Brittney Sykes hits game winner to help Rose beat Vinyl in the Unrivaled championship game

MEDLEY, Fla. (AP) — Chelsea Gray came to Unrivaled with a mission.

The veteran Las Vegas Aces guard suffered a foot injury in the 2023 WNBA finals that sidelined her part of last season. When she came back, she felt overlooked by some. Underestimated by others.

Unrivaled's inaugural 3-on-3 women's basketball season was Gray's chance to finally put that injury behind her.

“Last year was hard, man,” she said. “It was rough. Even when I came back (during the WNBA season), I still wasn’t 100%. I just put the work in. And then I talk after winning. I don’t talk before then. So I had a little chip on my shoulder.”

Gray was named playoff MVP on Monday night after helping her team Rose BC beat Vinyl in a thrilling Unrivaled final. She averaged 28.5 points in two postseason games, including 39 points in the semis.

Each player on the championship-winning club received $50,000 — part of Unrivaled’s goal of compensating its participants more than almost any other professional women's sports league. Unrivaled, founded by Napheesa Collier and fellow WNBA star Breanna Stewart, has the highest average salary for players of any pro women’s sports league, with many earning six-figure salaries.

Brittney Sykes had 21 points for Rose on Monday and drew an and-1 on the last play of the game that set up her game-winning free throw.

Unrivaled games are played with three seven-minute quarters and an untimed fourth. Teams play to a “winning score” determined by adding 11 points to the squad that is leading after three quarters.

Monday’s target score was 62, and Sykes went to the line with the Rose leading 61-54. Gray finished with 18 points and eight assists. Azura Stevens added 19 points and 18 rebounds. Rhyne Howard led Vinyl with 22 points and six rebounds.

Rose played the game without one of their best players. Angel Reese was sidelined for the playoffs because of a hand injury.

Six teams of 36 of the best players in the WNBA played during the eight week regular season. And there were plenty of memorable moments.

The Chicago Sky’s sensational rookie guard Reese recorded the first 20-point, 20-rebound game in Unrivaled history on Feb. 21. Washington Mystics rookie Aaliyah Edwards shined in Unrivaled’s midseason 1-on-1 tournament. She upset her Mist teammate Stewart, who was a No. 1 seed, in the first round en route to a runner-up finish.

Gray dominated in Sunday’s semis, scoring 39 points and the game-winning 3-pointer to send Rose past the Laces into the final.

And perhaps the biggest moment of the season: Dearica Hamby’s Vinyl squad stunned the Unrivaled MVP Collier and her heavily favored Owls in the semifinal round, which Hamby punctuated by nailing the game-winning layup over Collier.

Unrivaled Commissioner Micky Lawler said she was pleased with the league's inaugural campaign. She said next season will likely continue with six teams, but expects the league could expand to other markets beyond Miami in the future. More than 20 players are already under contract for the next two seasons, according to Unrivaled President Alex Bazzell.

“We’re going to look at areas of improvement that we could make within what we delivered this season,” Lawler said. “Starting a league is hard, and running it is also hard. And so we had to stay focused on delivering this, here, now. And then we can start to think beyond.”

The league brought plenty of stars to Miami. Olympic gold medalist and WNBA champ A’ja Wilson, Miami Heat great Dwyane Wade and Gabrielle Union, tennis star Frances Tiafoe and broadcaster Robin Roberts were all in attendance to watch Monday’s final.

Comedian and actress Wanda Sykes, former U.S. women’s national soccer team captain Alex Morgan and former NBA All-Star Steve Nash were among other big names who showed up throughout the season.

Leading up to its launch, Unrivaled raised more than $35 million from various sources and dozens of individual investors, including Stephen Curry, Dawn Staley, Geno Auriemma and Coco Gauff.

AP WNBA: https://apnews.com/hub/wnba-basketball

Rose guard Brittney Sykes, left, drives forward defended by Laces guard Tiffany Hayes, in their Unrivaled 3-on-3 basketball semifinal, Sunday, March 16, 2025, in Medley, Fla. (AP Photo/Rebecca Blackwell)

Rose forward Azura Stevens, left, battles for the ball with Laces guard Ariel Atkins in their Unrivaled 3-on-3 basketball semifinal, Sunday, March 16, 2025, in Medley, Fla. (AP Photo/Rebecca Blackwell)

Vinyl wing Rhyne Howard (10) shoots around the defense of Lunar Owls wing Allisha Gray in their Unrivaled 3-on-3 basketball semifinal, Sunday, March 16, 2025, in Medley, Fla. (AP Photo/Rebecca Blackwell)

Vinyl forward Dearica Hamby goes up for the game-winning basket past Lunar Owls forward Napheesa Collier in their Unrivaled 3-on-3 basketball semifinal, Sunday, March 16, 2025, in Medley, Fla. (AP Photo/Rebecca Blackwell)

