Recap: Team Hillmon fends off Team Sims to claim overtime victory

Eric Rhew

Mar 11, 2023

DALLAS — One of the signs of a good team is how it responds with the game on the line. Team Hillmon (1-1) showed how good it can be by overcoming a late comeback attempt from Team Sims (1-1) to secure a 91-85 overtime victory to close out Friday’s Athletes Unlimited Basketball doubleheader at Fair Park Coliseum.

Guard Natasha Cloud claimed MVP 1 honors in the victory after scoring 10 of her 18 points in the fourth quarter and overtime periods. Cloud finished with a game-high 399 leaderboard points, moving up the league standings by six spots.

Forward Jasmine Walker followed with the MVP 2 distinction after posting 385 leaderboard points. The Alabama product led Team Hillmon with 19 points on 6-of-11 shooting from the field, including a 5-for-7 showing from beyond the arc, while chipping in six rebounds.

Guard Kierstan Bell authored a double-double in the loss for Team Sims to receive MVP 3 commendations. Bell netted 19 points with 10 rebounds and dished out five assists to finish with 382 leaderboard points.

Guard Odyssey Sims paced Team Sims in the loss with a game-high 25 points with four rebounds and four assists.

KEY MOMENT

Team Hillmon broke an 83-all tie in the extra session with eight consecutive points, including a three-pointer by Walker and a traditional three-point play by Cloud, to claim a 91-83 advantage with 1:23 remaining in the overtime period. Forward Lydia Rivers hit two free throws with 27 seconds remaining, but Team Sims could not get any closer.

LEADERBOARD IMPACT

Despite the loss, Sims owns a 20-point advantage on the leaderboard heading into Saturday’s Week Three finale against Team Smith and captain NaLyssa Smith. Hillmon holds fifth place in the league standings with 3,133 points through eight contests.

GAME NOTES

Friday night’s tilt was the sixth overtime game in Athletes Unlimited Basketball history, including the third of this season … In addition, it is the second overtime affair to feature a Team Sims squad.
Team Hillmon and Team Sims combined to sink 15 three-pointers in Friday’s nightcap, moving the league’s season total to 237 through 16 games … Aspiration is committed to planting 10 trees for every three-pointer made during the season as part of its ‘Trees for Threes’ initiative.
There were 10 ties and 12 lead changes in the contest.
The Blue jersey leads the league with a 6-2 record through eight games after Friday night’s victory by Team Hillmon … The Blue jersey won just five games during the inaugural season.
Team Sims was limited to just nine points in the opening stanza, marking the fewest first quarter points by a team in Athletes Unlimited Basketball history … The previous low was 12 points by Team Mitchell on Wednesday night against Team Sims … It is also the second time in league history a team has failed to score 10 points in a regulation quarter.
Hillmon has registered five consecutive double-digit scoring efforts after her 18 points on Friday night … Hillmon also earned her fourth double-double of the season after grabbing 14 rebounds.
Friday marked the fourth time this season Hillmon has collected 12 or more rebounds in a game.
Sims extended her streak of consecutive double-digit scoring performances to 16 in a row with her 25-point performance on Friday … She has scored in double figures in 22-of-23 career Athletes Unlimited games.
Sims also extended her league record with the 15th career game with 20 or more points.
Bell owns three straight double-double efforts after closing play with 19 points and 10 rebounds … In the last three outings, Bell is averaging 19.0 points and 10.3 rebounds per contest.
Canada has five double-digit scoring outputs in a row after contributing 21 points for Team Sims on Friday night … She also has 14 steals in her last three games after opening the season with five thefts in her first five games.
Walker has tallied 10 or more points in five of her last six appearances with her season-high 19 points on Friday evening … She also had 19 points last Saturday against Team Sims.
Burton netted a season-high 12 points, marking her first double-digit scoring effort in Athletes Unlimited play … She made 4-of-7 field goal attempts, including a 1-for-3 effort from three-point range, while sinking all three of her free throws.
Rivers tied the Athletes Unlimited single-game record with nine offensive rebounds while authoring the first double-double of her brief Athletes Unlimited career.