AU Pro Basketball Week 4 Preview: Battle for the Title

“I’ve always prided myself on being efficient,” Villanova’s all-time scoring leader said during an interview in her first season with Athletes Unlimited Pro Basketball. “But the biggest thing (I took from college) was definitely getting hurt my first year and being able to overcome that and just knowing that you overcome that and you can overcome any obstacle that comes your way.”

Now, as she prepares for the conclusion of her second season with AU Pro Basketball and approaches her third year in the WNBA, the 24-year-old is earning well-deserved respect.

Siegrist finished Week Three as the league leader with 5,496 leaderboard points after tallying 2,029 leaderboard points last week. The 6-foot-2 sharpshooter who plays for the Dallas Wings during the WNBA season has earned Game MVP honors in all nine of her games this season, equaling the AU Pro Basketball record for consecutive games with an MVP award.

Siegrist, who owns career averages of 22.2 points and 8.6 rebounds per game in 21 contests in her two years with Athletes Unlimited, is averaging 25.6 points and 8.7 boards per contest this season.

She has been a captain for three straight weeks and led her first two teams to an impressive 5-1 record over the past two weeks while securing an impressive 20-4 record in quarters.

Siegrist’s .833 win percentage as a team captain is the highest career mark among players who have served as a captain for multiple weeks.

Her knack for being a team leader should come as no surprise, as she returned to her alma mater in October of 2023 to serve in a newly created role as Special Assistant to former Senior Women’s Administrator Lynn Tighe. Her responsibilities included the promotion, branding, and marketing of Villanova women’s basketball.

Toss in some player development and assistant coaching, and Siegrist may have found a niche as a true leader as a player and beyond.

“I definitely want to stay in the game, somehow,” Siegrist told CBS Philadelphia during an interview in January. “Whether that’s on the coaching side and I feel this is a great experience for me to stay in the States and be able to still train at the highest level and be able to get my feet in the door.”

First things first, however, before returning to Villanova to close out the Wildcats’ season and then moving on to the Wings, and that’s Week Four while staying in pursuit of the AU Pro Basketball individual title.

A look into Week Four.

POTENTIAL GAME OF THE WEEK

Team Sims vs. Team Siegrist (Sunday 5:30 p.m. CT) – It’s only fitting that the final game of the campaign comes down to the two captains who rank No. 1 and No. 2 on the leaderboard, leaving us with what might be the contest that decides the 2025 champion. Siegrist comes into Week Four leading former Wings teammate Odyssey Sims by 363 points, both outdistancing the next closest competitor by at least 1,200 points. Sims drafted an impressive trio of veterans in Isabelle Harrison, Alysha Clark, and Kia Nurse with her first three picks, and any of those players can take over a game with the hot hand. The first two games will be the tell-all if that takes away from Sims’ production toward her overall tally. Sims, who has never finished lower than sixth, has been a medalist the last two years with a third-place finish in 2023 and a second-place finish last season. Thus, Siegrist should prepare herself for a battle to the final horn. This is the game to watch.

STEAL OF THE WEEK

Guard Rebecca Harris was taken in the fifth round by captain Tyasha Harris and could prove beneficial down the stretch. Rebecca comes into the final week of the season ranked 11th on the leaderboard, up four spots from last week, with 2,950 leaderboard points. She’s only three points back from cracking the Top 10. The fourth-year Athletes Unlimited veteran has averaged just 5.2 points and 1.7 rebounds in 45 career games but is averaging 10.0 points and 3.2 boards per game over the last seven contests.

CRYSTAL’S BALL

In addition to Siegrist, Sims, and Tyasha Harris serving as captain, Crystal Bradford earned the captain’s chair for the second time in three weeks after serving as captain in Week Two. Bradford, who signed a WNBA training camp contract with the Las Vegas Aces last week, leads the league with a 12.4 rebounding average while bringing a league-best five double-doubles into the final week of the season. Bradford, who is in third place with 3,900 points, used her first three picks to grab guards, all ranked in the top 22 of the leaderboard, including Player Executive Committee chairperson Lexie Brown, who is in ninth place with 3,081 points. Bradford will also have two of her Week Three teammates on board with guard Shey Peddy and forward G’mrice Davis.

SPEAKING OF SIMS

Back for her fourth season with AU Pro Basketball, Sims is serving as a captain for the 13th time in her AU career, extending her league record. But it’s not only the basketball record books, as her mark ranks among the leaders across all AU sports. Only outside hitter Bethania De La Cruz-Mejía has been a captain in more weeks, a whopping 15 times in volleyball.

PEDDY THIEF

Sitting in fourth place behind AU veterans Bradford (260), Sims (250), and Brown (150), Peddy ranks fourth on the leaderboard with 140 points from steals. To accompany her 8.4 points, 2.9 rebounds, and 2.4 assists per game, Peddy is averaging 1.5 steals per contest this season. The former Atlantic 10 Defensive Player of the Year set Temple’s all-time record for single-season steals with 104 as a junior. Quite the career thief on the basketball court, it comes as no surprise Peddy listed “Law & Order: SVU” as her favorite TV show on her WNBA bio page.

W.G. Ramirez is a 38-year veteran sports reporter in Southern Nevada, serving as a correspondent for Athletes Unlimited. Follow him on X at @WillieGRamirez