The Rose Basketball Club will face one of their biggest obstacles in earning an Unrivaled playoff spot when they take on the Lunar Owls on Friday.
The Rose sit in third place in the Unrivaled standings at an even 4-4 record. They are just one game ahead of the Vinyl and one game behind the Laces. The remaining two teams, the Mist and the Phantom, are tied in last place with records of 2-6. The Vinyl will face the Mist in the latter half of Friday's Unrivaled matchups, giving them the opportunity to boost their spot in the standings and tie with the Rose should they fall to the league's best scoring squad.
The Lunar Owls are averaging a league-leading 81.4 points per game behind the efforts of several key scorers. Forward Napheesa Collier, who proved to be one of the WNBA's best scorers last season, is leading the Lunar Owls and the league with an astounding 29.3 points per game. She has logged 30 points or more on four occasions during the Unrivaled season, including a season-high 38 points just before the start of the 1-on-1 tournament. Guard Courtney Williams, a former Sky guard who started in all five games of this year's WNBA Finals, will be a player Sky fans can look out for on the 8-0 Lunar Owls.
The Rose, who prevailed against the Vinyl last Tuesday, lead the league in rebounds per game behind the efforts of forwards Angel Reese and Azura Stevens. Reese, who stood out as the WNBA's rebounding leader during the Sky's 2024 campaign, is one of five players averaging double-digit rebounds in Unrivaled's inaugural season. It will be up to the two bigs, along with the scoring of guard Chelsea Gray, to keep the Lunar Owls at bay and continue their fight for a spot in Unrivaled's first-ever playoff series.
The Rose will tip off against the Lunar Owls at 7:15 p.m. EST on Friday. The game will be broadcast on TNT.