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WNBA All-Stars vs. Team USA: Arike Ogunbowale, Caitlin Clark set records in win
By Cydney Henderson and Heather Tucker, USA TODAY,
5 hours ago
PHOENIX — Cheryl Reeve, head coach of the U.S. women’s national team, predicted that Team USA would face adversity in Saturday’s exhibition match against Team WNBA in Phoenix.
She was right.
Team WNBA handed Team USA a 117-109 loss in front of a sold-out crowd at Footprint Center in the WNBA All-Star game. The matchup was closely contested through the first half, but then entered Team WNBA’s Arike Ogunbowale, who set a record for the most points scored in a WNBA All-Star game and earned her second MVP nod.
Ogunbowale was held scoreless in the first half, but went on to record 34 points (10-for-20 FG) following a pep talk from coach Cheryl Miller. She knocked down eight of 13 three-pointers to help Team WNBA extend its lead to as many as 20 points. Ogunbowale finished with six assists, three rebounds and two steals.
Ogunbowale joined Lisa Leslie (1999, 2001, 2022), Swin Cash (2009, 2011) and Maya Moore (2015, 2017, 2018) as the only WNBA stars to win multiple All-Star MVP awards. Ogunbowale was the All-Star MVP in 2021.
Arike Ogunbowale became the fourth player to earn more than one WNBA All-Star Game MVPs. Alex Slitz, Getty Images
Caitlin Clark set a rookie record with 10 assists and Angel Reese became the first rookie with a double-double, scoring 12 points and grabbing 11 rebounds. Allisha Gray , who won the 3-point shooting contest and the skills competition Friday, added 16 points.
Breanna Stewart led Team USA with 31 points. A'ja Wilson added 22, while Diana Taurasi had 14.
Follow along with USA TODAY Sports for all the action from Phoenix's sold-out Footprint Center:
Reese becomes the first rookie to record a double-double with 12 points and 11 rebounds.
Caitlin Clark connects with Angel Reese
After years of facing off as fierce rivals, Caitlin Clark and Angel Reese are teammates at the WNBA All-Star game. They are the first pair of rookies to earn a nod since 2014 and their rookie connection was on display in the third quarter. Clark found Reese in the paint for an easy layup to put Team WNBA up 95-86 over Team USA. The two high-fived after the play.
Q3: Team WNBA 88, Team USA 79
Team WNBA’s Arike Ogunbowale was held scoreless in the first half, but she came out of the gate hot in the third quarter and scored five points in a little more than a minute. She didn’t stop. Ogunbowale knocked down a total of five 3-pointers in the third quarter and scored 21 points.
''Coach (Cheryl Miller) told me I was thinking too much. She told me just to take a breath and breathe in,'' Ogunbowale said during a TV interview after the third quarter.
Ogunbowale, a four-time All-Star, was named the All-Star game MVP in 2021 and with another quarter like that, the MVP trophy will be hers again.
Kelsey Mitchell ended a dominant third quarter for Team WNBA with a buzzer-beating three. Team WNBA outscored the Olympic team 36-25.
Caitlin Clark is breaking assists records left and right. After setting the WNBA single-game assist record earlier this week with 19 dimes against the Dallas Wings, she carried that momentum into the All-Star game. Her nine assists mark the most for a rookie in the All-Star game. Although Clark only has two points, she’s still finding ways to impact the game. She also has one rebound and two steals. Clark finished with 10 assists.
Team USA outscored Team WNBA 31-28 in the second quarter to take a 54-52 lead over the All-Stars. Breanna Stewart scored 10 of Team USA’s final 12 points in the first half and is closing in on a double-double with a game-high 14 points and five rebounds.
Team WNBA’s Allisha Gray has a team-high 12 points off the bench. Gray could pull off a trifecta — she already won last night’s 3-point contest and skills challenge. Is an All-Star game MVP next?
It’s been a high-scoring affair so far, but nearly all the points have come from inside the arc as both teams have struggled from the 3-point line. Team USA is 4-of-14 from three and Team WNBA is 3-of-17. Caitlin Clark is 0-for-5 from three.
Among the celebrities spotted in the crowd at Footprint Center: actor and Ted Lasso star Jason Sudeikis, actress Aubrey Plaza, four-time WNBA champion and five-time Olympic gold medalist Sue Bird, Olympic champion and World Cup winner Megan Rapinoe, Vanessa Bryant and her family, rapper Ty Dolla $ign, three-time WNBA MVP and three-time gold medalist Sheryl Swoopes, the Mercury's Sophie Cunningham, UConn guard Paige Bueckers, the Cardinals' Marvin Harrison Jr. and Kyler Murray, and Shannon Sharpe.
The WNBA All-Star rookie did so by turning defense into offense. She deflected a pass from Team USA’s Alyssa Thomas, gained possession and had a clear path to lay it in for her first points of the game. Clark hasn’t been able to get it going form beyond the arc just yet — she’s 0-for-3 from three.
Caitlin Clark, the league leader in assists per game, is dishing dimes at the WNBA All-Star game. She pulled off a behind-the-back pass under the basket to connect with Indiana Fever teammate Aliyah Boston for a layup. She found Jonquel Jones the next possession for another bucket. Clark may be scoreless in the game, but she’s up three assists.
This may be an exhibition match, but the effort and energy from both teams says otherwise. And the first quarter lived up to the hype. Team USA’s Diana Taurasi opened the game with a 3-point shot to get the Olympic team on the board, but Team WNBA answered every time. Nneka Ogwumike scored eight of Team WNBA’s 24 points. A’Ja Wilson leads the Olympic team with seven points, including one basket from beyond the arc. Team WNBA (11-for-22) and Team USA (10-for-20) are shooting an impressive 50% from the field.
