the refs did or what the refs didn’t do, because for me, it’s been the same situation all season.”
Despite the team not being able to win the game, Hodges was still proud of the group and their continued efforts to fight, even when the score started to separate in the second half.
“I’m incredibly proud of my team, the way that we built this thing, the run that we went on, the camaraderie that we have, the product that we put on the floor,” Hodges said. “Today we didn’t have the result that we wanted, … but I’m proud overall.”
Season recap
This season was filled with debuts, record-breaking attendance and game-winners as Unrivaled expanded into other markets, making stops in both Philadelphia and Brooklyn.
Unrivaled drew 21,490 fans at its first official league tour stop in Philadelphia, setting attendance records for a professional women’s basketball regular-season game, a professional basketball game at Xfinity Mobile Arena, and any event in the venue’s history. This season also introduced two new clubs — the Breeze BC and Hive BC — both of which gained popularity quickly.
One of the seasons surprises came when Angel Reese signed with the Rose BC, making her return to Unrivaled after not initially being announced for the league’s second season.
The league also hosted its second annual one-on-one competition, where Mist BC guard Allisha Gray and Rose BC guard Chelsea Gray battled for the crown. C. Gray eventually won after a physical three-round final to take home the $200,000 prize.
Unrivaled further expanded opportunities for younger players with the debut of their player development pool, which featured, Hailey Van Lith, Aziaha James, Haley Jones, Emily Engstler, Laeticia Amihere and Makayla Timpson. Some players quickly made their presence felt, including James, who scored a season-high 23 points and added seven assists in the Hive BC’s final regular-season game.
Unrivaled by the numbers
Unrivaled also major growth beyond the court, with an increase of merchandise sales, fan engagement and higher ticket demand, ultimately boosting the value of the player equity pool.
The Unrivaled content team grew, engaging even more creativity and producing more content, as staff followed players’ every move. In response, the social media following across all league accounts was up 37% from last season.
Viewership peaked at 314,00 during the championship, marking it as the third most-watched Unrivaled telecast in league history, trailing only last years one-on-one tournament championship and the title game between the Rose BC and the Vinyl BC.
Unrivaled saw an even higher demand for merchandise in its second season, as total sales increased by 130%. The clubs that generated the most revenue during merchandise sales were the Breeze BC, the Phantom BC and the Rose BC.
Additionally, the top five selling jerseys this season belonged to, Breeze BC guard Paige Bueckers, C. Gray, Plum, Phantom BC wing Natasha Cloud and Laces BC guard Jackie Young.
The demand for fans to watch Unrivaled live increased as they sold 249% more tickets than season one. Ticket revenue rose 204% year over year, fueled by expanded seating at Sephora Arena, increasing capacity from about 850 seats to more than 1,000.
Unrivaled’s tour stops, Philly is Unrivaled presented by Xfinity and the Unrivaled Semifinals in Brooklyn, also increased ticket revenue with an attendance of 21,490 at the former and 18,261 at the latter.
The Philly is Unrivaled tour stop generated $1 million in ticket sales and $400,000 in merchandise sales, while Brooklyn topped that with $1.1 million in ticket sales and $405,000 in merchandise revenue.
The leagues salary cap saw a significant jump increasing by 115% from season one to season two, with the overall cap landing at $21 million this season.
The players, who continue to be the largest shareholder group in Unrivaled, saw their equity pool increase in value by 290%, growing from $30 million in 2025 to over $120 million.
With the growth the league has seen this year and the success from both tour stops, Unrivaled plans to expand their reach even further next season with multiple tour stops across new markets. As the league continues to build momentum on and off the court, it shows promising signs for the future of the players, fans and the continued growth of women’s basketball.
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