Even with regular-season action paused for WNBA All-Star 2025, the New York Liberty have kept on winning.
On Friday, Natasha Cloud won the Skills Competition by beating the Seattle Storm’s Erica Wheeler in the final, and Sabrina Ionescu lifted her second 3-Point Contest trophy after defeating the Atlanta Dream’s Allisha Gray.
Things we love: THIS! Two teammates take home the prize as contest winners for Friday Night All-Star action! Sabrina Ionescu and Natasha Cloud run the night pic.twitter.com/Y3JBhK6mVD
— WNBA (@WNBA) July 19, 2025AD
Ionescu wins again
The 3-point Contest is often one of the biggest highlights during WNBA All-Star Weekend, and this year it was no different. Ionescu went first in the final round and scored 30, and after Gray ended with 22, Sabrina was the champion once again.
Sabrina Ionescu puts up a MONSTER 30 PTS to reclaim her STARRY 3-Point Contest title pic.twitter.com/qgRwN2OPTQ
— WNBA (@WNBA) July 19, 2025
This is the second time Ionescu has won the 3-Point Contest. Ionescu was victorious back in 2023 when she scored a jaw-dropping 37 out of a possible 40. That’s the highest point total anyone has ever reached in a WNBA or NBA 3-point competition. Given her two 3-Point Contest wins, Ionescu has a claim to being the best contest shooter in WNBA history, with only Allie Quigley, who won the contest a record four times, having a case against her.
Ionescu said she will donate half of her winnings from this event to her charity, and the other half will go to rookie Sonia Citron. She wanted to reward the rookie for having the guts to participate in such an intense event.
Sabrina Ionescu said she's going to give Sonia Citron half of her winnings from the 3-point contest. Ionescu wanted to support the rookie -- whom she said was nervous going into tonight -- for having the guts to be the only first-year to participate in the event.
— Alexa Philippou (@alexaphilippou) July 19, 2025
Citron, Kelsey Plum and Lexie Hull were the other three participants who did not advance to the finals. In the first round, Plum had 22 points, Hull scored 20 and Citron had 19. Gray and Ionescu both scored 25 in the first round before Sabrina broke the tie in the final showdown.
Caitlin Clark was scheduled to participate, but she re-aggravated her groin injury, which took her out of this weekend’s festivities. Hull replaced her in the 3-point competition.
On Cloud 9
In the Skills Competition, Cloud edged out Wheeler by just 1.1 seconds in the final round to come out on top. While both players were in a fierce competition, Wheeler celebrated Cloud’s victory, cheering and hugging her underneath the basket as soon as the buzzer sounded.
SETTING THE STANDARD @T_Cloud4 clocks in at 34.1 seconds taking 1st place as she heads into the final round of the Skills Challenge pic.twitter.com/tsfcM6uOug
— New York Liberty (@nyliberty) July 19, 2025
Cloud is the second Liberty player ever to win the Skills Competition. Ionescu won it back in 2022.
The winner of this contest takes home $55,000, and Cloud said she would use this extra funds to help her put a down payment on a house. Cloud also said she would be sleeping with the trophy, but her girlfriend, Liberty player Izzy Harrison, had an emphatic rebuttal to that idea.
Natasha Cloud says that her skills challenge trophy is going to sleep in the bed tonight.
— Kendra Andrews (@kendra__andrews) July 19, 2025
To which her girlfriend Izzy Harrison yells "No it's not!" from the back of the press conference room.
Skylar Diggins, Allisha Gray and Courtney Williams were the other three participants in the Skills Competition.
More from swishappeal.com:
- Swish Appeal’s new editor-in-chief is ...
- Watch Emma Meesseman’s EuroLeague Women Final Four highlights
- FIBA EuroLeague Women 2017-18 Sunday Recap: Emma Meesseman named MVP after UMMC wins title
- Tina Thompson named Virginia Cavaliers women’s basketball head coach
- Cheryl Reeve writes about her development and experiences with gender inequality
