Sky’s Allie Quigley wins 3-point shootout

LAS VEGAS — Arike Ogunbowale scored 26 points and the WNBA All-Star team beat the U.S. Olympic team 93-85 on Wednesday night in the league’s All-Star Game.

It wasn’t a typical All-Star Game, with the teams playing hard on both ends of the court for the entire game. Usually not much defense is played until late in the fourth quarter.

The WNBA team led 75-73 midway through the fourth quarter before Ogunbowale’s four-point play extended the advantage to six. The Olympic squad closed to 83-78 before Ogunbowale, who earned MVP honors, hit another 3-pointer and posed to the crowd, which included many current and former WNBA players and team owners.

The Olympic team cut its deficit to 91-85 and had a chance to get closer, but Courtney Williams blocked A’ja Wilson’s shot with 1:15 left and the Olympians could get no closer.

The Olympic team is a heavy favorite to win a seventh straight gold medal at the Tokyo Games. No team it will face has nearly as much talent as the WNBA All-Star team it faced Wednesday. Still, like the U.S. men’s Olympic team, which lost consecutive exhibition games to Nigeria and Australia, an American loss is rare.

The U.S. women’s team has won 49 consecutive Olympic games dating to 1992.

Brittney Griner scored 17 points and Breanna Stewart had 15 to lead the Olympic team, which had been 3-0 against WNBA select squads.

Both teams were missing a player. Diana Taurasi suffered a hip injury in practice a few weeks ago and missed the final three games before the Olympic break for the Phoenix Mercury. She was warming up before the game but didn’t play.

Liz Cambage also was in uniform but didn’t play. She is on Australia’s Olympic team, and the Opals played Nigeria in an exhibition Tuesday. They play the U.S. on Friday.

The U.S. Olympic team jumped out to an 11-4 lead, and Team WNBA coaches Lisa Leslie and Tina Thompson called a quick timeout — another rarity in an All-Star Game. After that early burst, neither team could build a lead of more than a few points in the first half. The WNBA All-Stars led 44-43 at halftime.

Early in the second half, Chicago Sky forward Candace Parker, who was left off the 2016 Olympic team after winning two gold medals with the U.S., stole the ball from Griner and scored an easy layup that gave the WNBA All-Stars a 53-48 lead — their biggest of the game to that point.

The score was tied at 66 after three quarters.

Allie Quigley of the Chicago Sky holds up a trophy after winning the 3-point contest during halftime of the WNBA All-Star Game on Wednesday, July 14, 2021, in Las Vegas. (John Locher/AP)

Sky guard Allie Quigley won the 3-point shootout for a third time, beating 6-foot-6 Jonquel Jones in the final. Quigley hit nine of her final 10 shots, including all five from the wing on her “money ball” rack. Each of those was worth two points.

Quigley, who also won the title in 2017 and 2018, got a hug from her wife and Sky teammate Courtney Vandersloot after the victory.

Quigley said it would be the last time she competed in the contest, which drew boos from the fans.

The WNBA will donate $10,000 to the Patrick Quigley Memorial Scholarship Fund in honor of her dad.

Here’s how the three Sky All-Stars fared in the game:

Started and played 18 minutes with five points on 2-for-8 shooting, five rebounds, five assists and two steals.

Started and played 17 minutes, going scoreless on 0-for-3 shooting with seven assists, two steals and one rebound.

Played 14 minutes off the bench with nine points on 4-for-6 shooting, two rebounds and one assist.