Ogunbowale, Kaitlyn Clark lead WNBA stars to 117-109 win over U.S. Olympic team

PHOENIX (AP) — Ariake Ogunbowale was the dominant scorer on the field. Caitlin Clark was the best passer. Angel Reyes was the usual double-digit scoring machine.

The United States may still have the best team at the Olympics, but in the All-Star Game, they didn’t have all of their best players on Saturday night.

Ogunbowale Set an All-Star Game scoring record with 34 points. Clarke fell short of her goal in her first All-Star appearance as the WNBA defeated the U.S. Olympic team 117-109.

This was the WNBA All-Stars’ second straight win over the Olympians. The All-Stars also won in 2021, led by Ogunbowale, who was named MVP in both that game and this one.

“This is going to help us a lot,” said Brianna Stewart, who scored 31 points to lead the U.S. “We don’t get a lot of opportunities to play. We can go back and watch film and focus on how we can continue to improve. It was a little bit of a do-over but we were trying to focus on what happened.”

The loss didn’t derail the Americans’ 2021 run, as they went on to win their seventh straight Olympic gold medal. The U.S. hopes to do the same in Paris later this month. No team in the world can match the depth or talent of the WNBA’s stars.

“Does Ariki play for any of the teams we play?” asked U.S. coach Cheryl Reeve.

Saturday’s loss came hours after the U.S. Olympic men’s team recovered to beat South Sudan. In one point In an exhibition match in London.

The U.S. women’s team will play an exhibition match against Germany in London next Tuesday before heading to France for the Olympics. The team is in a group with Belgium, Japan and Germany.

“We have work to do and we know that. Sometimes it’s good or it’s tough and stuff. I don’t think we needed a game like this to get our attention. We know how hard it is to do what we’re trying to do and we have work to do to get there,” Reeve said.

Ogunbowale was once again a thorn in the side of the USA, scoring all of her points in the second half. The 2021 MVP took control of the game in the third quarter, scoring 21 points and hitting six of her 10 shots, including five three-pointers. The USA threw everything they had at the Dallas Wings star, but they couldn’t stop her.

Ogunbowale said WNBA coach Cheryl Miller said something to her at halftime about having to be more aggressive.

“He told me to take a deep breath and go out and play my game,” she said.

Ogunbowale has been on the U.S. national team for the past two Olympics, but was not included in the roster both times. She withdrew her name from the roster early this time, saying: The whole process was political..

By the time Ogunbowale finished the third quarter, the WNBA All-Stars had turned a two-point halftime deficit into an 88-79 lead. She broke the all-star record set by Jewel Lloyd last year with 31 points in a game last year with a 3-pointer late in the fourth quarter.

The Olympians, who had only trained together for two days, posed no real threat at all.

Aja Wilson added 22 points.

There was a lot of hype and energy around this All-Star game with Debut of the amazing new talents Clark and Reese.The duo helped lift the WNBA to new heights this season by setting record attendance and viewership numbers.

It was the first time the two young stars had played together. One of Clarke’s 10 assists was decisive. came to the presidentWho finished the game with 12 points and 11 rebounds.

“We knew after our short 30-minute practice yesterday that we were going to win, the tone was set,” Reese said.

Clark finished the season one assist shy of Sue Bird’s All-Star record.

“That’s Sue’s record. I can’t take that from her, she’s my friend,” Clark said.

The match was held in Phoenix to celebrate 20 years of Mercury star Diana Taurasi and Brittney Griner’s return from unjust detention in Russia in 2022.

“This is going to be one of the toughest games we have to focus on,” Reeve said. “It’s really a training game for the team because of what’s going on. I think it’s one of the greatest games in the history of our league.”

While Clark and Reese received a standing ovation from the crowd during their pregame introductions, nothing matched the applause for Taurasi, who was playing in her 11th All-Star Game.

She started the scoring with a three-pointer from the wing in the first half that saw the USA lead 54-52. It didn’t last long as the WNBA team scored nine of the first 11 points of the third quarter to take control.