The WNBA All-Star Sport is on Saturday evening, however Friday nonetheless options loads of enjoyable occasions. The primary points of interest had been the Kia Abilities Problem and STARRY 3-Level Contest. Earlier than the occasion, Aflac stepped up by offering a $55,000 bonus for the winner of every occasion. The WNBA additionally chipped in $2,575 for every winner.
It seems all of the prize cash went to the Atlanta Dream’s Allisha Grey, who gained each occasions and might be taking some {hardware} house, together with a grand whole of $115,150; that’s a fairly cool evening in Arizona.
Grey’s first win got here within the Abilities Problem, when she defeated the Phoenix Mercury’s Sophie Cunningham within the last spherical. Cunningham set the time to beat at 34.2 seconds. Grey was capable of simply edge that out with a 32.1-second efficiency.
Earlier than the principle attraction of the 3-Level Contest, we had the first-ever USA Basketball 3×3 Problem, the place Group USA met the U23 Group. The competitors wasn’t only a novelty; Group USA is making ready for the Olympics and needed to make use of this as a tune-up for that competitors. The 4 Olympians are the Dream’s Rhyne Howard, the Los Angeles Sparks’ Dearcia Hamby, former WNBA participant Cierra Burdick and TCU’s Hailey Van Lith. The U23 roster featured Christina Dalce of Maryland, Morgan Maly of Creighton, Cotie McMahon of Ohio State, Lucy Olsen of Iowa, Mikaylah Williams of LSU and Serah Williams of Wisconsin.
Hamby kicked off the scoring for Group USA, they usually shortly took a 5-3 lead. The U23 group settled down, and shortly the sport was even at 10. The U23 group took the lead at 13-11, however then Howard evened issues for Group USA with a 3-point shot, which is price two factors in 3×3. Nonetheless tied at 15 with 93 seconds left, Group USA did simply sufficient to get the win, with Howard hitting back-to-back 3-pointers to offer Group USA the three-point win, 19-16.
Within the 3-Level Contest, Grey scored 23 factors and the New York Liberty’s Jonquel Jones scored 25 factors to advance to the ultimate spherical. Grey went first and scored 22 factors. Jones gave her a run for her cash with 21 factors, falling simply quick by lacking her last shot.
THE MOMENT.
Allisha Grey turns into the primary participant in WNBA Historical past to win each the Kia Abilities Problem and the WNBA STARRY® 3-Level Contest in the identical yr pic.twitter.com/07GC5sKbij
— WNBA (@WNBA) July 20, 2024
With these two victories Grey turned the primary participant to win each the 3-Level Contest and the Abilities Problem. It was an unbelievable second and a reminder for many who are new to the WNBA that there are numerous highly-talented gamers that the informal fan may not have heard a lot about.
Grey has been a sensational guard since coming into the league in 2017, however it’s by no means too late to understand somebody’s expertise and provides them there flowers. On Friday, in entrance of all the most important stars within the WNBA, it was Grey who shined brightest.
