The one-on-one tournament kicked off on Wednesday, Feb. 11 at 7:00 p.m. with an approximate 15-minute window for each matchup.
The tournament rules are similar to last season’s. For those who are unfamiliar, they are as follows.
The competition follows a single elimination style in every round other than the finals with a winning-score format. Each game will either end when a player reaches 11 points or when the 10-minute clock expires, at which point the player with the higher score will win.
The game clock will be continuous with a seven second shot clock and the starting point of each game is at center court.
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Bracket shakeups
Before Unrivaled’s one-on-one tournament kicked off, the league took to social media and announced a few changes to the first round bracket matchups.
In Pod A, Lunar Owls BC guard Skylar Diggins and Laces BC guard Jordin Canada dropped out of the tournament causing Phantom BC guard Kelsey Plum and Hive BC guard Natisha Hiedeman to advance and play one another in the second round. In Pod B, development pool player Aziaha James replaced Phantom BC guard Tiffany Hayes to face Laces BC guard Jackie Young in the first round.
In Pod C, Rose BC wing Kahleah Copper and Breeze BC wing Rickea Jackson dropped out of the tournament leading to Mist BC guard Allisha Gray and Vinyl BC wing Saniya Rivers advancing to play one another in the second round. In Pod D, development pool player, Laeticia Amihere replaced Laces BC forward Alyssa Thomas to face Phantom BC forward Aliyah Boston in the first round.
Amihere later also dropped out of the competition and Boston advanced to round two where she awaited the winner of Mist BC wing Breanna Stewart and Mist BC forward Li Yueru.
First round
After all the bracket updates, the first round featured 11 matchups.
Rose BC guard Chelsea Gray and Phantom BC wing Natasha Cloud kicked off the tournament. Cloud rallied on an 8-0 run to come within a point of victory, but C. Gray hit two three-pointers to win the game and advance to the second round for the first time in her career.
The first round included several club-on-club matchups. Yueru versus Stewart, Vinyl BC Wings, Rae Burrell versus Rhyne Howard and Breeze BC guard Paige Bueckers versus Breeze BC wing Kate Martin.
In one of the most talked about matchups, Mist BC Veronica Burton faced off against Breeze BC guard Courtney Williams. Burton, who was seeded lower than Williams, hit shot after shot to secure a win.
The game lasted only one minute and 15 seconds; Williams never touched the ball. Burton’s dominant performance left Williams speechless and laughing on the sideline following her loss.
“The space. You have all the space in the world, so it just comes down to being able to guard your yard and be aggressive,” Burton told reporters regarding her favorite aspect of playing one-on-one.
Lunar Owls BC forward Aaliyah Edwards, last season’s runner-up who fell to Unrivaled co-founder Napheesa Collier in the finals, faced Breeze BC forward Dominiqe Malonga in a physical, back-and-forth matchup. Both players had chances to put the game away late, after trading attempts for two minutues, Edwards won.
As Edwards walked to center court to be interviewed after her victory she was informed that she never cleared the three-point line before her game-winning layup so the two resumed play. Fatigued, Edwards and Malonga took the floor again; Edward eventuallly secured the win and advanced.
“The competitiveness of it,” Edwards told reporters regarding her favorite part of the tournament. “I know we’re all friendly, we all work together, all colleagues, but when it comes to that money and playing one-on-one, there’s only one winner—you gotta leave it all out there.”
James, who subbed in for Hayes, impressed early as she kept the game close with recent WNBA champion, Young. Young broke away with a few back-to-back three point shots, defeating James 12-4.
Second round
The second round included a slate of eight matchups.
Plum rolled over Heideman in a dominate 12-0 win, mirroring the quick ending of her best friend Williams’ match.
Mist BC wing Arike Ogunbowale faced her WNBA Dallas Wings teammate Bueckers. Bueckers held Ogunbowale scoreless for nearly four minutes after having a 4-0 start to defeat her 12-4.
“…Arike is a really good one-on-one player in isolation—creating her own shot, getting to the rim, using her physicality, and obviously that’s my dog,” Bueckers told reporters of her WNBA teammate. “So to be able to compete against each other, we’ve been competing with each other the past year so that was really fun.”
