Recap: Gray leads team with 26 points in opening night victory again Team Hull

Gray, who finished in fourth place on the final leaderboard last year, secured the season’s first MVP 1 distinction after making 10-of-18 shots from the floor, including a 3-for-6 effort from three-point range, along with all three of her free throws. She also added nine rebounds and an AU career-high seven assists to finish with an Athletes Unlimited career-high 741 leaderboard points.

Guard Natasha Cloud followed with MVP 2 recognition after contributing 13 points with six assists and three rebounds, earning 551 leaderboard points. Center Adut Bulgak completed the MVP trio for Team Gray, scoring 12 points with six points in her Athletes Unlimited Pro Basketball debut.

Forward Theresa Plaisance led Team Hull in the loss with 15 points and six rebounds, while AU newcomers Haley Jones and Grace Berger added 14 and 10 points, respectively. Jones also grabbed a team-high eight rebounds in the loss.

KEY MOMENT

Team Gray owned a 35-30 lead at the intermission before opening the second half with a 12-3 run over the first three minutes to extend its advantage to 47-33. Team Hull closed to within 52-46 later in the frame, but was unable to get any closer.

NOTES OF INTEREST

• Team Hull initiated a captain’s challenge on an out-of-bounds play with 4:58 remaining in the third quarter, which was successful … Teams are now 1-for-1 in captain’s challenges this season.

• Team Gray tied the Athletes Unlimited single-game record with nine blocked shots in the season-opening victory … Team Harrison established the mark with nine rejections against Team Sims on February 18, 2022.

• Team Gray had all five of its starters score in double figures in Thursday night’s victory, marking the first time that has occurred since March 24, 2023, when Team Hillmon had all five starters tally 10 or more points against Team Sims.

• Team Gray also had six players score in double figures, becoming the first team to accomplish that feat since Team Hillmon had six players in its March 24, 2023, victory over Team Sims.

• Team Hull became the first team to fail to score 70 or more points in a game since February 23, 2023, when Team Cloud was limited to 66 points against Team Sims.

• Gray earned Game MVP honors for the sixth consecutive game dating back to last season, tying an Athletes Unlimited Pro Basketball record for most consecutive games with MVP notice … Guard Kelsey Mitchell established the mark with six straight Game MVP awards from February 24-March 8, 2023.

• Gray has scored 20 or more points in six of her last eight games dating back to last season … In addition, she reached the 25-point mark for the fifth time in her Athletes Unlimited career.

• Gray becomes the fourth player in Athletes Unlimited Pro Basketball history to accumulate 700 or more leaderboard points in a single game, joining Tianna Hawkins (3 times), Naz Hillmon (2 times) and NaLyssa Smith (1 time).

• Gray’s 741 leaderboard points are the most by any player in a season-opening contest in league history, surpassing the 580 points by forward Theresa Plaisance against Team Sims last season.

• Gray has now made 53 consecutive free throws over the last 12-plus games dating back to last season.

• Cloud surpassed 500 leaderboard points in a game for the sixth time in her AU career … She also notched her 25th career double-digit scoring output.

• Forward Emily Engstler set a new Athletes Unlimited single-game record with six blocked shots in the victory on Thursday night, eclipsing the previous mark of four rejections, which had been reached seven times … Engstler also added 11 points and seven rebounds in 27 minutes.

GAME MVPS

• #1 – Allisha Gray (Team Gray, +90)
• #2 – Natasha Cloud (Team Gray, +60)
• #3 – Adut Bulgak (Team Gray, +30)