Athletes Unlimited / Basketball

A Phenomenal Finish to Season Four of AU Pro Basketball

- by LaDarius Brown

All things considered, Season Four of AU Pro Basketball in Nashville has been quite successful. Fans loved seeing the best talent play in some amazing games. Also, seeing plenty of history along the way added to the excitement. Great news for fans in Nashville is that Season Five will be back in the Music City in 2026. Back to Season Four, here is a recap of the final two doubleheaders as a champion was crowned.

Game 21: An Offensive Display in AU Pro Basketball

In this contest, guard Tyasha Harris and Team Purple faced fellow guard Odyssey Sims and Team Orange. Each team won a quarter in the first half, with Team Sims winning first and Team Harris second. It was a 49-44 score in favor of the Purple team. Both squads tied with 26 points apiece in the third quarter as Team Purple maintained a 75-70 lead entering the final quarter of play.

Despite winning the fourth by a margin of 27-25, Team Orange fell to Team Purple by a score of 100-97. Here, Harris’ team became the third team this season to reach the 100-point plateau. Also, it was the fifth game of Season Four decided by a margin of five points or fewer.

Maya Caldwell took home MVP 1 honors with 26 points, six rebounds, and three steals. It was her second game of the AU Pro Basketball season with 20+ points. As for Sims, she won her eighth Game MVP honors as the MVP 2, scoring 32 points with six boards.

Teammate Isabelle Harrison won MVP honor No. 20 of her AU Pro Basketball career as the game’s MVP 3. Harrison scored 27 points with eight rebounds, a season-high in points.

Guard Kia Nurse added 17 points for Team Sims while four other players scored 10+ points besides Caldwell for Team Purple. Harris had 17 points as fellow guards Rebecca Harris and Kiara Leslie put up 11 and 15 points, respectively. What’s more, forward Alissa Pili finished with 14 points.

Game 22: A Back-and-Forth Matchup that was Golden

Here, Team Blue, led by guard Crystal Bradford, competed against Team Gold and forward Maddy Siegrist. This game saw each team win two quarters each, with Team Blue getting the first and the fourth and Team Gold the second and third quarters.

It was a 37-35 first half score in favor of Team Siegrist, but they would outscore Team Bradford by a score of 42-39 in the second half, winning the game 79-74. Once again, another game decided by five points or less.

Siegrist found herself winning another Game MVP as she was the MVP 1, scoring 25 points on 46.7 % shooting from the field. Additionally, she continued her streak of double-digit games. Guard Lexie Brown led Team Bradford with 24 points en route to being the MVP 2, her ninth straight game with 10+ points.

Bria Hartley was the MVP 3 as the guard scored 13 points with six rebounds. Shey Peddy added 11 points in 20 minutes of action as forward G’mrice Davis scored 15 points.

Despite the loss, Bradford notched a double-double with 13 points and 13 rebounds, her 15th such performance of her AU Pro Basketball career. For Team Siegrist, both Elizabeth Williams and Taj Cole hit double-digits in rebounds with 12 and 10, respectively.

Game 23: Fans in Attendance were Seeing Double

The next-to-last game in Season Four saw Team Harris (Purple) and Team Bradford (Blue) looking for a second win. In another close one, it was a score of 39-38 at halftime with Team Blue up. The second half was close, a 45-40 margin that saw Bradford’s squad get the win 84-78 over Harris’ team.

For her second consecutive game, Caldwell was the MVP 1 as she put up 26 points with six assists. R. Harris got the nod for MVP 2 as the guard scored 19 points.

To the surprise of a few, Bradford got another double-double with 24 points and 14 boards, her 10th such effort in Season Four. It’s important to note that Bradford now has 300 rebounds in her illustrious AU Pro Basketball career, just the second player all-time to reach the mark. She would also take home MVP 3 honors.

Brown and her 11-point and four-assist game for Team Bradford helped her eclipse the 10K mark all-time in win points. Guards Dyaisha Fair (12) and Kierstan Bell (11) along with Davis (10) were in double figures in points. For Team Purple, Sydney Colson scored 10 points with four dimes as she surpassed 300 assists in her career for AU Pro Basketball.

Game 24: The Closing Game of Season Four

Without question, the final game of AU Pro Basketball this season was between Team Orange (Sims) and Team Gold (Siegrist). This contest saw Team Orange take control of the first half as they were up 52-33 on Team Gold. However, Siegrist and Team Gold made a charge in the second half as they outscored the Orange squad 47-31. All in all, Sims’ team hung on for the 83-80 win, getting their lone win of the week.

Sims yields another Game MVP 1 honor as she scored 24 points on eight-of-12 shooting from the field. Nurse took home MVP 2 honors for Team Orange with 16 points and five rebounds in the win. Lastly, Hartley got MVP 3 honors with her 26 points and eight assists in the loss for Team Gold. Siegrist scored 10 points with 11 boards and E. Williams 12 points and four boards.

As for Team Sims, Harrison got a double-double with 16 points and 12 rebounds while forwards Alysha Clark (11) and Asia Taylor (10) reached double figures.

The Champion of Season Four Is…

It was a two-player race to become champion, but Siegrist edged out Sims by 457 points as she is the Season Four Champion of AU Pro Basketball. Her 7,052 is the most accumulated final point total in the history of the league.

The Dallas Wings forward was a captain for three of the four weeks and had the most consecutive Game MVPs. After finishing No. 12 on the leaderboard last season, Siegrist can now call herself a champion.

Sims finished in second place for the second straight season as Bradford was third and Caldwell placed fourth. That is a wrap on Season Four of AU Pro Basketball as the champion is crowned. Thank you all for coming on the journey and let’s do this again same time next year.

You can follow me on Twitter. Also, follow Beyond Women’s Sports for more from the world of sports.

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About LaDarius Brown

I'm LaDarius Brown and I'll forever love the Seattle Storm and Sue Bird is my forever GOAT. Big time lover of wrestling and my love for women's sports is lifelong. P.S. I'm a UConn WBB fan (that's a secret between just you and I)

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