Another WNBA All-Star weekend has come and gone — this year’s taking place in fabulous Las Vegas — with the announcement that next year the Phoenix Mercury will be taking over the action.
From witnessing history from beyond the three-point arc to history in the All-Star Game between Team Wilson and Team Stewart, here’s the wrap-up on all the festivities.
Sabrina’s splashing catches Steph’s attention
Sabrina Ionescu trailed Sami Whitcomb after the first round of the WNBA All-Star three-point contest, with Whitcomb tallying 28 points while Ionescu had 26, and Arike Ogunbowale had 21 to round out the final three.
In the final round, Ionescu kicked into overdrive, putting on a performance that blew the shared record of 31 points in the NBA contest from Indiana’s Tyrese Haliburton and Golden State’s Steph Curry, as the New York Liberty guard got 37 of a possible 40 points, and defeated Whitcomb, the runner-up, by 13 points.
Ionescu missed her first attempt of the round and then went on to hit 20 straight shots in the win, including hitting all of the money balls worth two points as well as the Starry balls worth three points.
Even Curry was in disbelief from the competition, stating that he needs to take on Ionescu himself now that she holds the record.
Gold Mamba wins MVP after historic performance
The battle between Team Stewart and Team Wilson ended in a 143-126 win for Breanna Stewart’s side, with Jewell Loyd setting a new All-Star scoring record with 31 points.
The Seattle Storm guard was named MVP of the game due to her performance, with Napheesa Collier coming off the bench to add 20 points in 16 minutes for Team Stewart in the win. Satou Sabally added 19 points and eight rebounds.
Brittney Griner added a double-double of 18 points and 13 rebounds in her ninth appearance as an All-Star, tied for the fourth-most all-time. Kelsey Plum, the 2022 All-Star Game MVP, led Team Wilson with 30 points.
Luckily for Loyd, the trophy for All-Star Game MVP has been revamped since when Plum won it, as the latter jokingly stated the trophy was so small that she lost it after last year’s affair.
Plum and Gray show off their skills for the home crowd
In front of their home crowd, Plum and Chelsea Gray of the Las Vegas Aces kicked off the weekend’s All-Star festivities with a win as they topped duos from the Liberty, Atlanta Dream and Dallas Wings in the All-Star skills challenge.
With four teams of two teammates competing, the challenge consisted of passing a ball through a hoop, dribbling around obstacles and hitting both mid-range and three-point shots, with the second teammate unable to go until the first has finished.
The Aces led the first round with a time of 45.9 seconds, followed by the Liberty duo of Ionescu and Courtney Vandersloot, who recorded a time of 47.8 seconds. Arike Ogunbowale and Satou Sabally of the Wings finished with a time of 52.6 seconds, and Cheyenne Parker and Allisha Gray of the Dream finished in 58.7 seconds, eliminating the two latter teams.
Ionescu had an advantage from winning last year’s competition, but the Liberty duo’s time of 58 seconds in the next round was not enough to get them the win after struggling to hit a final three-pointer to stop the clock. While Plum missed a few shots early in the final, Gray didn’t miss a shot, and the Aces duo cruised to victory with 13.7 seconds to spare.
What direction are teams headed after the break?
For the most part, the standings have been pretty solid for the last few weeks of the season — the Aces, Liberty, and Connecticut Sun at the top of the standings, with three other teams all sitting at 11 wins. The Phoenix Mercury and Seattle Storm are at the bottom of the standings.
The Dream are on an upward trend despite being a team with both multiple winning and losing streaks, and multiple wins and losses by double digits. Cheyenne Parker and Allisha Gray were joined by Rhyne Howard in the All-Star Game, with all contributing at least 10 points, and the Dream come into the second half of the season on a six-game winning streak.
In Dallas, the Wings are on pace for their first winning season since the team moved to the city in 2016, with Sabally and Ogunbowale leading the charge offensively. They come into the second half on a three-game winning streak, including taking down the top-ranked Aces.
As for teams like the Sparks and Fever, who seemed to start their seasons hot, they have been dealing with obstacles as they sit outside of the final seed for the WNBA playoffs. The Sparks have been dealing with injuries, while the Fever are on an eight-game losing streak despite only losing by double digits twice and Aliyah Boston is averaging 15.4 points and 8.4 rebounds per game. The wins may not be there, but the potential is.