The second round saw another WNBA teammate matchup with Young versus C. Gray. Together, Young and C. Gray, have won multiple WNBA championships with the Las Vegas Aces.
The game featured three ties during the first three minutes before C. Gray separated with a 6-0 run to win.
Rivers faced off against top seed A. Gray in her one-on-one debut. A. Gray opened the game with a three-pointer but Rivers impressively stormed back to go on a 9-0 run.
A. Gray then answered with her own 9-0 run to win the game 12-9.
“I just knew her being long—I had to protect the ball a little more and take advantage of open windows when I had them, because she’s such a great defender,” A. Gray told reporters.
Quarterfinals
Eight contestants remained with four matchups that would decide the semifinalists.
Plum topped Hive BC guard Kelsey Mitchell 11-7 in a battle of the Kelseys.
Bueckers faced C. Gray in the next matchup. Bueckers appeared frustrated at the officiating throughout the game and struggled to hit shots.
“…Me and Paige [Bueckers] play a lot alike—getting to our middy, taller guards. I’m just glad she didn’t knock down some of those jumpers that she had,” C. Gray said.
Bueckers went 1-6 from the floor as C. Gray held her scoreless during the last three minutes. C. Gray went on a 7-0 run during those three minutes to defeat Bueckers 11-2.
Edwards met Boston in a battle of the A(a)liyahs. Boston posted a shut-out win over Edwards in a game that lasted over eight minutes.
Edwards struggled to make a field goal shooting 0-5 as fatigue set in during the long matchup, scratching her dream of winning the tournament after coming up short last season.
In the fourth matchup A. Gray had a dominate win over Burrell defeating her 11-2.
A. Gray, C. Gray, Plum and Boston advanced to the semifinals. Boston and A. Gray, both former South Carolina Gamecocks, were set to meet in the next round.
“Knowing Coach Staley, she’s going to root for both of us,” A. Gray told reporters of their former college head coach, Dawn Staley.
Semifinals
This years semifinalists each earned $25,000, but competition intensified as players eyed the $200,000 winning prize pot.
In the first game C. Gray played Plum in a hard fought contest with Plum opening the game on an 8-0 run.
Just as the game seemed out of reach, C. Gray went on 12-0 run on her former Las Vegas Aces teammate to punch her ticket to the finals.
In the second game, A. Gray faced Boston, her tallest opponent of the tournament. A. Gray nearly had a shutout win beginning the game on a 12-0 run, but Boston’s size and offensive footwork helped her cut into the lead.
Boston missed a turnaround jumper, A. Gray grabbed the rebound and hit a three to save the game and advance to the finals.
Finals
The finals took on a different format than the rest of the tournament with a best-of-three series and a winning score of seven per game rather than 11.
C. Gray faced off against A. Gray in the finals. A. Gray shut out C. Gray to take Game 1, then C. Gray won Game 2, to force a decisive Game 3.
A. Gray opened Game 3 with a 6-0 run before C. Gray responded to cut the lead to two. The two players then traded baskets for over six minutes without any made attempts.
Mist BC guard Allisha Gray (15) and Rose BC guard Chelsea Gray (12) stand bent over next to each other during the Unrivaled one-on-one tournament finals at Sephora Arena in Medley, Fla., on Feb. 14, 2026. (Photo credit: Unrivaled Basketball)
A. Gray and C. Gray bent over next to each other with their hands on their knees, barely able to breathe. The referees were generous and did not call any delay-of-game violations as both players were exhausted.
“The toughest part, I wish we had two timeouts instead of one,” A. Gray said postgame. “I feel like that could be a rule that they can change in the future, especially for Game 3, just giving us two timeouts instead of one, because we both were gassed and both of us playing, what? three, four games in a row…because, I mean, those games weren’t easy. Every game was a battle to the last second.”
C. Gray finally capped off the game at nearly the eight minute mark to become the 2026 champion of Unrivaled’s one-on-one tournament.
Last season C. Gray didn’t even make it past the first round after falling to Shakira Austin 12-2.
C. Gray gave A. Gray her flowers after a hard fought battle. Both players have an immense amount of respect for one another.
