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 probably the most of her All-Star debut because the WNBA crew beat the U.S. Olympic crew 117-109 on Saturday evening.

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

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

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

The U.S. will subsequent play Germany in London for an exhibition recreation Tuesday earlier than going to France for the Olympics. The People 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. crew, 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 photographs, together with 5 3-pointers. The U.S. crew threw all the things on the Dallas Wings star however they simply couldn’t cease her.

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

By the point Ogunbowale was executed 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 total All-Star scoring document of 31 set final 12 months 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 vitality round this All-Star Sport with the debuts of phenomenal rookies Clark and Angel Reese. The pair have helped carry 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 in all Clark’s 10 assists got here to Reese, who completed with 12 factors and 11 rebounds.

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

“This might be one of many single hardest issues to focus on. Is definitely teaching the crew due to what’s taking place,” U.S. coach Cheryl Reeve mentioned. “It is among 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 enjoying in her eleventh All-Star Sport.

She acquired 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 crew scored 9 of the primary 11 factors within the third quarter to take management.