How the WNBA champion led her team to the Unrivaled championship game
MEDLEY, FL-- Through 19 games, the Lunar Owls were nearly perfect. They took the inaugural Unrivaled season by storm, going 18-1 ahead of the Semifinals Sunday at Wayfair Arena. Many assumed they would play in Monday's championship game and even hoist the championship trophy.
Dearica Hamby and the Vinyl Basketball Club had other plans.
"I thought I was gonna have a clear right-hand layup because I hadn't been super aggressive the entire game," Hamby told media postgame Sunday after sinking the game-winning layup to defeat Lunar Owl BC 73-70.
"I didn't think she was gonna think that I was gonna keep it, and I kept it– kind of broke the play– and went right, and she kind of jumped it, and I went back left."
Hamby score 10 of her16 points in the second half, supporting Rhyne Howard's team-leading xx point performance. Head coach Teresa Weatherspoon found it fitting the xx-year WNBA veteran had the ball in her hands for the last play.
"I think everybody in here knows what she's meant to this team. She's done so much this entire season here at Unrivaled that it was the best thing that could happen was for her to finish this game," Weatherspoon said.
"She's valuable in many, many ways. Her voice is powerful. When she speaks, everyone listens. When she steps on the floor, she gives every ounce of energy that she has. And she's a conductor out there."
Although Hamby dropped the game-winning bucket, the team member of the game was given to Weatherspoon herself.
"We actually talked about this in the locker room– we give a microphone to a player at the end of a win and we actually gave the microphone to Spoon today."
Weatherspoon joined Unrivaled after being unceremoniously let go by the Chicago Sky after one season. She vocalized her disappointment in that decision.
After overcoming the shock and hurt behind a decision she says she "didn't see coming,"and Unrivaled has helped Weatherspoon remain in the sport she loves, and perhaps to also heal.
"It has been refreshing for me," the Naismith Hall of Famer told Ros Gold-Onwude on Good Follow.
On Sunday, Weatherspoon added, "They know what this entire time of being together has meant for me ... and for them to do that for me, they're probably the only ones who know what I go through. They're probably the only ones. But for them to do that for me means a lot."
Vinyl BC toppled the top team in Unrivaled despite a 36-point performance from MVP Napheesa Collier. Weatherspoon's unwavering belief in the team helped propel them to victory. Although Vinyl BC felt they were considered underdogs all season, those limited beliefs never entered the locker room.
"We never stopped believing in ourselves. We just kept going, like I said. It was led by Spoon night in and night out; every practice, just continuously believing in us and continuing, like pouring faith in us and saying like, this is a she kept saying she had a vision, she had a vision. So, it kept us going," Hamby said.
Neither Weatherspoon nor Hamby would share the details of the vision, but we know Weatherspoon is a woman of faith, and Vinyl BC often plays Gospel music during portions of their practices.
Weatherspoon and Hamby will lead their team up against a worthy and often overlooked Rose BC team for the first-ever Unrivaled Championship on Monday night.
Both teams are missing key players due to injury. Angel Reese and Kahleah Copper were been sidelined for Rose BC while Arike Ogumbolwale was misisng for Vinyl. All three are listed as out ahead of the championship game.
Rose BC leads the regular season head-to-head 2-1. Undoubtedly, Weatherspoon will have to game plan for Chelsea Gray, who dropped 39 points in the first semifinal against Laces BC despite feeling under the weather.
Nevertheless, Spoon's team will be ready.
"We're ready now," Weatherspoon told Black Rosie Media Sunday night. "We're getting ourselves ready now. We haven't done anything yet."
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