The second week of Athletes Unlimited Pro Basketball saw more dominance from WNBA vet Tina Charles and Odyssey Sims. In fact, the latter was named captain ahead of Week 3 — but let’s look back on what went down during Week 2 first.
Wednesday games
The first match of the night was between the Glow and the Rhythm. The Glow coasted to a solid 110-89 win thanks to the efforts of guard Odyssey Sims, who netted a season-high 31 points and added eight assists. To no one’s surprise, Sims was awarded MVP 1 of the game, and the leaderboard featured five players from the Glow in double figures.
Sims was helped along by Sarah Ashlee Barker, who had 13 points, as well as by Kierstan Bell and Rebekah Gardner, who each had 12. Aneesah Morrow, who was in the captain role for the first time, clocked her third double-double of the season.
The night’s second game saw a strong performance from Charles, who brought in 17 points and helped the Eclipe to a 78-64 win over the Gold Rush. Shey Peddy also had a big night, and added on 14 points on 5-of-7 shooting.
Peddy told reporters after the game that the Eclipe’s chemistry was “effortless.”
“We all have, I think, at one point played with each other, especially in a league or over here, so when we got to practice, everything just flowed. We knew one another’s tendencies, [and] we’ve just been running plays that favor everybody.”
Peddy also said that this season of Athletes Unlimited has given her the opportunity to be more assertive on the court than she was during the 2025 WNBA season with the Indiana Fever. “I do think in some of the Indy games down the stretch, I was a little bit passive, or just too selective with my shots. So when I came here, I really wanted to just focus on letting it go.”
“My goal is to just be more aggressive,” she added.
Wednesday night’s second game also saw the return of Athletes Unlimited alum Alissa Pili, who closed out her season debut with 11 points.
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Friday games
Sims again led the Glow to a 91-80 win over the Eclipse Friday night while clocking a game-high 25 points. Sims was one of six players who racked up double figures for the Glow. The team also had big performances from Gardner, who added 14 points, Barker with 12, Natasha Mack with 11, and Bell and Emma Cannon, who each had 10.
Though the Eclipse fell short of the win, Peddy again held down the team with 19 points, seven assists, and five rebounds.
The Eclipse’s loss was also the first suffered by Alysha Clark while in the captain role in her five seasons of playing with Athletes Unlimited.
Game two was a showdown between the Gold Rush, who refused to be defeated by the Rhythm. The team closed out their opponents with a 97-86 win thanks to Kia Nurse, who had a game-high 21 points. The Gold Rush cemented the win after going on a powerful 22-6 run in the third quarter that bumped the score to 69-53 with just over two minutes left in the game.
Saturday games
The final night of week 2 saw a major performance from Mercedes Russell for the Eclipse, who fought their way back from a deficit after halftime to come up with a 97-91 win over the Rhythm Saturday night. The loss was the third straight one for the Rhythm last week.
Russell, Aaliyah Nye, and Charles were named the game’s MVPs 1, 2, and 3, respectively. Nye tallied a season-high 19 points and Charles added on another 20 points, eight rebounds, and three assists.
The Eclipse was down 47-44 when the team launched a thrilling 20-11 run to snag a 64-58 lead with just over two minutes remaining in the third.
The second and final match of the night saw a 97-79 win for the Glow — who amassed a major 56 points in the second half and finished out the week with a flawless 3-0 record. Mack lead a pack of five players who scored in the double digits (the group also included Sims, Bell, Barker, and Gardner).
With the win, the Glow became the 10th team in Athletes Unlimited history to win all three games in a week.
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A Sunday draft
Sunday February 15 saw new captains and teams named ahead of the beginning of Week 3. Sims, Mack, Gardner, and Peddy will each lead the Gold Rush, Glow, Rhythm, and Eclipse, respectively.
Sims will guide a group that includes Bell, Morrow, Kiah Stokes, Te-Hina Paopao, Bree Hall, Lexie Brown, Grace Berger, Aerial Powers, and Alaina Coates.
Mack will head up Russell, Barker, Kayana Taylor, Asia Taylor, Dorie Harrison, Jaylyn Sherrod, Kiara Leslie, Bria Hartley, and Rebecca Harris.
Gardner’s team includes Cannon, Charles, Nye, Kaitlyn Chen, Zia Cooke, Brianna Turner, McKenzie Forbes, Deja Kelly, and Isabelle Harrison.
Peddy will round things out with Clark, Pili, Kia Nurse, Teana Muldrow, NaLyssa Smith, Jacy Sheldon, Ariel Atkins, JoJo Lacey, and Sequoia Holmes.
“I feel like the brains of the team starts at the point guard. So yeah, it was a tough choice between a point guard and a post, but I do feel like, because there’s not that many posts, you can get away with playing small,” Gardner explained of her draft choices. “I don’t feel like you can get away with playing without a point guard.”
