Napheesa Collier and Breanna Stewart might be business partners in Unrivaled, but when it comes to their relationship outside of the 3×3 league, it’s pure competition. “Everything was on pause. There was no talk of the business. …We were locked in on our separate teams,” the 28-year-old said, describing their equation.

And as competitors, it’s only natural that losing would make one not too happy with the situation, to put it mildly. Particularly given that the Finals should’ve been the cherry on top of a career-defining year for Collier—a season where she firmly established herself as one of the biggest stars in women’s hoops.

Unfortunately, what happened was anything but. And the Lynx star had no problem agreeing she is a sour loser, and that loss is still close to her heart. “I mean, I’ll just never forget it. You know it was my first like really hard loss in my career, especially when you feel like it was like unfair, whatever it was. It’s, I feel like its something hard to get over,”  she explained during her appearance in Bleacher Reports’ Taylor Rooks X.

If you have closely followed the WNBA Finals and Phee’s response to it all, then you would know that she and head coach, Cheryl Reeve, have been enraged at the “unfair” officiating errors which they believe are partly responsible for them not winning the title. And unsurprisingly, many of those calls happened in key moments.

Just take the infamous Game 5 call for example. In the final seconds, Lynx forward Alanna Smith was called for a foul as Breanna Stewart drove to the basket—a call that sent the game to OT. Minnesota challenged the foul, but it was upheld, and the Libs capitalized, pulling away for a 67-62 win to claim the championship. Even LeBron James weighed in, tweeting, “I’m sorry but that wasn’t a foul!”

In fact, throughout the series, Stewie shot 31 free throws as compared to Collier’s 14! The math isn’t mathing, wouldn’t you say?

Well, speaking to Taylor Rooks, Napheesa Collier made it clear that she had no intention of apologizing for being unable to get over the tough loss. However, instead of letting it fester, the veteran forward is making sure to polish her game further. “I’m honestly not going to apologize for that. I’m a competitor I want to win. I shouldn’t get over that. I should use it as fuel, which is exactly what I’m doing.”

Phee even said that it’s a reason why Unrivaled was created. No, we’re not talking about selfish interests here. Being on the losing end, especially after the kind of season Collier had, is not a position any competitive athlete would want to be in. And ultimately, the 4x WNBA All-Star is exactly that—a competitor.

Her partner, Breanna Stewart, isn’t any less of one either. And when a dominant pair like Stewie and Phee decide to leave their on-court rivalry on the court, an initiative like Unrivaled is birthed. But there just might have been one more reason for its creation.

Despite rivalry, Napheesa Collier and Breanna Stewart were on the same page

The 4x WNBA All-Star and her husband, Alex Bazzell, had the idea about the league two years ago. The first person they shared with was none other than the Liberty star. Once Stewie heard the idea, she was all in because of her past experiences of playing in the different overseas leagues.

“I was like, ‘This is amazing because I’ve played overseas a lot. I’ve been in China, Russia, and Turkey, and now a way to really be home and be appreciated!'” Stewart said, her excitement clear. “The timing is also very perfect for where we are in women’s sports. But to have this done, ready to go in two years, what an incredibly quick timeline. But also, I’m really excited to be here.”

They had two years to pull it off, and they did exactly that.

Napheesa Collier and Breanna Stewart managed to bring in top players from the W, for their 3×3 league. Plus, they were able to pull in sponsors like Samsung, Miller Lite, Sprite, State Farm, Wayfair, and Sephora. Phee might consider herself a sour loser on the court, but off the court, she has a shrewd business sense.

And as she noted, Phee can use it to “better herself” along with the rest of the players and “hopefully … do a different outcome for the future.”