Arike Ogunbowale chips in as Mist beat Phantom for Unrivaled crown

arike ogunbowale scored 19 points off the bench as Mist defeated Phantom 80-74 in the Unrivaled championship Wednesday night in Medley, Fla., a game highlighted by Breanna Stewart’s 32-point performance and a decisive free throw after a review.

Arike Ogunbowale’s bench spark in a tight 80-74 final

Ogunbowale’s 19 provided crucial scoring support for the Mist in a game that never featured a lead larger than seven. Breanna Stewart finished with 32 points and was named championship game MVP, while Kelsey Plum carried Phantom with 40 points on 14-for-21 shooting; Allisha Gray added 12 for Mist and Kiki Iriafen had 13 for Phantom.

Stewart’s late surge and the overturned call decided the title

Stewart set the tone by scoring Mist’s first 12 points of the second half and finished with four rebounds, four assists, two blocks and two steals. The finish was controversial: an offensive foul on Stewart was overturned to a block on review, giving her a free throw to seal the win. Stewart made the shot, confetti fell from the roof, and the Mist celebrated an 80-74 victory.

Unrivaled rules and how the final played out

The league’s fast-paced format — a 3-on-3, full-court game played on a 72-foot floor with an 18-second shot clock and 7-minute quarters — shaped the championship. The title game reached an untimed final quarter in which 11 points are added to the leading score to set the end-of-game target; on Wednesday the first team to 79 would have won the game. Mist took control in that period by scoring the first six points and building a 12-point lead before Phantom rallied.

Mist, co-founded by Stewart and Napheesa Collier, will split a $600, 000 winners’ pool for the championship. The teams entered the playoffs as the top two seeds — Phantom 1, Mist 2 — and the game was tied 43-43 at halftime and 24-24 after one quarter.

What comes next

The Unrivaled final could be the last professional women’s game in the U. S. for a while: the WNBA’s next season is slated to start in about two months, and the league has told the players’ union it needs a labor deal by this coming Tuesday if the season is to begin on time. For now, Mist leave Medley with the 2026 Unrivaled title and Stewart’s MVP performance as the headline.