Lunar Owls forward Napheesa Collier holds her trophy after being named Unrivaled's Most Valuable Player, ahead of the Unrivaled 3-on-3 basketball semifinals, Sunday, March 16, 2025, in Medley, Fla. (AP Photo/Rebecca Blackwell)

Vinyl guard Jordin Canada makes her move around Lunar Owls guard Skylar Diggins-Smith in their Unrivaled 3-on-3 basketball semifinal, Sunday, March 16, 2025, in Medley, Fla. (AP Photo/Rebecca Blackwell)

Former basketball player Dwayne Wade, center, and actor Gabrielle Union, right, cheer as Rose defeats Laces in an Unrivaled 3-on-3 basketball semifinal, Sunday, March 16, 2025, in Medley, Fla. (AP Photo/Rebecca Blackwell)

Rose guard Brittney Sykes (20) drives for the basket defended by Laces forward Alyssa Thomas (25) in their Unrivaled 3-on-3 basketball semifinal, Sunday, March 16, 2025, in Medley, Fla. (AP Photo/Rebecca Blackwell)

Rose guard Chelsea Gray powers past Laces guard Ariel Atkins in their Unrivaled 3-on-3 basketball semifinal, Sunday, March 16, 2025, in Medley, Fla. (AP Photo/Rebecca Blackwell)

Rose guard Chelsea Gray celebrates scoring the game-winning basket against the Laces in their Unrivaled 3-on-3 basketball semifinal, Sunday, March 16, 2025, in Medley, Fla. (AP Photo/Rebecca Blackwell)

MIAMI GARDENS, Fla. (AP) — Coco Gauff shrugged her right shoulder and chuckled a bit Monday at the notion that she seems to elicit concern from others when she goes through a two- or three-match losing streak — a rough patch in the course of a long season.

“Sometimes when I don’t do well, people think there’s something personally wrong with me,” Gauff said on the eve of the Miami Open, where the women begin main-draw play on Tuesday and the men get started Wednesday.

Bow out early at one event or two — or drop a trio of outings consecutively, as she did at the Australian Open, Qatar and Dubai in January and February — and fans or former players will ask the 2023 U.S. Open champion, who just turned 21 last week, whether she's OK.

“I'm like, ‘I just lost a couple of matches! I’m chillin’,’” said Gauff, who has a first-round bye because she is seeded No. 3 at the hard-court Masters 1000 event and will get started by taking on another past Grand Slam champion — Petra Kvitova or Sofia Kenin — in the second round later in the week.

“I'm obviously not happy with those past results, but it's one of those things that, in the history of my career, I've had ups and downs. I still feel like I have a couple more years ... (to reach) that point where every week is a great week, I guess,” said Gauff, who is based not far from where the Miami Open is played. “I'm also in the middle of changes in my game; it's been difficult."

She's spoken frequently about those switches, which began with adjusting her coaching staff after last year's U.S. Open and also included adapting her serve — with a particular eye on shoring up second serves so as to avoid double-fault issues — and her forehand.

It's been clear ever since she burst onto the scene as a 15-year-old qualifier at Wimbledon in 2019, beating seven-time major champion Venus Williams along the way to reaching the fourth round, that Gauff's backhand is nothing if not elite, while her forehand is the shot that opponents tend to go after.

The American's most recent match was a three-set loss to Tokyo Olympics gold medalist Belinda Bencic at Indian Wells, California, in the fourth round last week. Afterward, Bencic spoke about what her thinking was at 4-all in the final set.

“I felt like she was more tense,” Bencic said about Gauff, “so I felt like that was the right time to go for her forehand.”

Gauff called the event held over the next two weeks at the stadium used by the NFL's Miami Dolphins as her “home tournament.”

She's 6-5 in Miami and has not made it beyond the fourth round there.

No matter what others might say to her, or about her, after setbacks, Gauff doesn't like to harp on it too much — even if she expects more from herself, too.

That's what comes with being ranked as highly as she is. And with having won Grand Slam titles in singles and doubles, along with the season-ending WTA Finals last year.

“I will say that it is tough, sometimes, when everyone is (saying), 'Oh, (lost) two matches in a row,’ and things like that,” she said Monday. "Because if I wasn’t a top-five player it wouldn’t, probably, be a conversation. That comes with being at the top. You’re expected to win. And I expect myself to win, as well.”

FILE - Coco Gauff, of the United States, holds up the championship trophy after defeating Aryna Sabalenka, of Belarus, in the women's singles final of the U.S. Open tennis championships, Sept. 9, 2023, in New York. (AP Photo/Frank Franklin II, file)

FILE - Coco Gauff of the United States returns a shot to Yuliia Starodubtseva of Ukraine during the women's singles quarterfinals match of the China Open tennis tournament, at the National Tennis Center in Beijing, Oct. 3, 2024. (AP Photo/Achmad Ibrahim, file)