The rise of Women's Basketball is more than just exciting. Fans are becoming obsessed with the growth, finding new stars in the making, new teams to rally behind, and new ways to enjoy the sport they love.
With the hype ever growing, Xfinity Mobile Arena played host to the increasingly popular 3-on-3 Unrivaled League this past Friday, and the tour stop was far more than just a showcase of elite talent.
Not only did the event set a new record for a women's regular-season basketball game, with 21,490 filling the arena, but it was also the highest attendance ever recorded by the venue.
This was the first time since 1998 that a professional women's basketball game took place in Philadelphia, and it's safe to say that a city already jubilated over the recent WNBA expansion announcement, embraced the Unrivaled tour with open arms.
Two games took place on Friday, after a day with the Phantom sneaking past the Breeze, and the league's currently last-placed Lunar Owls beating the Rose.
One star truly stood out — Marina Mabrey of the Lunar Owls, who put up a stunning 47 points, the most by a player in Unrivaled history, along with 10 three pointers, which was also a new league record.
Unrivaled, a 3-on-3 league in its second season, has struggled to turn heads in comparison to the WNBA since its inception, but that all changed when a city rich in basketball history played host to two exciting games in front of a stacked arena, showing just how high the ceiling truly is.
The league was founded by both three-time WNBA Champion Breanna Stewart and five-time WNBA All-Star Napheesa Collier. The two decided that a 3-on-3 league during the WNBA offseason would not only provide more financial opportunity to players, but give them a way to retain fitness, continue to develop, and build the sport organically throughout the country.
With the main hub being in Florida, this marked the first time that the league ventured to new territory, and if this past Friday was anything to go by, it won't be the last time that Philly fans get to see some of the sport's top stars in such a unique and exciting setting.