“I think in general, in this world of sports, Leash doesn’t get the love and stuff that she deserves,” C. Gray said. “Dynamic player on both ends of the floor, somebody that can put up numbers quickly and in a hurry, and can score a multitude of ways. So competing against her, man, I expected nothing less.”
C. Gray wasn’t necessarily a favorite to win and she acknowledged that postgame. She has loved being able to surprise people by proving them wrong which is a trend that began when receiving criticisms of her game in the past.
A. Gray fell to Edwards in the quarterfinals 12-6, last season and reflected on her performance this year.
“I mean, it was a battle. Unfortunately, I came up short. But you can’t sat and give it my all. I mean, all credit to the point, God. I mean, she’s such a great player. And if I had to lose, at least, I lost to the Point Gawd,” A. Gray said.
A. Gray told reporters that playing this matchup helped her gain confidence in her own game. A. Gray was a 2025 WNBA season MVP candidate and is averaging 20 points per game in this Unrivaled season.
“I mean, I left with some money,” A. Gray said with a smile. “I didn’t leave with no money, so I left with something so but I’m just happy the way I competed. I think I proved a lot of people wrong, especially ones that was going against me, like we see the chatter and stuff. But I’m just glad the way I locked in. I compete to the very end.”
Angel Reese returns
Last Wednesday, Unrivaled announced the return of Angel Reese to the league. Reese has signed with the Rose BC for the remainder of the 2026 season after initially not signing to play this season.
Reese earned 2025 Unrivaled Defensive Player of the Year honors last season and helped lead the Rose to the playoffs. She sustained a hand/wrist injury in her final regular season game with the Rose last season causing her to miss the semifinals and finals.
The Rose BC eventually went on to win Urivaled’s inaugural championship.
Reese has joined the league after Breeze BC guard Aari McDonald’s right leg injury ruled her out for the remainder of the season, leaving a vacant roster spot even after the club trades involving former Rose BC forward Azura Stevens, former Hive BC wing Rivers and former Vinyl BC guard Williams.
Reese will make her season debut on Feb. 20 when the Rose BC take on the Hive BC.
Semifinals at Barclays
On Friday Unrivaled announced that the league’s semifinals will take place at Barclays Center in New York City on March 2.
Barclays Center is home of the WNBA’s New York Liberty, Unrivaled co-founder Stewart’s home arena.
The semifinals will feature two games at Barclays Center. Game 1 will begin at 7:30 p.m. ET between the lowest remaining seed and the No. 1 seed while Game 2 will begin at 8:45 p.m. ET between the highest remaining seed and the No. 2 seed.
Ally Financial will host an immersive pop-up event titled ‘Ally House’ prior to tipoff in Brooklyn. The event will include interactive experiences and special guest appearances. Unrivaled is expected to release more details on the event ahead of the semifinals.
Prior to Unrivaled revealing their semifinals destination, Stewart took to Threads earlier in the month to tease the announcement. Stewart’s Thread post stirred various speculations among fans around the internet.
Stewart had to clarify that the recent addition of Reese signing with the Rose BC wasn’t the secret saying, “Yeah, my secret still a secret.”
Both games in New York will be aired on TNT, truTV and HBO Max.
Unrivaled will return to regular games beginning tonight at 7:30 p.m. ET.
Here is this upcoming week’s schedule (all times in ET). All games will be streaming on truTV and HBO Max. Friday’s games will also show on TNT.
Tuesday, February 17
Laces BC vs Hive BC (7:30 p.m.)
Breeze BC vs Lunar Owls BC (8:45 p.m.)
Friday, February 20
Phantom BC vs Laces BC (7:30 p.m.)
Hive BC vs Rose BC (8:45 p.m.)
Saturday, February 21
Vinyl BC vs Breeze BC (8:00 p.m.)
Lunar Owls BC vs Mist BC (9:15 p.m.)
Sunday, February 22
Phantom BC vs Hive BC (7:30 p.m.)
Laces BC vs Rose BC (8:45 p.m.)
Monday, February 23
Lunar Owls BC vs Vinyl BC (7:30 p.m.)
Mist BC vs Breeze BC (8:45 p.m.)