Sabrina Ionescu Breaks WNBA and NBA Records for Most Points in 3-Point Shooting Contest
Sabrina Ionescu broke WNBA and NBA records for most points in a 3-point shooting contest by hitting all but two of her treys in the final round of Friday's competition.
The New York Liberty's Sabrina Ionescu made history on Friday night, breaking WNBA and NBA records for most points in a 3-point shooting contest. Ionescu scored 37 points in the final round, surpassing the single-round record of 31 in the NBA (done by Stephen Curry in 2021 and Tyrese Haliburton in 2023) and 30 in the WNBA (Allie Quigley in 2022).
Ionescu's jaw-dropping onslaught, which featured 20 consecutive makes at one point, evoked awe from the generally pro-Aces crowd, Liberty owners Joe and Clara Wu Tsai, a contingent of 30 family members in the stands and her peers in the league, including four-time 3-point contest winner Quigley, who is taking this season off and tweeted her amazement.
"UNBELIEVABLE!!! This record won't ever be broken," Quigley wrote.
Curry also took to Twitter to express his respect for Ionescu's torrid shooting display, writing, "RIDICULOUS!"
Liberty teammate Courtney Vandersloot, Quigley's wife, advised Ionescu to practice shooting from a rack heading into the competition, guidance Ionescu took that paid dividends. But even in regular-season play, Ionescu's 54 treys are second in the league, while her 44.6% clip is fourth-best. Prior to this year, Ionescu hadn't shot better than 33.3% from beyond the arc in a fully-healthy season.
"Yeah, I knew they were going in," Ionescu said of the performance, a record in NBA and WNBA 3-point competitions for consecutive conversions. "There's adrenaline. It was the final round. I had just lost in the Skills [Challenge] and I wasn't going to lose again."
The former Oregon star, who is also the collegiate leader in triple-doubles, said that she'll send the contest's film to Liberty head coach Sandy Brondello so that she'll run some more 3-point plays for her once games résumé.
"I've put in a lot of work to be able to shoot like I have been from the 3-point line," Ionescu said. "This one's pretty rewarding."
The 2023 WNBA All-Star Game takes place Saturday at 8:30 p.m. ET on ABC.
You must know:
- Ionescu's performance was the highest-scoring in any WNBA All-Star shooting event, surpassing the previous record of 32 points set by Quigley in 2018.
- Ionescu's record-breaking performance was also the highest-scoring in any NBA or WNBA 3-point shooting contest since Curry scored 31 points in 2021.
- Ionescu's performance was the first time a player had scored more than 30 points in a WNBA 3-point shooting contest.
- Ionescu's performance was the most dominant in any WNBA 3-point shooting contest since Quigley scored 28 points in 2017.
