Arike Ogunbowale tears up Team USA with All-Star record 34 points
Arike Ogunbowale set the WNBA All-Star Game scoring record with 34 points in the WNBA team defeated their U.S. Olympic squad 117-109.
By Josh Weinfuss
Jul 21, 2024 03:01 AM
PHOENIX — Arike Ogunbowale sat in the locker room at halftime of Saturday’s WNBA All-Star Game with zero points and Team WNBA trailing by two. Coach Cheryl Miller pointed to Ogunbowale and called her out in a surprise move.
“I wasn’t expecting her to say my name,” Ogunbowale stated. “She just told me to take a deep breath and play my game.”
That’s what she did.
Ogunbowale broke an WNBA All-Star Game record with 34 points, which earned the 2nd All-Star Game MVP and lead Team WNBA to winning 117-109 against Team USA in front of 16,407 spectators at the Footprint Center.
“I guess you guys saw what happened,” Ogunbowale stated.
Miller’s call to action was immediately successful. Ogunbowale scored 21 points during the third quarter, which was the highest score in a single period during WNBA All-Star Game history -and set the stage for an exact replica of what her team and the WNBA achieved three years ago when they beat Team USA in the first All-Star Weekend with the WNBA-USA Basketball format. Ogunbowale was also named the The 2021 All-Star Game MVP with 26 scoring points.
The national team bounced back from the loss to take home the gold medal at Tokyo.
“It was like a little bit of a deja vu feeling, honestly,” said Team USA forward Breanna Stewart who scored an impressive double-double of the score of 31 points and 10 rebound.
As a response to a post-game question which inadvertently referred to an NBA rather than the WNBA, Team USA coach Cheryl Reeve quickly quipped about Ogunbowale, saying “It felt like we were guarding somebody from the NBA?”
Ogunbowale was the first to remove her name of the list of possible candidates in an upcoming spot on the U.S. women’s national team in the spring of this year.
In the course of Reeve’s postgame news conference the coach uttered a witty comment. “Is Arike playing for any of these teams that we’re going to play?” she asked, laughing.
Ogunbowale’s score of 34 points was the second highest scoring game in any half of WNBA history, which includes the playoffs, regular season, All-Star Games and the Commissioner’s Cup, according to ESPN Stats & Information research. The only exception was Riquna Williams scoring 35 points during the 2nd period to the Tulsa Shock in a 2013 regular-season game, scored more.
That made Ogunbowale to become only the fourth person in history to earn numerous WNBA All-Star Game MVPs, along with Lisa Leslie and Maya Moore, who each earned three along with Swin Cash with two.
“Those are three greats, people who paved the way for players like us,” Ogunbowale added. “That’s definitely dope to be in that conversation.”
Ogunbowale’s game was the top of the cake at the historical WNBA All-Star Game. Stewart was the first player to score thirty points, and 10 rebound during the WNBA All-Star Game, and Chicago Sky rookie Angel Reese became the first rookie player to score an unbeaten double-double with 11 rebounds and 12 points.
Team America’s A’ja Wilson scored 22 points, Diana Taurasi added 14 points and Brittney Griner scored 10 points.
Ogunbowale was joined by the Team WNBA with Allisha Gray‘s 16 points, Nneka Ogwumike‘s 14 and Kelsey Mitchell‘s 13. Indiana Fever rookie Caitlin Clark Caitlin Clark, who earned the starting position with the highest votes of all players, scored 10 assists, which was one less the record of Sue Bird‘s All-Star Game record set three days after establishing the WNBA single-game record by registering 19 assists.
“That’s Sue’s record,” Clark declared. “I can’t take that from her. That’s my homey.”
Clark has been asked by a reporter if she thought Saturday night’s win was a vindication for being excluded from the Olympic team. Clark directly replied, “No.”
“I mean, they’re really good,” Clark stated. “They were a lot of talent on the team. I’m saying, it’s similar, I believe three years earlier. I’m pretty certain that Team WNBA defeated Team USA.
“They did a great job at the Olympics. In my opinion the fact that they were fine highlights how well our league really is.”
Clark and Reese were able to connect during the fourth quarter, when Clark moved left after which she threw the ball bounce for Reese following Team USA center Griner picked up Clark. Reese played a layup and she and Clark celebrated high-fives on their way back down the court.
“I thought that they were professional, like, as anyone at this level would be,” Team WNBA forward Ogwumike expressed his opinion regarding Reese as well as Clark. “I’m always impressed with both of them. I thought it was also a lot of fun to watch them play together this evening. They shared a lot of synergy and maturity possess not just playing in All-Stars but also dealing with the massive amount of attention that they receive as two rookies who are receiving much attention.
“And the final stage is, of course it was a time to be celebrated as well. I’d like to think they had fun today and I’m sure that’s the most important thing, especially for those who are first-time All-Stars is to have fun with the moment. They also contributed to our success too.”