Breanna Stewart Sees Unrivaled Victories in More Ways Than One

Earning the championship game MVP award for Mist BC was but one victory in Breanna Stewart’s Unrivaled eyes.

Stewie had to simmer for a while but it perhaps made the Unrivaled championship brew taste that much sweeter.

(Photo by Leonardo Fernandez/Getty Images)

Breanna Stewart‘s already-crammed trophy case will have to find some space, as two sizable pieces of hardware are about to join the fold: behind a 32-point effort, 20 alone coming in the second half, Stewart guided Mist BC to the second championship hosted by the domestic three-on-three league she co-founded with Napheesa Collier. A game-winning, two-point free throw sealed the deal, serving as the capper of a performance that granted Stewart game MVP honors.

Mist’s 80-74 win over Phantom BC is the latest title on Stewart’s decorated resume, which has also been feted by the NCAA Tournament, the WNBA, the Olympic Games, and international pro leagues.

“I’m feeling a lot of emotions,” a euphoric Stewart said in the aftermath. “I think that I’m really happy to be able to win here, especially [with] how last year went. The Misties were not as good but also playing through injury. Being healthy and being back playing [is huge] but really happy to just win for my teammates.

“A lot of them talking about, what do we do? Like, when do I get the goggles? Like, how do I spray the champagne?” Stewart said with a laugh. “That moment of winning when you feel that the first time, you don’t forget it, and then you want to keep feeling it so I’m really happy that I was able to kind of share that with them.”

Any Unrivaled triumphs for Stewart are essentially to serve as icing on her three-on-three cake: hints of the league’s staying power continued to manifest with a packed semifinal showing at her other professional home of Barclays Center in Brooklyn, which will likely lead to more pins in the league’s map. This time around, Stewart gets to enjoy such gains with accompanying outputs on the floor.

Stewart Wins Unrivaled Finals MVP

As Stewart implied in her statements, the original edition of Mist dealt with its share of injuries during the first go-around. Stewart, forced into surgery herself after the season, did what she could to withstand the medical storm though it wasn’t enough to muster a playoff berth. Further growing pains beyond 30 also surfaced, such as a shutout loss to then-Mist teammate Aaliyah Edwards in the debut 1-on-1 Tournament.

BREANNA STEWART HITS THE GAME-WINNING FREE THROW. MIST ARE THE @Unrivaledwbb 2026 CHAMPS pic.twitter.com/uKB8fU4nQf

— TNT Sports U.S. (@TNTSportsUS) March 5, 2026

This time around, Stewart kept things rolling in both basketball and business affairs: she averaged a near-double-double at 22.2 points and 8.8 rebounds and tied Kelsey Plum for the most game-winners brought about by Unrivaled’s propensity to play to a target score. Saving the best for last was all part of the repertoire for Stewart.

In the two Mist playoff games, she scored 33 second-half points. In Monday’s semifinal comeback in front of a supportive home crowd, Stewart fought off two members of Breeze BC to grab a crucial rebound that eventually made its way to the hands of Arike Ogunbowale. While the former South Bend sinker handled game-winner honors that night, Stewart took advantage of a flipped review to sink the fateful freebie that saw her immediately mobbed by Misties.

Unrivaled Shows Major Growth in Second Season

Stewart engaged in this latter tour further burdened with a headlining role on the players’ side of WNBA collective bargaining agreement. Progress has proven fleeting on that end but Stewart couldn’t help but bask in the culmination after her Wednesday win.

“I think what this league has proved about itself is obviously from the business aspect,” Stewart noted. “You see the money, the numbers, everything going up. But also you see the level of play from year one to year two. You see people being aware of how to play the game, how to get your buckets, how to score, how to do all these things.

“We’re invested, we put everything on the line to kind of go out there and do what we do best, and it’s a competitive bunch of players. Shoutout to all the players that came here to be a part of this, and really shoutout to the fans, whether we’re here at our home base or we’re in Brooklyn, or we’re in Philly, people continue to show up and support us, and that doesn’t get lost on any of our minds, because without them, we wouldn’t be here.”

Even with that, however, the thrill of personal victory was chasing Stewart as she and the Mist engaged in a narrow battle with Plum’s ghost gang. Had Mist fallen short on the scoreboard, Stewart made it clear she wasn’t going to fulfill the role of objective executive afterward.

Stewie’s Leadership With Mist BC

The possibility never came to pass, much to the delight of her celebratory “Misties.” Stewart offered the nickname “Marchrike” for the clutch Ogunbowale and offered the overseas-bound Alanna Smith a last hurrah before she fulfills her international duties.

“I think I pride myself on being a winner and continuing to kind of uplift and build a space for all players. That’s what I’m really excited about,” Stewart said of her league’s progress. “Unrivaled has been a tremendous success from year one to year two, but to be on top, crowned as the champions, it doesn’t feel any better.

“We wanted to just leave it all on the line,” the current New York Liberty forward said, lauding her work with former metropolitan collaborator Zach O’Brien in the effort that broke ties after the first two periods and gave Mist control of the target score. “It was tied at halftime, we came in, Zach gave a speech at halftime. He didn’t want to say it, but we know what he said, and we came out and knew that the third quarter was important, and really played for each other.”

The grind, perhaps not shockingly, won’t stop for Stewart: as the labor continues on the WNBA side, Stewart is set to add red and white to her blue by rejoining the American women’s national team at its FIBA Women’s World Cup Qualifying Tournament in San Juan. Following a brief camp in Florida, the proceedings get underway next Wednesday against Senegal (4:45 p.m. ET, TruTV/HBO Max).

Geoff Magliocchetti is on X @GeoffJMags