The 2025 WNBA All-Star Weekend kicked off with some thrilling action as Sabrina Ionescu made history in the 3-Point Contest, while Allisha Gray couldn’t defend her previous titles. Here’s a breakdown of the winners and losers from Friday’s exciting events.
Winner: Sabrina Ionescu Bounces Back
Ionescu, the New York Liberty star, showed resilience by becoming the second WNBA player ever to win the 3-Point Contest multiple times. She was motivated by a loss to NBA star Stephen Curry during an All-Star event in Indianapolis, where she felt the need to redeem herself.
Despite struggling with her accuracy during the first round, she advanced with 25 points and caught fire in the second round, hitting 11 consecutive shots.
In the final, Ionescu posted 30 points to secure the win, making history by joining Allie Quigley as one of the few players to win the trophy twice. She now holds the top two scores in both the WNBA and NBA with 37 points (2023) and 30 points (2025).
Ionescu’s words:
“I’m pretty disappointed,” she said after the competition. “I feel like I missed a few easy ones that I definitely could have made, so I’m sorry about that.”
Loser: Allisha Gray Can’t Defend Her Titles
After winning both the Skills Challenge and the 3-Point Contest last year, Allisha Gray came up short in her attempt to repeat. In the Skills Challenge, her performance faltered after she missed three chest passes, leaving her with a 39.4-second time that wasn’t enough to advance.
She expressed her frustration afterward, saying, “Girl, I couldn’t throw it in that circle for nothing.”
Gray didn’t let the setback hold her down, though. In the 3-Point Contest, she made it to the final round with 25 points, the same score as Ionescu, but struggled to find her rhythm and finished with 22 points. While she didn’t win, her performance was still impressive.
Winner: Liberty Pull Off a Sweep
The New York Liberty had a stellar night, becoming the third WNBA team to sweep both the 3-Point Contest and Skills Challenge. In a first-time appearance in the Skills Challenge, Natasha Cloud rose to the occasion and secured the win with a time of 36.4 seconds, edging out Erica Wheeler from the Seattle Storm.
This marked Cloud’s first Skills Challenge victory, joining Sabrina Ionescu, who won in 2022, in making it a Liberty sweep. The Liberty became only the third team in history to achieve such a feat, joining the San Antonio Silver Stars (2009) and the Atlanta Dream (2024).
Winner: Sonia Citron Earns Sabrina Ionescu’s Respect
While Sonia Citron didn’t make it past the first round of the 3-Point Contest, finishing with 19 points, her performance earned her significant praise from Ionescu. Citron, a Washington Mystics rookie, leads all rookies in 3-point shooting this season and has certainly made her mark.
Ionescu, impressed by her fellow player, offered Citron half of her prize money if she won. “I was really proud of her,” Ionescu said, acknowledging the courage it took for Citron, as a rookie, to step up in the competition.
