AU recap: Team Williams sweeps week with three wins, Team Sims sweeps Sunday game with four quarter wins

Odyssey Sims (first place on leaderboard through Week 1, 1,583 total points), Isabelle Harrison (second, 1,520), NaLyssa Smith (third, 1,405) and Naz Hillmon (fourth, 1,380) will be the captains for Week 2 of Athletes Unlimited 2023. Week 1 team Team Courtney Williams finished 3-0 with an 89-75 win over Team Taj Cole Sunday afternoon at Fair Park Coliseum in Dallas, while Team Odyssey Sims swept all quarters vs. Team Natasha Cloud en route to a 91-64 triumph.

Harrison played for Team Williams during Week 1 and led all total scores on Sunday with 685. That was with winning three quarters, not the four that Team Sims players won. Harrison dropped 27 points on 12-of-17 shooting from the field. The 70.6 percent performance was the main reason for her high total points, as she only had three rebounds. She did add three steals and was named Game 5 MVP.

The next three highest total point-getters on Sunday were all on Team Sims: Sims (650), Kelsey Mitchell (628) and Smith (606). Sims got to 650 without being named first or second MVP (she was third). She had 19 points and 12 assists for her third straight points-assists double-double and barely missed out on a triple-double with eight rebounds.

Mitchell had 21 points on 5-of-9 shooting from distance and three steals, earning her MVP 1 honors. Smith (MVP 2) was good for 24 points and 12 boards.

The second and fourth quarters were only won by Team Sims by three and six points, respectively. Veronica Burton (441 total points) was clutch in the fourth, hitting from mid-range with 2:33 remaining to put Team Sims up one in the quarter. She then assisted a Sims layup and knocked down a three to increase the quarter lead to six with 1:06 to play. Team Cloud’s G’mrice Davis was determined to make something happen in the final minute and Smith was called for a block on Davis’ made layup with 48 ticks left. However, the call was challenged and reversed to a charge, swinging individual points in Smith’s favor and taking Davis’ points off the board.

Burton managed to get to 441 with all the win points, plus five points, five rebounds, three assists, the one three and only one miss from downtown and only two misses from the field.

Air Hearn of Team Williams matched Burton with 441 total points. She had 12 points on 4-of-7 shooting from the field to go along with six boards and three swipes.