Although defense usually takes a backseat in All-Star games, it's on full display. Team USA’s Breanna Stewart is already up to five rebounds.
Ann Meyers Drysdale named honorary coach by Cheryl Miller
There’s a new coach on Team WNBA’s bench. Ahead of tip-off at Footprint Center on Saturday, Team WNBA head coach Cheryl Miller walked over to the other side of the court and handed Hall of Famer Ann Meyers Drysdale a coaching hoodie to put on. Meyers Drysdale got a large applause from the crowd as she went to join Team WNBA’s bench.
Earlier in the night, Miller called Meyers Drysdale her WNBA GOAT. Meyers Drysdale served as general manager and president of the Phoenix Mercury. She was a member of the first Olympic women's team, which won silver at the Montreal Olympics in 1976.
Taurasi pulled up from the left top of the key and nailed a three-pointer to open scoring in the WNBA All-Star game, giving Team USA the early 3-0 edge.
It may be Caitlin Clark’s first WNBA All-Star game, but she’s not nervous.
“I don’t get nervous for any game. I think more so just excitement more than anything,” Clark told the media ahead of Saturday’s game. “There’s been a build-up to finally get to the game, because you are here all weekend and have so many events to go to and so many things to do. Everybody is just ready to play the game.”
Clark predicts a “really competitive” contest.
“That’s what I’m looking forward to,” she added. “Both teams competing, but also we want to help them get better and prepared for Paris.”
Cheryl Reeve, the coach of the Minnesota Lynx and the U.S. women’s national team, said she expects a hard fought game on Saturday when Team USA takes on Team WNBA.
“This is such a great game for USA basketball because of the level of competition. We are going to experience adversity in this game,” she said Saturday. “I don’t think you can reach your greatest heights without experiencing adversity. You have to go through that first. This game is going to give us that because (of) the level of talent that exists on both teams.”
Cheryl Miller says Team WNBA ‘wants to win’
Caitlin Clark may not be nervous, but her WNBA All-Star coach surely is. Cheryl Miller was frank about her butterflies ahead of the WNBA All-Stars' main event Saturday.
“First of all, I’m nervous as heck. Woke up nervous, went to bed nervous, had a nap woke up and was nervous. But that’s what I love about this game … It doesn’t get better than this afternoon,” Miller said. “(Team USA) wants to win. Fun is winning. We are going to put the best product out there.”
It’s a full-circle moment for Miller, who served as the first head coach and general manager of the Phoenix Mercury from 1997 to 2000. She received a standing ovation at Footprint Center on Friday evening.
Clark, who was drafted No. 1 overall by the Indiana Fever , and Reese, who was taken with the No. 7 pick by the Chicago Sky , have been pitted against each other throughout their careers – whether by their devoted fanbases or in the media – but a white flag has been raised temporarily. They were both named to the 2024 WNBA All-Star team , becoming the first pair of rookies to earn a nod since 2014. After years of going head-to-head, Clark and Reese will team up for the first time in their careers.
"Everybody can wear their 'get along' shirts together for one day at least," Reese joked Friday. "I'm looking forward to it."
Who has scored the most points in WNBA All-Star game?
Seattle Storm’s Jewell Loyd scored 31 points at the 2023 WNBA All-Star game, breaking Maya Moore and Kelsey Plum’s previous record of 30 points set in 2015 and 2022, respectively.
Who was the WNBA All-Star game MVP last year?
Jewell Loyd was named the WNBA All-Star game MVP last year in Las Vegas following a record-setting 31-point performance.
In 2021, ahead of the Tokyo Olympics, the WNBA All-Star Team faced off against Team USA, with the WNBA All-Stars winning 93-85. Arike Ogunbowale of Dallas was named MVP after leading all players with 26 points on 10-of-18 shooting.
Team USA later won Olympic gold with a 90-75 victory against Japan in the Tokyo Games.
Atlanta Dream’s Allisha Gray swept the WNBA All-Star activites on Friday. After winning the skills challenge earlier in the night, she took down New York Liberty big Jonquel Jones in the 3-point challenge to become the first person in WNBA history to win both in the same season.
“It feels amazing. Another $55K in my pocket,” Gray said, referring to Aflac’s $55K bonus for each competition.
It came down to the final 3-point ball.
Both Gray and Jones had hot and cold streaks during the final round. Gray finished with 22 points, which she contributed to fatigue from competing in both events. Jones had the opportunity to tie Gray’s score with her last ball, but it came up just short of the basket. Jones held her head in disappointment as she finished with 21 points.
“(Jones) had me nervous, I’m not going to lie,” Gray admitted.
All signs are pointing toward Phoenix Mercury guard Diana Taurasi making her sixth Olympic appearance later this month after an injury scare sidelined her for three games with a lower left leg ailment.
Closing out the season's first half before the All-Star game and the Olympic break, Taurasi had 18 points and five assists in 28 minutes in a 96-87 win over the Washington Mystics on Tuesday.
One sports career is in disheartening decline. The other is in exhilarating ascendance. Born in different centuries, Tiger Woods and Caitlin Clark are going in opposite directions.
Yet, while one is 26 years older than the other, they do have much in common. It’s as if their thrilling careers have been running on parallel tracks a generation apart.
How often over the past year and a half, since Clark’s rise to her immense popularity, has the rush to buy tickets to see her or national obsession to watch her on TV reminded us of someone else? And when we thought about it, and landed on who that someone might be, wasn’t it Tiger?
It pays to play in the WNBA All-Star game. Under the WNBA's Collective Bargaining Agreement, All-Star game participants each earn $2,575 . The All-Star game MVP is awarded an additional $5,150. Skills Competition and 3-point contest participants get $1,030 each, while the winners earn $2,575 from the league. — Josh Peter
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