Be Phee: How Unrivaled's Lunar Owls Are Making Napheesa Collier Proud

Lunar Owls BC is hoping to make Unrivaled co-founder Napheesa Collier proud in absentia as it reaches the Philadelphia landmark.

PHILADELPHIA—Though the Speaker is out of commission, parliament is still in session for Lunar Owls BC.

(Photo by Rich Storry/Getty Images)

Daylight has come a little too soon for the Lunar Owls, who have fallen from their Unrivaled perch with franchise face and league co-founder Napheesa Collier still working off the aftershocks of an ankle injury endured during the WNBA Playoffs.

Entering the Unrivaled’s Philadelphia showcase, the Lunar Owls (1-6) round out the eight-team ledger but will have a chance to start making things right in the latter half of a Delco doubleheader against defending champion Rose BC on Friday night at Xfinity Mobile Arena (9:15 p.m. ET, TNT/TruTV).

Trying to get out of such a predicament has a simple solution: be Phee.

“We can’t always control the outcomes,” fellow Lunar Owl Marina Mabrey said of Collier during pregame build-up on Friday. “We can’t control that. We’re not playing with her this season, and so on and so on. But we’re not using that as an excuse, because Phee wouldn’t do that. So we’re just taking on that identity a little bit.”

Napheesa Collier Leads WNBA CBA Negotiations Amid Injury

Collier, of course, has kept hooting as both a vice president of the WNBA Players Association, currently engaged in tight negotiations over a new collective bargaining agreement, and as the Lunar Owls captain. She is on hand in the City of Brotherly Love, armed with a mobile scooter, to take in Unrivaled’s first non-Floridian foray.

The Lunar Owls she left behind praised the way she has taken on personal oversight while continuing to deal with Unrivaled day-to-day expectations.

“Phee prides herself on going out there and being prepared, being a professional, and she’s great at making other people around her better,” lauded Mabrey. “She’s one of the ultimate competitors in our league, aside from her ability to put the ball in the basket at an elite league level.”

“For me, especially being a young player, it’s great to have [Collier] alongside of me in practice, on the bench,” added Aaliyah Edwards. “She’s a great voice, a great leader. She’s told me that I’ve made her proud. As long as I get that recognition, I feel good about myself.”

With Collier out, the Lunar Owls are partly headlined by Skylar Diggins, who is flanked by rising talents Aaliyah Edwards and Temi Fágbénlé, as well as reliable veterans Rebecca Allen and Rachel Banham. The initial departure of Collier yielded some alarming results, as they lost their first four by an average deficit of just under 20 points.

It was a far cry from last winter’s inaugural run, which saw the Lunar Owls post a near-perfect season before falling victim to a first-round playoff upset to the Laces.

Our Monday was made just a bit better when we remembered how Mabrey absolutely finessed the Lunar Owls to their first win of the season! Who was your superhero team this last weekend?#Unrivaled #truTV #TNTSports @UnrivaledWbb pic.twitter.com/tgB6dd5OCS

— truTV (@truTV) January 26, 2026

Aaliyah Edwards, Marina Mabrey Shine for Lunar Owls BC

Hints of redemption have broken through the pitch-black, Collier-less night: the Lunar Owls broke through at the end of the second week of play with a 68-57 win over Vinyl BC in Miami, one that saw Mabrey break loose for 31 points (including the three that provided the win). They returned to the loss column in last week’s doubleheader, but that pair of defeats came by a combined eight tallies.

“I think just our resilience right now [is making her proud],” Edwards said. “We’re last in the standings, but I feel like our record doesn’t show our pursuit and how competitive we are within the games. I feel like we’ve had an upscale trajectory of just getting better each and every game and winning each quarter.”

Edwards is perhaps one of the more intriguing faces left on the Lunar Owls, as she’s using a return to Unrivaled to help overcome a rollercoaster sophomore season in the WNBA. It has paid off so far to the tune of an averaged double-double (21.7 points, 13 rebounds) while shooting over 57 percent from the field.

In perhaps another sign of maturity, Edwards has also found the bright side to the lack of Collier, jokingly noting that she’s ready to step up in the upcoming 1-on-1 Tournament now that the only combatant who got the best of her in the inaugural edition is out of the picture.

“It’s going to be fun. Phee’s not in it,” Edwards said with a smirk. “So it’s looking good for me.”