3-va Las Vegas! Liberty All-Star Ionescu Dominates WNBA 3-Point Contest (Video)
Sabrina Ionescu brought "Moneyball" to Las Vegas long before the Oakland Athletics did.
The New York Liberty point guard put up a historic effort in the WNBA Starry 3-Point Contest, scoring 37 of a possible 40 points in the second and final round of the event held at Michelob Ultra Arena in Las Vegas on Friday afternoon. With that event-record tally for a single round, Ionescu becomes the first New Yorker to prevail in the WNBA's long-distance shootout.
Set to make her second appearance in the WNBA All-Star Game on Saturday night (8:30 p.m. ET, ABC), Ionescu was respectable in the opening round with 26 points. She was joined in the latter half by fellow All-Star Arike Ogunbowale (Dallas) and former Liberty teammate Sami Whitcomb (Seattle). Whitcomb won the round by barely besting Ionescu with 28 points.
But Ionescu left no doubt in the finale, missing just two of 25 attempts en route to the title of three-point queen. Whitcomb's bid to steal the title was over by her second rack thanks to Ionescu's dominant performance, which broke four-time 3-point Contest champion Allie Quigley's mark of 30 after only a single year. Ionescu's 37 would've also set an NBA record, besting a tally of 31 set by Stephen Curry and Tyrese Haliburton.
In addition to her three-point duties, Ionescu also partook in the accompanying Skills Competition for the second straight season. After her win leading up to last year's contest in Chicago, this year's affair was re-tooled to be a team-based competition. Ionescu and fellow metropolitan All-Star Courtney Vandersloot (Quigley's wife, ironically) finish second behind Chelsea Gray and Kelsey Plum of the hosting Las Vegas Aces. Both Ionescu and Vandersloot will play for a team chosen and captained by their teammate Breanna Stewart on Saturday night. Aces star and defending WNBA MVP A'ja Wilson serves as the face of the other.
Ionescu will return to action with the Liberty on Wednesday afternoon when the Dallas Wings visit Barclays Center (1 p.m. ET, YES/NBA TV).
Geoff Magliocchetti is on Twitter @GeoffJMags
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