The New York Liberty won last year’s WNBA Championship. They’re in good shape to repeat, too.
But before the team’s second-half sprint to the playoffs, New York collected some other hardware Friday night at Gainbridge Fieldhouse.
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Liberty guards Sabrina Ionescu and Natasha Cloud headlined the first night of 2025 WNBA All-Star festivities in Indianapolis, with Ionescu winning the 3-Point Contest and Cloud winning the Skills Challenge.
Ionescu didn’t participate in last year’s 3-point contest, which was won by Atlanta Dream guard Allisha Gray, who became the first player to win both the 3-point contest and the Skills Challenge in the same season.
That said, Ionescu took home the 3-point contest trophy in 2023 when she wowed with a jaw-dropping final round, making 25-of-27 attempts for 37 points, the most all-time in the competition.
Ionescu and Gray met in this year’s 3-point contest final, and the Liberty’s sharpshooting star put on a similarly unbelievable performance.
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She hit 11 shots in a row and finished with 30 points, ultimately eight more than Gray.
“Well, I’m pretty disappointed,” Ionescu told ESPN’s Holly Rowe in an on-court interview afterward. “I feel like I missed a few easy ones there that I definitely could have made, so I’m sorry about that.
“But just happy to be here and obviously happy to have won with my teammate, Natasha Cloud, who won the skills competition as well.”
Ionescu had nothing to apologize for. She delivered WNBA fans another popcorn-worthy show.
This year’s 3-point contest was notably missing a hometown star. Indiana Fever guard Caitlin Clark originally committed to the event but had to back out after she aggravated her previous groin injury on Tuesday night against the Connecticut Sun.
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Clark’s Fever teammate, Lexie Hull, took her place in the competition and more than held her own.
Cloud, meanwhile, beat out Erica Wheeler to take home the $55,000 prize in the skills competition.
Here’s how this year’s WNBA 3-Point Contest and Skills Challenge went down:
