CHICAGO (AP) — Azzi Fudd of the Dallas Wings became the first rookie to win the WNBA All-Star 3-point contest, scoring 30 points in the championship round Friday night
The No. 1 pick in the WNBA draft hit her first six shots in the finals to get into rhythm. She edged Bridget Carleton, from the expansion Portland Fire, who had 29 points in the opening round.
Carleton got off to a slow start in the finals and couldn't recover, finishing with 19 points.
Fudd's total matched Sabrina Ionescu's winning number from last season. Fudd's Dallas teammate Alysha Clark was wearing a Fudd's No. 3 jersey.
Elena Delle Donne, Shakira Austin and high schooler Jezelle Banks led team Washington to the Shooting Stars championship to tipoff the All-Star festivities. The trio scored 31 points to edge Seattle’s three in the finals, with Banks hitting two of the 4-point shots from just inside halfcourt to put the team over the top.
Carleton had a stellar first-round, scoring 29 points. She hit 13 of her first 16 shots. Fudd, the No. 1 pick in the WNBA draft this past April by Dallas, also had a great opening round scoring 24 points. She made four of her final five shots.
Carleton’s hot shooting in the opening round brought the crowd, which included Jayson Tatum, Russell Westbrook, NBA Commissioner Adam Silver, Dwyane Wade and Sheryl Swoopes, to its feet.
Other players in 3-point contest were Atlanta’s Rhyne Howard, who scored 20 points, Golden State’s Janelle Salaun, who had 19 points; Toronto’s Marina Mabrey, who had 18 and Minnesota’s Natisha Heideman, who had 17.
In the Shooting Stars competition, Seattle had 24 points to finish as runner-up after missing all of the team’s 4-point shots.
This was the first year that the contest was conducted. A skills competition was done in previous All-Star weekends. The format was a two-round, timed shooting competition in which teams had 70 seconds to score as many points as possible from seven shooting locations around the court. The competition featured shots ranging from a layup to the 4-pointer.
Washington had the highest score in the preliminary round, posting 35 points. Once again, Banks hit 4-point shots to help her team reach the championship round.
Seattle’s squad needed to beat the 20 points that the Detroit/Dallas team put up to advance to the finals. High schooler Tatianna Griffin hit two of the 4-point shots to help Seattle reach the finals. Minnesota finished in fourth with 19 points with a team of Courtney Williams, Rebbekah Brunson and Ryan Carter.
Detroit/Dallas had former Shock great Deanna Nolan, Wings All-Star Jessica Shepard and high schooler Morghan Reckley.
The new CBA gave Fudd $20,000 for winning the 3-point contest and each participant received $10,000. That’s about eight-times last season’s prize money.
Each shooting stars winner received $15,000. Each competitor, not including the high school players, will receive $7,500. Last year, the winners of the skills contest each received $2,575 from the WNBA.
In addition Aflac, like it has the past two years, gave extra money to the winners. Fudd took home $40,000 for winning the 3-point contest. Carleton received $30,000 for finishing second and Howard got $15,000 for placing third.
Team Washington got $40,000 from Aflac with Seattle receiving $32,500 and Dallas $12,500.
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AP WNBA: https://apnews.com/hub/wnba-basketball
