New York Liberty star Sabrina Ionescu won her second WNBA 3-point Contest on Friday in Indianapolis as part of All-Star weekend festivities.
Natasha Cloud made it a clean sweep for the Liberty, as Ionescu’s first-year teammate won the skills competition.
Indiana Fever star Caitlin Clark was set to compete in the 3-point Contest in front of her home fans, but due to her latest groin injury on Tuesday she was forced to drop out of both that and the All-Star Game itself, which will take place Saturday.
It would have taken a mammoth night for Clark to win if she had played. Ionescu racked up 30 points in the contest, tied for the second-highest total in its history.
In the final round she defeated Allisha Gray of the Atlanta Dream, the 2024 winner. Kelsey Plum of the Los Angeles Sparks placed third, Lexie Hull of the Fever was fourth and Washington Mystics rookie Sonia Citron came in fifth.
Ionescu said afterward that she planned to gift half of her $62,575 prize to Citron and donate the other half to her foundation.
“I told Sonia that I would give half if I won … As being like the only rookie, and she was nervous, and I was nervous for her,” said Ionescu, who first won the competition in 2023. “Just for participating, that takes a lot of courage to be able to do that as a rookie and what she did, and I was really proud of her.”
Cloud completed the skills competition obstacle course in 36.4 seconds to beat Erica Wheeler of the Seattle Storm by just 1.1 seconds.
Cloud said her prize money would be used as a down payment on a house for her and her girlfriend, New York teammate Isabelle Harrison.
The All-Star Game between Team Clark and Team Collier, captained by Minnesota Lynx star Napheesa Collier, is slated for 8:30 p.m. ET on Saturday.
–Field Level Media
