Team USA falls to WNBA All-Star team less than a week before Olympics

PHOENIX — Arike Ogunbowale set the WNBA All-Star scoring document with 34 factors and Caitlin Clark made essentially the most of her All-Star debut because the WNBA group beat the U.S. Olympic group 117-109 on Saturday night time.

It was the second consecutive win for the WNBA All-Star group over the Olympians. The All-Stars additionally gained in 2021 led by Ogunbowale, who was MVP of each that sport and this one.

That loss was the one one which the Individuals had in 2021 en path to profitable their seventh consecutive Olympic gold medal. The U.S. hopes for a similar ends in Paris later this month. No group on this planet might match the depth or expertise that the WNBA All-Stars had.

Saturday’s loss got here hours after the U.S. males’s Olympic group rallied to beat South Sudan by one level in an exhibition sport in London.

The U.S. will subsequent play Germany in London for an exhibition sport Tuesday earlier than going to France for the Olympics. The Individuals are in a pool with Belgium, Japan and Germany.

Stream each second and each medal of the 2024 Paris Olympics on Peacock, beginning with the Opening Ceremony July 26 at 12 p.m. ET.

Ogunbowale as soon as once more was a thorn within the facet of the U.S. group, scoring all of her factors within the second half. The 2021 All-Star MVP took over the sport within the third quarter scoring 21 factors, hitting six of her 10 pictures, together with 5 3-pointers. The U.S. group threw all the things on the Dallas Wings star however they simply couldn’t cease her.

Ogunbowale has been within the U.S. nationwide group pool for the previous two Olympics, however didn’t make the roster both time. She pulled her title out of the pool of gamers early this time round saying the entire course of was political.

By the point Ogunbowale was finished within the third quarter, the WNBA All-Stars had turned a two-point halftime deficit into an 88-79 lead. She broke Jewell Loyd’s general All-Star scoring document of 31 set final yr with a 3-pointer late within the fourth quarter.

The Olympians, who’ve solely practiced collectively for 2 days, by no means actually threatened. Breanna Stewart scored 31 factors and A’ja Wilson added 22.

There was a lot hype and power round this All-Star Recreation with the debuts of phenomenal rookies Clark and Angel Reese. The pair have helped raise the WNBA to new heights this season with document attendance and viewership.

It was their first time the younger stars had ever performed collectively. One among Clark’s 10 assists got here to Reese, who completed with 12 factors and 11 rebounds.

The sport was put in Phoenix to have a good time the 20-year profession of Mercury star Diana Taurasi and the return of Brittney Griner from her wrongful detainment in Russia in 2022.

“This will likely be one of many single hardest issues to focus on. Is definitely teaching the group due to what’s taking place,” U.S. coach Cheryl Reeve stated. “It is without doubt one of the biggest spectacles, I believe, within the historical past of our league.”

Whereas Clark and Reese got loud ovations from the group in pregame introductions, nothing matched the applause for Taurasi, who was taking part in in her eleventh All-Star Recreation.

She bought the scoring began with a 3-pointer from the wing within the back-and-forth first half which noticed the U.S. maintain a slim 54-52 lead. It didn’t final lengthy because the WNBA group scored 9 of the primary 11 factors within the third quarter to take management.