MEDLEY, Fla. — Napheesa Collier of the WNBA’s Minnesota Lynx took residence $200,000 on Friday after she beat Washington Mystics ahead Aaliyah Edwards within the ultimate of Unequalled’s 1-on-1 match.
The winner’s examine was the biggest one-day prize in girls’s basketball historical past, Unequalled commissioner Micky Lawler mentioned, a giant payday that was among the many targets of Collier and fellow WNBA star Breanna Stewart once they based the 3-on-3 league.
Unequalled provides WNBA gamers alternatives to compete in america and earn good salaries — an particularly enticing choice for gamers who for years suited up abroad within the offseason to complement their revenue.
Gamers earn a median wage of greater than $220,000 through the eight-week season, which is near the utmost base wage within the WNBA.
“My entire WNBA salary is what I just got in 30 minutes of playing 1-on-1,” Collier mentioned. “Which is insane to even say. And same for (playing) overseas. A lot of people, this is their full contract, so you’re playing seven months for this kind of money.”
Collier, a No. 1 seed within the 30-player match, gained the best-of-three sequence 2-1 over the eighth-seeded Edwards to change into Unequalled’s first 1-on-1 champion.
Every sport between the previous UConn standouts was performed to a successful rating of 8, with Edwards coming from behind to take the opener and Collier successful the ultimate two.
Collier’s 5 Unequalled teammates every obtained $10,000 from the match’s $350,000 prize pool. Edwards bought $50,000 for reaching the ultimate.
Collier hopes girls’s basketball can embrace the 1-on-1 format.
“You see guys or boys playing in the parks — like pickup or one-on-ones, and you don’t see that on the women’s side as much,” she mentioned. “So that’s something we’re trying to change, just that atmosphere where everything’s not as organized basketball, but just playing in your backyard or at the park.”
The win capped a dominant match run for Collier, who performs for Unequalled’s Lunar Owls and leads Unequalled in scoring at 29.3 factors per sport.
Earlier Friday, Collier overwhelmed former UConn teammate and No. 6 seed Azura Stevens of their semifinal matchup.
Collier scored the primary eight factors of the sport and the reigning WNBA Defensive Participant of the Yr relied on stifling protection to win 11-2.
Collier breezed previous Katie Lou Samuelson within the first spherical earlier than successful a bodily second-round battle towards Rickea Jackson.
She then beat her Lynx and Lunar Owls teammate Courtney Williams to succeed in the semifinals.
She shot her well beyond Edwards within the decisive Recreation 3, making 4 of 6 photographs and holding Edwards scoreless.
Edwards, who performs for Mist in Unequalled, beat two top-seeded opponents on her option to the ultimate, cruising previous No. 1 seed Arike Ogunbowale 11-2 within the first semifinal matchup earlier Friday.
Earlier than that, she shut down No. 1 seed Stewart 12-0 within the opening spherical. After incomes a second-round bye, Edwards topped third-seeded Allisha Grey 12-6.
Ogunbowale and Stevens gained $25,000 every for reaching the semifinals. Rounds as much as the finals had been single-elimination and performed to a successful rating of 11. All video games had conventional scoring, with every basket value both two or three factors.
The 22-year-old Edwards is getting ready for her second season with the Mystics and hopes her efficiency Friday exhibits how laborious she’s been working to enhance.
“I’m proud of myself. No one could take that away from me,” Edwards mentioned. “All the work I put in. I was able to just showcase that and kind of let everyone know that, you know, I’m not one to play with.”
Collier famous that the physicality of some matchups left lots of gamers gassed through the match, which is one thing she mentioned may very well be addressed subsequent season.
She’d like to see the same occasion for NBA gamers.
“It’s up to the players if they want to do it,” Collier mentioned. “You’re putting your name on the line. You’re putting your reputation on the line. It’s a vulnerable situation. So again, I really commend everyone who competed in this because … anyone can win.”
