Ionescu scores record 37 points to win 3-point contest
LAS VEGAS — New York Liberty guard Sabrina Ionescu electrified the crowd Friday by scoring a record 37 of a possible 40 points to easily win the 3-point shooting contest at the WNBA All-Star Game.
She beat the Seattle Storm’s Sami Whitcomb and the Dallas Wings’ Arike Ogunbowale in the final. Whitcomb had 24 points and Ogunbowale 11.
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The Las Vegas Aces’ team of Chelsea Gray and Kelsey Plum won the skills competition with a time of 44.3 seconds in the final round, easily beating the 58.0 put up by the Liberty’s Ionescu and Courtney Vandersloot.
Allie Quigley, who has won a record four 3-point contests, including the past two, is not playing this season. Her absence cleared the way for someone else to step up.
That player was Ionescu, who made both three-point balls and was hot from all over the floor.
Whitcomb (28 points), and Ionescu (26) and Ogunbowale (21) advanced to the final. The Connecticut Sun’s DiJonai Carrington (18), the Indiana Fever’s Kelsey Mitchell (15) and the Aces’ Jackie Young (15) failed to advance out of the first round.
The WNBA changed the skills format this year, switching to a two-player team event. Four teams were represented, going through an obstacle course that tests all the skills required in a regular game — agility, passing, dribbling and shooting.
Last year, a WNBA player teamed with one from Nike’s Elite Youth Basketball League. Ionescu won last year’s contest with Zoe Brooks, this year’s national high school player of the year and a North Carolina State signee.
The Aces (45.9 seconds) and Liberty (47.8) advanced out of the first round, eliminating the Dallas Wings’ team of Ogunbowale and Satou Sabally (52.6) and the Atlanta Dream’s team of Allisha Gray and Cheyenne Parker (58.7).
