Nashville Natives Isabelle and Dorie Harrison Return Home to Play in AU Pro Basketball

Sisters Isabelle Harrison and Dorie Harrison are coming home to Nashville for Athletes Unlimited Pro Basketball, as the Nashville Municipal Auditorium will host the league’s fourth championship season this winter. The 24-game campaign will run from February 5 – March 2, 2025. With a four-week competition promoting playoff-level intensity in every game, AU Pro Basketball features world-class talent – during the 2024 season, 29 of the 40 players had WNBA experience – competing to be crowned individual champion. 

A former University of Tennessee standout (2011-15), Isabelle Harrison finished third on the 2022 AU Pro Basketball leaderboard and was the league’s inaugural Defensive Player of the Year. Harrison was drafted with the 12th overall pick in the 2015 WNBA Draft by the Phoenix Mercury, and played the 2024 WNBA season with the Chicago Sky. She helped lead the Lady Vols to the NCAA Elite Eight three times in her four years at Tennessee, earning SEC Tournament MVP honors in 2014 and finishing her college career with 31 double-doubles, the sixth-most in the program’s illustrious history. She has the distinction of being the final WNBA player to have been coached by Tennessee legend Pat Summitt. 

“Since finishing my career at the University of Tennessee, I’ve always felt there was a need for a professional women’s league in the state of Tennessee,” Isabelle said. It may not be in Knoxville, but what better place to bring such an amazing league than Nashville! I’m looking forward to the turnout and so excited for the city to experience what AU Pro basketball is all about!”

Dorie Harrison made her AU Pro Basketball debut in 2024. A three-year letter winner at Nashville’s Lipscomb University after transferring from Kentucky following the 2018-19 season, she completed her college career with 563 points and 377 rebounds over 71 games. She led the Bison and ranked fourth in the Atlantic Sun Conference with 7.3 rebounds per game during the 2020-21 season, and was a member of the 2021 Atlantic Sun Championship All-Tournament Team. A four-year starter at Hillsboro High School in Nashville, she led the team to a district championship her senior year. 

“Nashville is where we grew up, and experienced many battles and championships. My family and friends are a big part of my ‘why,’ so the excitement is indescribable,” Dorie said. “It’s an honor to play the game I love in front of the people I love the most. God is doing something big in Nashville and it starts with AU.” 

Group and season ticket deposits for the upcoming season are available now at AUProBasketball.com. The rest of the 40-player roster, as well as the full schedule for the 2025 AU Pro Basketball season, including broadcast information, game dates, and times will be announced at a later date. 

Athletes Unlimited Pro Basketball was the first winter pro women’s basketball league to launch in the United States when it started in 2021. It innovated around the idea of providing an ability for WNBA players to stay in the U.S. during the offseason while also providing playing opportunities for elite pro players not currently on WNBA rosters. 

AU Pro Basketball features a range of scoring innovations to bring athletes and fans a unique and intense version of the sport, while featuring a traditional full-court,  five-on-five format. Individual athletes earn points based on both team wins and individual performance to become the champions in team sports. Points are earned on every play and the leaderboard changes constantly. In addition, teams change each week with the top four athletes in the standings serving as captains and drafting their teams. At the end of the four-week season, the player with the most points is crowned as the league’s individual champion.

Previous seasons of AU Pro Basketball took place in Las Vegas (2022) and Dallas (2023 & 2024). Guard Allisha Gray claimed the 2024 AU Pro Basketball title, joining forwards NaLyssa Smith (2023) and Tianna Hawkins (2022) as league champions. 

AU Pro Basketball is part of Athletes Unlimited, which was named one of Fast Company’s Most Innovative Companies in 2023 and features an Advisory Board comprised of an illustrious group of high-profile contributors from the worlds of sports, business, and entertainment including basketball legend Sheryl Swoopes, two-time NBA champion and entrepreneur Kevin Durant and Rich Kleiman of 35 Ventures; and U.S. Women’s National Soccer Team superstar Abby Wambach, among many others.