Breeze just got back to business right after their Saturday night blowup by Vinyl. And this time, Paige Bueckers wasn’t the only one who was burning hot on the paint.

The Unrivaled week started with a Monday showdown between Breeze and Mist. And Breeze had landed an 83-64 win. Bueckers ran with a career-high 37 points, 8 rebounds and 5 assists.

But the former UConn star doesn’t think that the credit goes to her completely. And in the postgame interaction, she made that very clear.

“Really as a team, we’re just trying to set the tone. I think, from each game, you can learn something. I think as a team we’re very intentional about how we started the game, that really set the tone for what it looked like for us the rest of the game”, Bueckers added.

And this whole learning-from-each-game matter draws back to the last game. When Vinyl handed Breeze an 81-66 loss. Bueckers managed 25 points, 8 rebounds and 7 assists.

Dominique Malonga came up with 13 points and 9 rebounds. And Rickea Jackson also racked up 13 points. However, that wasn’t nearly enough to stop Vinyl that day.

But things were different against Mist. Bueckers' stats are crisp, but the roster also played some nice ball. Malonga came down with a double-double of 16 points and 15 rebounds. Jackson added 10 points and 7 assists. Cameron Brink was fresh off the bench with 18 points and 6 rebounds.

The chemistry was off the charts. And for Bueckers, the team performance meant something more than an individual career high.

“It’s really funny just how naturally it happened, and organically we just clicked — to really come together and form a family bond that quick, it doesn’t happen often in professional sports, and it’s not something that we take for granted”, Bueckers said.

But Where Did Things Go Wrong for Mist?

Mist’s Allisha Gray managed 20 points and 4 rebounds. Breanna Stewart recorded a double-double with 26 points and 11 rebounds. Whereas Arike Ogunbowale scored 12 points. But that’s about it. The rest of the roster, including Veronica Burton and Alanna Smith, had a combined 6 points. Bueckers’ Dallas Wings’ mate Li Yueru only did as much as 1 defensive rebound.

And that simply couldn’t do anything against Breeze’s Roster today. Especially with Bueckers in it. However, Mist has played 5 games in this season and only lost twice. One was the 64-61 against Phantom, and now, 83-64 against Breeze.

As for their next game, Mist will play Lunar Owls on January 26. Will they be able to recover the winning stat this time?

Written by

Deblina Roy

Edited by

Oajaswini Prabhu