The New York Liberty won last year’s WNBA Championship. They’re in good shape to repeat, too.<\/p>\n
But before the team’s second-half sprint to the playoffs, New York collected some other hardware Friday night at Gainbridge Fieldhouse.<\/p>\n
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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.<\/p>\n
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.<\/p>\n
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.<\/p>\n
Ionescu and Gray met in this year’s 3-point contest final, and the Liberty’s sharpshooting star put on a similarly unbelievable performance.<\/p>\n
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She hit 11 shots in a row and finished with 30 points, ultimately eight more than Gray.<\/p>\n
“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.<\/p>\n
“But just happy to be here and obviously happy to have won with my teammate, Natasha Cloud, who won the skills competition as well.”<\/p>\n
Ionescu had nothing to apologize for. She delivered WNBA fans another popcorn-worthy show.<\/p>\n
Later, she told reporters that half of her prize money \u2014 made up of $60,000 from WNBA insurance partner Aflac, plus another $2,575 from the league \u2014 will go to Washington Mystics guard Sonia Citron.<\/p>\n
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While they were sitting together on the bench Friday night in anticipation of the competition, Ionescu told a nervous Citron that Ionescu would pay the rookie half the 3-point contest winnings if she won. Ionescu said that it takes a lot of courage to participate as the only first-year player in the event, and that she is proud of Citron for doing so.<\/p>\n
“I think I have a limit on Venmo, so I got to figure out how to exactly do that,” Ionescu said, as reported by ESPN’s Kendra Andrews<\/a>. “I’ve got to pick up the check … maybe just cut it in half.”<\/p>\n The other half of Ionescu’s winnings is going to her foundation.<\/p>\n