{"id":74556,"date":"2025-07-19T05:14:09","date_gmt":"2025-07-19T05:14:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/74556\/"},"modified":"2025-07-19T05:14:09","modified_gmt":"2025-07-19T05:14:09","slug":"sabrina-ionescu-wins-3-point-contest-as-liberty-sweep-wnba-all-star-weekend-festivities","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/74556\/","title":{"rendered":"Sabrina Ionescu wins 3-point contest as Liberty sweep WNBA All-Star Weekend festivities"},"content":{"rendered":"

INDIANAPOLIS \u2014 Liberty star Sabrina Ionescu won her second WNBA 3-Point Contest on Friday night to complete an epic Liberty sweep after Natasha Cloud captured<\/a> the Skills Challenge title just moments before.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Despite not having practiced shooting off the rack in a long time, Ionescu caught fire in the final round, registering a whopping 30 points for the win.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Only Ionescu, though, would be \u201cdisappointed\u201d in finishing with what tied the second-highest score ever posted in the WNBA 3-Point Contest.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cI missed a few easy ones there that I definitely could\u2019ve made,\u201d Ionescu said. \u201cSo sorry about that. But just happy to be here and obviously happy to have won with my teammate, Natasha Cloud.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

Cloud had been telling Ionescu since they both committed to participating in WNBA All-Star Friday night that they had to sweep the night.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Sabrina Ionescu of the New York Liberty celebrates after winning the WNBA STARRY 3-Point Contest during the 2025 AT&T WNBA All-Star weekend at Gainbridge Fieldhouse on July 18, 2025 in Indianapolis, Indiana. Getty Images<\/p>\n

After Cloud took care of business in the Skills Challenge, she knew Ionescu would deliver a show.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cTo come out on top and a Liberty biberty night, this is just also refreshing, right?\u201d Cloud said. \u201cWe had a hard start to the season. This is the break and the reset for us, and to come out with some wins and this good confidence going into the second part of the season here, but it\u2019s a great night for the community and organization.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\t\t\tCovering the Liberty like never before\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n

\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\tSign up for Madeline Kenney’s Inside the Liberty, a weekly Sports+ newsletter.\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\t\tThank you\n\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n

Ionescu may be a seasoned veteran by now and look comfortable when she lines up to start, but even she admitted to feeling nervous because of the amount of pressure she puts on herself to perform at a high level.\u00a0<\/p>\n

She hopes that when people watch her they see what can happen if you believe in yourself, \u201cfight your own demons\u201d and \u201cput yourself at risk of failure.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

Sabrina Ionescu of the New York Liberty competes in the WNBA STARRY 3-Point Contest during the 2025 AT&T WNBA All-Star weekend at Gainbridge Fieldhouse on July 18, 2025 in Indianapolis, Indiana. Getty Images<\/p>\n

That\u2019s what she had to do Friday night in Indianapolis.\u00a0<\/p>\n

When Ionescu heard the signal to start, though, she locked in and blocked out all that was around her.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Ionescu is one of only two players to eclipse 30 points in this contest. The other is Allie Quigley, who logged 30 points in her 2022 win.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Her near-perfect 37-point performance in 2023 still stands as the NBA and WNBA record in the event.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Natasha Cloud of the New York Liberty celebrates with teammate Sabrina Ionescu after competing in the Kia WNBA Skills Challenge during the 2025 AT&T WNBA All-Star weekend at Gainbridge Fieldhouse on July 18, 2025. Getty Images<\/p>\n

\u201cThirty is not too bad, so happy with 30 as well,\u201d Ionescu said. \u201cJust want to be where my feet are at. Not beat myself up too much about not getting the record. And maybe I\u2019ll get it one day.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

After her win, she called Stephen Curry to show him her trophy after the four-time NBA champion beat her the last time she participated in a 3-point contest in Indianapolis.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Ionescu said she\u2019s unsure whether she\u2019ll defend her title at next year\u2019s event, saying there\u2019s a lot of unknown factors that could sway her decision.\u00a0<\/p>\n

New York Liberty guard Sabrina Ionescu poses for a photo with her trophy after winning the three-point contest during the 2025 WNBA All Star Skills Challenge at Gainbridge Fieldhouse. Trevor Ruszkowski-Imagn Images<\/p>\n

As for her $62,575 prize, Ionescu said she promised Mystics rookie Sonia Citron before the event that she\u2019d give her half if she won because she knows how much courage it takes to participate in the nationally televised event as a rookie.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cI obviously have to hold up my end of the bargain,\u201d Ionescu said.\u00a0<\/p>\n

The other half will be donated to her SI20 Foundation.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"INDIANAPOLIS \u2014 Liberty star Sabrina Ionescu won her second WNBA 3-Point Contest on Friday night to complete an…\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":74557,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[10],"tags":[1520,15534,62,67,132,68,232],"class_list":{"0":"post-74556","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-sports","8":"tag-new-york-liberty","9":"tag-sabrina-ionescu","10":"tag-sports","11":"tag-united-states","12":"tag-unitedstates","13":"tag-us","14":"tag-wnba"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/74556","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=74556"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/74556\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/74557"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=74556"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=74556"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=74556"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}