Athletes Unlimited basketball, a professional women’s basketball league, ended its third week of play on March 11. It had a few surprise guests in the building, including University of Oregon’s Sedona Prince and Los Angeles Sparks and WNBPA president Nneka Ogwumike. Prince made headlines in 2021 when she highlighted the inequities between the men’s and women’s NCAA tournaments.
Cheering on fellow @LASparks teammates đź’ś@nnekaogwumike | #AUHoops pic.twitter.com/OucFoFy0jX
— Athletes Unlimited (@AUProSports) March 12, 2023
Prince gave a behind-the-scenes glimpse at Athletes Unlimited hoops and ran down a bit of the scoring system and how captains are picked each week. While the rules for the game are the same as the WNBA, the individual points players can earn, the ranking system and the weekly drafts are different than other basketball leagues.
A lil behind the scenes look at #AUHoops with @sedonaprince_ 🏀#BeUnlimited | #AUHoops pic.twitter.com/FJWdOnMrUJ
— Athletes Unlimited (@AUProSports) March 11, 2023
The night was dedicated to the Special Olympics. Debbie Antonelli, a women’s college basketball analyst and founder of 24 Hours of Nothing But Net, was in attendance to help with the 24-hour shoot-a-thon.
Today we are partnering with Special Olympics for the @24HoursNBN Shoot-A-Thon 🏀
We caught up with @debbieantonelli to talk about why she started this event four years ago.@savannaecollins | #AUHoops pic.twitter.com/Km9qL5fuKl
— Athletes Unlimited (@AUProSports) March 11, 2023
Thx @T_Cloud4 & PC leadership @AUProSports for hosting @SpecialOlympics & allowing me to be part. Thx @Dviglione13 for being a great teammate in the event all day! The FTs & clinic fun working together!
The games were awesome. Love the leaderboard concept! #productisthenarrative pic.twitter.com/LYMaJ3aC03— Debbie Antonelli (@debbieantonelli) March 12, 2023
The shoot-a-thon was successful: 2,400 free throws were made in 24 hours. Las Vegas Aces’ Theresa Plaisance chose the Special Olympics as her Athlete Cause this season. This program, powered by Give Lively, provides players of Athletes Unlimited a fundraising platform that allows them “to donate funds equal to 100% of their season win bonus to support the causes they love.”
This season, Theresa Plaisance chose Special Olympics as her Athlete Cause 🏀
Today she helped Athletes Unlimited and @24HoursNBN reach a goal of 2400 free throws in 24 hours đź‘Ź@debbieantonelli | #AUHoops pic.twitter.com/lz1pbfYoDS
— Athletes Unlimited (@AUProSports) March 12, 2023
The halftime free-throw contest wasn’t as successful in terms of buckets made, but the participants and audience had fun, which was all that mattered.
.@debbieantonelli and @sedonaprince_ went head to head in a blind free throw competition…
But really, everyone won đź’›@specialolympics x #AUHoops pic.twitter.com/VYzGcm26RS
— Athletes Unlimited (@AUProSports) March 12, 2023
Believe me @sedonaprince_ & I did practice! Lol!
THE definition of giving back! Thank you Sedona for your generous gift to @SpecialOlympics to help these athletes train compete organize & learn to be a part of a team!
Thank you for using your platform for good & to serve others https://t.co/Xn3GvIqkTR— Debbie Antonelli (@debbieantonelli) March 12, 2023
The Athletes Unlimited hoops season runs through March 25. Dallas is the home for Season 2 of Athletes Unlimited Basketball and one ticket allows entry to two games.
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