LAS VEGAS – – The New York Freedom’s Sabrina Ionescu broke WNBA and NBA records for most places in a 3-point shooting challenge by hitting everything except two of her three pointers in the last round of Friday’s opposition, which started off 2023 WNBA Top pick end of the week.
Ionescu scored 37 out of a possible 40 points, breaking the NBA single-round record of 31 (set by Tyrese Haliburton in 2023) and the WNBA record of 30 (set by Allie Quigley in 2022).
Likewise in the last, the Seattle Tempest’s Sami Whitcomb came in second with 22 places, trailed by the Dallas Wings’ Arike Ogunbowale with 11. The Connecticut Sun’s DiJonai Carrington (18), Indiana Fever’s Kelsey Mitchell (15) and Las Vegas Experts’ Jackie Youthful (15) were completely disposed of in the principal round.
Ionescu’s stunning surge, which highlighted 20 back to back makes at a certain point, evoked wonder from the by and large favorable to Experts swarm, Freedom proprietors Joe and Clara Wu Tsai, a group of 30 relatives in the stands and her friends in the association, including four-time 3-point challenge victor Quigley, who is taking this season off.
Ionescu commented on the performance, which set a record for consecutive three-point conversions in NBA and WNBA competitions, “Yeah, I knew they were going in.” There is euphoria. It was the last round. I was determined not to lose in the Skills [Challenge] again.
Ionescu took the advice of Liberty teammate and Quigley’s wife Courtney Vandersloot to practice shooting from a rack prior to the competition, which paid off. In any case, even in normal season play, Ionescu’s 54 three pointers are second in the association, while her 44.6% clasp is fourth-best. Ionescu had never shot better than 33.3% from beyond the arc in a fully healthy season before this year.
The previous Oregon star, who is likewise the university chief in triple-copies, said that she’ll send the challenge’s film to Freedom lead trainer Sandy Brondello so that she’ll run some more 3-point plays for her once games list of references.
“I’ve invested a ton of energy to have the option to shoot like I have been from the 3-point line,” Ionescu said. ” This one’s really fulfilling.”
The Pros’ team of Kelsey Plum and Chelsea Dim brought back home prizes Friday in the Abilities Challenge, beating the Freedom’s pair of Ionescu and Vandersloot in the last. In the first round, the Wings’ Ogunbowale and Satou Sabally, as well as the Atlanta Dream’s Allisha Gray and Cheyenne Parker, were eliminated.
This late spring was the first where the association utilized a configuration with partners collaborating to vie for the award.
“It was an energy, it was fun,” Dark said. ” The energy was fantastic.
The 2023 WNBA Top pick Game happens Saturday at 8:30 p.m. ET on ABC.
ESPN Details and Data research was utilized in this report.
