Arike Ogunbowale scored a WNBA All-Star Game record 34 points to lead Team WNBA to a 117-109 victory over Team USA on Saturday night in Phoenix.
It’s the second time that the non-Olympian WNBA players have beaten Team USA in this sort of exhibition, also doing so in 2021. Just like in that game, Ogunbowale was named All-Star Game MVP. She also finished with six assists and knocked down 8 of 13 3-point attempts on Saturday.
“They’re going to the Olympics tonight,” Ogunbowale said of the United States national team. “They needed to run their plays. They obviously don’t want to lose going into Paris, but we also don’t want to lose. We’re competitive too, and we kind of got wind that they were going to come out hard, so that’s exactly what we wanted to do as well.”
Indiana Fever guard Caitlin Clark set an All-Star Game rookie record with 10 assists while playing for Team WNBA. Sue Bird still holds the All-Star Game overall assist record with 11.
Additionally for Team WNBA, rookie Angel Reese finished with 12 points and 11 rebounds, Allisha Gray had 16 points and Nneka Ogwumike had 14 points.
Team USA was powered by 31 points and 10 rebounds from Breanna Stewart, 22 points from A’ja Wilson and 14 points, six boards and five assists from Diana Taurasi.
“We just have work to do, and we know that,” Team USA coach Cheryl Reeve said. “I don’t think we needed a game like this to have our attention per-se. We know how hard it is to do what we’re trying to do.
“We just have work to do to get there.”
The game opened with its oldest player, the 42-year-old Taurasi, sinking a 3-pointer. The Phoenix Mercury guard is seeking her sixth Olympic gold medal this summer. She also drove right at Clark near the midpoint of the second quarter, sinking a layup in traffic, then sticking her tongue out at the crowd.
Notable for Team USA, Napheesa Collier played three minutes after checking into the game at the 7:37 mark of the second quarter. The Minnesota Lynx forward hadn’t played since aggravating plantar fasciitis in her left foot on July 4.
Team USA led by two points, 54-52, at halftime, but Clark then assisted on three of the WNBA All-Stars’ first four baskets of the third quarter to help them take a five-point lead at 61-56. Two of those assists came on baskets by Ogunbowale, who torched the Olympians for 21 points in the third.
Clark notched her 10th assist of the game with 6:36 to go in the fourth, setting up Reese for an easy layup from the low block.
The game also served as a celebration of yesterday’s stars and tomorrow’s future in women’s college basketball. Three-time National Player of the Year and the first-ever head coach of the Mercury, Cheryl Miller, served as the coach for the WNBA All-Stars. In courtside seats, three-time WNBA MVP Sheryl Swoopes sat next to UConn All-American Paige Bueckers.
Even though Saturday didn’t yield the result that Team USA was hoping for, Stewart is glad that her and her teammates can shift all their attention to the Olympics.
“Now we can solely focus on Team USA,” Stewart said. “I’m excited to kind of just continue to grow with this team. We’re in the shifting of the guards, if you will. You know, A’ja and I talked about it, it’s just like making sure that this is our team and we don’t let anything kind of get past us.”
–Field Level Media
