It is one thing to win either a Skills Challenge or a 3-Point competition as part of the day prior to the All-Star Game.
It is another thing entirely to win both on the same night. In fact, prior to Friday July 19, 2024 no one had ever accomplished the feat of winning both WNBA competitions.
Rules were meant to be broken and history was meant to be made. Ask Allisha Gray.
Since she was entered into both competitions, she had a chance to accomplish a noteworthy feat. Gray indeed did just that.
The Atlanta Dream star got her evening started on the correct pair of sneakers by prevailing in the Skills Competition. Despite her opposition in said competition – Sophie Cunningham – having the home court advantage in the finals since she plays for the Phoenix Mercury, Gray bested Cunningham to bring home what would be the first of two trophies.
Gray and Cunningham began WNBA All-Star Friday by participating in the Skills Competition alongside another hometown favorite in Brittney Griner as well as Marina Mabrey who was recently acquired by the Connecticut Sun. Erica Wheeler was also scheduled to participate but Kelsey Mitchell, her Indiana Fever teammate had to compete in her stead due to a flight issue.
Mitchell not only took part, but wore Wheeler’s No. 17 jersey while doing so.
It would be a 31.2 second finish for Gray in the first round and a 35.5 for Cunningham, barely beating out Mabrey’s 35.7-second showing.
Gray then capped everything off with her victory in the 3-Point Contest. It came down to her and the New York Liberty’s Jonquel Jones. Following a 22-point performance in the finals, Jones had a chance to either tie or defeat Gray.
Jones’ try came down to the final shot on her final rack. At that point, Jones had already accumulated a grand total of 21 points. Her final money ball shot which would have won it was unsuccessful, sealing Gray’s place in All-Star history.
Let us also not forget she is in the actual All-Star Game for Team WNBA vs. Team USA.
Gray may have outdone Jones in the final round, but in the first round of this year’s 3-Point Contest, Jones actually got the better of gray. Conventional wisdom is that fives like Jones may not be expected to successfully make 3-pointers, but talents such as Jones understand that conventional wisdom must be defied.
Jones’ score in the first round was 25 to outdo the 23 score that was posted by Gray. This year’s 3-Point Contest also saw the Minnesota Lynx’s Kayla McBride conclude her evening with a 21-point showing. In the first round, McBride made her final three shots on her last rack to hold off elimination.
Stefanie Dolson of the Washington Mystics finished her first round with a 20-point performance and Mabrey would tally 19.
Throughout the W’s history, only three players had won both the Skills Challenge and 3-Point Contest. Alongside Gray, the other two were Becky Hammon and Sabrina Ionescu.
Hammon won the Skills Challenge in 2007 when that year’s All-Star festivities were held in Washington, D.C. Two years later, she followed that up by striking 3-Point Contest paydirt in Connecticut.
Ionescu won the Skills Challenge in 2022 in Chicago – a year when the competition had a unique wrinkle to it where every professional participant was paired up with a top high school prospect at the time. She was teamed up with Zoe Brooks who is now at NC State.
And, of course, we know what Ionescu pulled off last year at Michelob Ultra Arena in Las Vegas – she had the 37-point final which was the most ever in a 3-Point Contest for either WNBA or its NBA equivalent.
In addition, a new showcase was added to All-Star Friday night to compliment the Skills Challenge and 3-Point Contest. It was a 3×3 challenge which featured Team USA and the U23 Select team.
The U23 squad, keyed by Ohio State’s Cotie McMahon and LSU’s Mikaylah Williams, it appeared would pull off quite the upset over national team. Thanks to the early heroics of Dearica Hamby and the late heroics of Rhyne Howard, who finished with 12 of the team’s points, the national team prevailed by a final score of 19-16.
