Hive BC head coach Rena Wakama has assembled a bunch of girls with loads to show because it enters Unequalled play.
“Bienvenidos a Miami,” girls’s basketball.
A few of the sport’s best are taking their abilities (again) to South Seaside because the second season of Unequalled is about to tip off on Jan. 5.
Co-founded by Napheesa Collier and Breanna Stewart and backed by a lauded group of traders, Unequalled is a home three-on-three league that may and is supposed to host extra localized offseason endeavors for gamers who’ve made their names within the WNBA. Many acquainted faces are making their means again to the motion, which is able to briefly make its strategy to Philadelphia, whereas others will be part of the fray for the primary time.
In anticipation of tip-off, Ballislife takes a take a look at every of the eight squads in a devoted evaluation. Subsequent up within the unveiling is Hive BC, the latter of two enlargement golf equipment set to start play this 12 months …
The Group: Hive BCThe Debut: Enlargement TeamThe Coach: Rena Wakama
The Group
—Monique Billings—Sonia Citron—Natisha Hiedeman—Ezi Magbegor—Kelsey Mitchell—Saniya Rivers
There are “show it” offers, after which there’s working with Hive BC: except Kelsey Mitchell (2018, 2nd total) and Sonia Citron (2025, third), no WNBA lottery picks reside within the honeycombs.
Wakama is used to guiding unbelievable new causes: her earlier head teaching expertise noticed her information the Nigerian girls’s nationwide basketball staff that stole the present on the 2024 Olympics in Paris. That landed her the “Finest Coach” Olympic honor from FIBA in a discipline that featured Sandy Brondello. Rachid Meziane, Cheryl Reeve, and Lisa Thomaidis. The grinding aura that allowed the D’Tigress to change into the first-ever African staff of both gender to advance to a ringed knockout spherical was on show when Wakama assembled her squad.
Sonia Citron, Kelsey Mitchell Headline Hive BC at Unequalled
Even Citron and Mitchell, every making their respective Unequalled debuts (although the latter did play three years on the Athletes Limitless circuit), have overcome some latest doubts: Citron’s choice would possibly’ve been overshadowed by Paige Bueckers being one of many picks in entrance of her, however she made a reputation for herself on the creating Washington Mystics. Invitations to each Group USA’s preliminary Olympic coaching camp and her Unequalled invite have saved her busy this offseason.
Mitchell basically took over Indiana Fever operations after a plethora of accidents took out her fellow headliners, and her efforts dragged Indianapolis to the doorstep of the WNBA Finals. It received to some extent the place her physique virtually actually shut down on her, however Mitchell labeled herself wholesome and ready as she and the remainder of the Hive touched down in South Seaside.
Elsewhere in Wakama’s secure of fighters, defensive standouts of each the seasoned and recent selection ought to shrink house, because the tenured second-round selection Billings unites with Rivers, who made a tenacious identify for herself amidst the Connecticut Solar’s chaos. The record is rounded out by the dependable abilities of Magbegor (recent off a EuroLeague title with USK Prague) and Natisha Hiedeman, who will look to take a bounce-back 12 months with the Minnesota Lynx in as a carry-on.
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The Highlight’s On: Natisha Hiedeman
Hiedeman’s contributions to the hardwood social sphere as one half of the favored “StudBudz” content material duo (the opposite, Courtney Williams, is repping Vinyl) did wonders for ladies’s basketball and the tradition that surrounds it. Her extra standard contributions ought to draw equal consideration shifting ahead.
Wakama’s seek for stable two-way abilities created a pure draw to Hiedeman, who resumed her standing as a sterling depth star for WNBA-leading Minnesota. Hiedeman improved in virtually each main class from the 12 months prior, and he or she complemented her defensive antics with a better shot choice that noticed her tie her career-best in scoring and shoot over 54 % from two-point vary.
As soon as a strolling, respiratory case for WNBA roster enlargement, Hiedeman has now established knowledgeable residency irrespective of what number of groups take the ground, as evidenced by her Unequalled invite. Now comes the duty of proving she deserves to remain.
Firmly entrenched within the Lynx’s present set-up, Hiedeman now has an Unequalled basis to work with: she joined Phantom simply earlier than final 12 months’s tip-off and likewise took the ground with the Laces.
They Stated It
“I need to rise up and down. I need to disrupt defensively. I used to be purposely drafting gamers that purchase in on each ends of the ground. I am trying ahead to taking part in with an up-tempo tempo, a disruptive defensive system, and, clearly, scoring loads of baskets … Numerous the gamers I drafted had been type of missed of their course of sooner or later. They type of play with a fireplace, an edge about them, and that is what who I’m too, as properly. Lots of people do not suppose I needs to be on this spot, or on this seat. However, by the grace of God, I have been capable of claw my strategy to the place I’m right now. So I wished to verify I drafted gamers with comparable backgrounds.”—Wakama on her staff.
“I really feel nice. I really feel tremendous. I feel I simply had a, hopefully, once-in-a-lifetime expertise, so hopefully I haven’t got to expertise anymore. I feel I did play till the wheels fell off, actually. However I feel it was for the higher. Due to what our season was, I might do it yet again.”—Mitchell on her well being and returning to motion after the painful finish to this Fever season.
Hive BC: Outlook
Earlier than Santa Claus received to the Island of Misfit Toys, it seems Wakama made off with fairly a haul.
Hive does not have the stacked trophy circumstances or All-Star Sport appearances its counterparts could have, however that is no slight to its buzzers, who could provide a big sting as soon as it is time to take the ground. Wakama’s gritty effort on show within the Olympics (which has since made its strategy to the WNBA as a Chicago Sky assistant) ought to mesh properly with the group she has in-built Miami and provides her a superb alternative to make a press release to the basketball world as she seeks a head teaching job that can final her greater than 10 weeks.
The three-on-three sport has typically marketed itself as an offensive explosion as a consequence of its comparatively open flooring, and Unequalled is probably no exception to that pattern. Hive can discover success in its first 12 months by defying that narrative, and it has introduced within the authors of some stunning basketball twists in latest reminiscence to assist them decide up a cussed pen.
Schedule
Hive BC Schedule
Date
Opponent
Approx. Time (ET), TV
January 5
Mist
1 p.m., TruTV
January 9
Breeze
8:45 p.m., TNT/TruTV
January 11
Vinyl
8:45 p.m., TruTV
January 16
Rose
8:45 p.m., TNT/TruTV
January 18
Phantom
8:45 p.m., TruTV
January 24
Laces
8:45 p.m., TruTV
January 26
Lunar Owls
7:30 p.m., TNT/TruTV
January 31
Mist
4:30 p.m., TruTV
February 2
Vinyl
7:30 p.m., TNT/TruTV
February 6
Breeze
7:30 p.m., TNT/TruTV
February 17
Laces
7:30 p.m., TNT/TruTV
February 20
Rose
8:45 p.m., TNT/TruTV
February 22
Phantom
7:30 p.m., TruTV
February 27
Lunar Owls
8:45 p.m., TNT/TruTV
Earlier Previews
Breeze BCGeoff Magliocchetti is on X @GeoffJMags
