Liberty’s Sabrina Ionescu scores a record 37 points to win the WNBA 3-point contest

New York liberty guard Sabrina Ionescu thrilled the crowd on Friday by scoring a record 37 out of a possible 40 points, easily winning the three-point shooting contest at the WNBA’s all-star weekend in Las Vegas.

She defeated Seattle Storm’s Sami Whitcomb and Dallas Wings’ Arike Ogunbowale in the final. Whitcomb had 24 points and Ogunbowale 11.

“I knew they were going in,” Ionescu said. “I told my agents there I didn’t even wait for the ball to go through the net. As soon as I shot it looked good and I just went down and kept grabbing [basketballs] and listened to the fans as they cheered, knowing they were going in. So they were my confirmation.

The Las Vegas Aces team of Chelsea Gray and Kelsey Plum won the skill contest with a time of 44.3 seconds in the final round, easily beating the 58.0 of Liberty’s Ionescu and Courtney Vandersloot.

Allie Quigley, who has won a record four three-point games, including the past two, will not play this season. Her absence cleared the way for someone else to step up.

That player was Ionescu, who made three-point balls as well as all five two-point money balls. She made 20 in a row at one point, missing just two shots in total to beat the record that Quigley – who watched in person on Friday – set last season with 30 points. It also beat Stephen Curry’s 2021 NBA record of 31 points.

Whitcomb (28 points) and Ionescu (26) and Ogunbowale (21) advanced to the finals. The Connecticut Sun’s DiJonai Carrington (18), the Indiana Fever’s Kelsey Mitchell (15) and the Aces’ Jackie Young (15) failed to make it out of the first round.

The WNBA changed the skill format this year, switching to a two-player team event. Four teams were represented, going through an obstacle course that tests all the skills needed in a regular game: agility, passing, dribbling and shooting.

Last year, a WNBA player teamed up with a player from Nike’s Elite Youth Basketball League. Ionescu won last year’s game with Zoe Brooks, this year’s National High School Player of the Year and a North Carolina state signatory.

Coming out of the first round, the Aces (45.9 seconds) and Liberty (47.8) knocked out the Dallas Wings team of Ogunbowale and Satou Sabally (52.6) and the Atlanta Dream team of Allisha Gray and Cheyenne Parker ( 58.7) out.

Then the Aces won, with Gray finishing strong after Plum went through the course for the first time.

“I didn’t look very competent there,” Plum said. “But no, it’s really cool to be here in Vegas, to do it in front of our fans and family and friends.”