MIAMI — Dearica Hamby jabbed to her right, then crossed over to her left trying to weave around Napheesa Collier, searching for an open look late in Sunday’s Unrivaled semifinal contest.
Needing just two points to reach the fourth quarter’s winning score to end the game, Hamby was looking for a game winner. She didn’t want to give Collier or anyone else a chance to steal the game on the other end.
Hamby took two big steps to her left to position herself parallel with Collier — the WNBA’s reigning Defensive Player of the Year — and the basket. With all of her force, she scooped the ball into the hoop.
The shot punched the Vinyl’s ticket to Unrivaled’s championship game as they knocked off the No. 1 seeded Lunar Owls 73-70 in the biggest upset of the season. The Vinyl will face the Rose, who won Sunday’s earlier semifinal, in Monday’s final.
“We’ve been counted out this entire season,” Hamby said. “We consider ourselves underdogs but that didn’t show in our locker room. We never stopped believing in ourselves. We just kept going. It was led by [Teresa Weatherspoon] night in, night out, every practice, she continuously believed in us and continued to pour faith in us. She kept saying she had a vision for us.”
Heading into Sunday’s games, the 13-1 Lunar Owls…
