Sims, who received MVP 1 honors and 734 leaderboard points, paired her game-high 29 points with a season-high 10 assists to record her first double-double of the season. She finished 12-of-21 from the floor and added five steals with three rebounds in the victory.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Morrow registered a double-double with 25 points and a game-high 14 rebounds to earn MVP 2 plaudits. She was 10-of-20 from the field, including 4-of-6 from long range, en route to claiming 589 leaderboard points.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Guard Ariel Atkins poured in 18 points with five rebounds, four assists, and five steals, while center Kiah Stokes narrowly missed a double-double with nine points and 12 rebounds.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Guard Sarah Ashlee Barker led Eclipse in the loss by netting a season-high 22 points on 9-of-14 shooting from the field, including a perfect 4-of-4 from beyond the arc. She also pulled down five rebounds with three assists to earn MVP 3 accolades and 372 leaderboard points.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Forward NaLyssa Smith registered a double-double with 21 points and 11 rebounds to go with two assists, while guard Kaitlyn Chen recorded 18 points with six assists and two steals.\u00a0<\/p>\n
KEY MOMENT<\/p>\n
Gold Rush used a 16-5 run early in the second quarter to overcome an eight-point deficit, taking a 35-29 lead with 5:16 left in the period. Eclipse trimmed the gap to 35-34 before Gold Rush closed the first half on an 11-3 spurt for a 46-37 advantage at the intermission. <\/p>\n
LEADERBOARD IMPACT<\/p>\n
Sims reclaimed the No. 1 position on the leaderboard and owns a 529-point advantage over guard Rebekah Gardner entering the penultimate day of the season. Morrow, meanwhile, rose into fourth place in the league standings, while guard Kierstan Bell dropped into seventh place after being held to eight points. <\/p>\n
GOLD RUSH NOTES<\/p>\n
Guard Odyssey Sims extended her league-record streak of consecutive double-digit scoring efforts to 34 games after posting 29 points on Wednesday night \u2026 She has now reached double figures in 62-of-64 career games.\u00a0
\n Sims fashioned the 14th double-double of her AU Pro Basketball career, moving into sole possession of third place on the league\u2019s all-time chart.\u00a0
\n Sims became the first player in the league to dish out 10 or more assists in a game this season \u2026 It also marked the 13th time she has tallied 10 or more assists in a game during her career.\u00a0
\n Sims earned Game MVP honors for the ninth game in a row after her MVP 1 citation in Wednesday\u2019s nightcap \u2026 Her nine-game run is tied for the second-longest stretch in league history with guard Allisha Gray, who had nine straight MVP selections from March 17, 2023, to March 7, 2024.\u00a0
\n Sims also claimed her 36th career Game MVP award, which is the second-highest total by a player in any Athletes Unlimited sport.
\nSims has scored 20 or more points in 7-of-10 games this season, including each of the last three games.
\nSims upped her career record as a captain to 22-21, including a 3-1 mark this season \u2026 In addition, she claimed her first victory against guard Kierstan Bell in three tries as opposing captains.\u00a0
\n Sims, who surpassed 700 leaderboard points for the second time this season, now owns a league-record nine career games with 700 or more points.\u00a0
\n Sims has also tallied 500 or more leaderboard points in six of her last seven games after doing so just once in her first three games.
\n Sims has won six of her last seven games after a 1-2 start, while guard Lexie Brown has a 6-1 mark in the last seven outings after going 0-3 in Week One.\u00a0
\n Forward Aneesah Morrow has scored 10 or more points in 9-of-10 games this season, including the last three in a row, after tying her season high with 25 points on Wednesday night \u2026 Morrow has tallied at least 20 points three times this season.
\nMorrow\u2019s 17 points in the first half are the most by a player in the opening 20 minutes of a game this season, eclipsing the previous mark of 16 points scored by center Tina Charles against Eclipse last Saturday and matched by guard Sarah Ashlee Barker on Wednesday night.\u00a0
\n Morrow added 14 rebounds to secure her fifth double-double of the campaign, which is good for second in the league \u2026 She has also finished with 10 or more rebounds in 6-of-10 contests this season.\u00a0
\n Center Kiah Stokes recorded her fifth double-digit rebound performance this season \u2026 Stokes has also tallied at least nine caroms in all 10 contests.\u00a0
\n Guard Ariel Atkins finished in double digits for the sixth time this season, including her third outing in a row, after contributing 18 points in Wednesday night\u2019s win.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Next Game for Gold Rush: Thursday, February 26, vs. Rhythm (9 p.m. ET\/8 p.m. CT) <\/p>\n
ECLIPSE NOTES<\/p>\n
Eclipse requested a captain\u2019s challenge on a defensive foul called against guard Deja Kelly with 3:31 remaining in the fourth quarter \u2026 The challenge was unsuccessful \u2026 Teams are now 8-for-25 (.320) in captain\u2019s challenges through 20 games.
\nGuard Kierstan Bell, who made her season debut as a captain on Wednesday, saw her career captain record dip to 5-5.
\n Forward NaLyssa Smith registered the 16th double-double of her AU Pro Basketball career, matching the league record established by guard Crystal Bradford \u2026 Smith has authored a double-double in 16-of-25 career games.\u00a0
\n Smith has also scored in double figures in 9-of-10 games this year, including 20 or more points in back-to-back outings \u2026 She also finished with 10 or more rebounds for the fourth time this season.\u00a0
\n Guard Sarah Ashlee Barker has scored in double figures in 8-of-10 contests after finishing with her season-high 22-point effort \u2026 She is the 13th player to record at least 20 points in a game this season.\u00a0
\n Guard Kaitlyn Chen has scored in double figures in 9-of-10 games this year, including 15 or more points in six outings. <\/p>\n
Next Game for Eclipse: Thursday, February 26, vs. Glow (6:30 p.m. ET\/5:30 p.m. CT) <\/p>\n
GAME MVPS<\/p>\n
#1 \u2013 Odyssey Sims (Gold Rush), +90 points
\n#2 \u2013 Aneesah Morrow (Gold Rush), +60 points
\n#3 \u2013 Sarah Ashlee Barker (Eclipse), +30 points<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Sims, who received MVP 1 honors and 734 leaderboard points, paired her game-high 29 points with a season-high…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":491112,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[73],"tags":[27040,9209,65488,9214,62124,9216,9217,92929,99,434],"class_list":{"0":"post-491111","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-wnba","8":"tag-aneesah-morrow","9":"tag-ariel-atkins","10":"tag-kaitlyn-chen","11":"tag-kiah-stokes","12":"tag-kierstan-bell","13":"tag-nalyssa-smith","14":"tag-odyssey-sims","15":"tag-sarah-ashlee-barker","16":"tag-sports","17":"tag-wnba"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/491111","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=491111"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/491111\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/491112"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=491111"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=491111"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=491111"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}