Sabrina Ionescu is fresh off the best shooting game of her WNBA career and Arike Ogunbowale is right behind her on the 3-point sharpshooting list.
The star guards will look to put on a show when Ionescu’s New York Liberty host Ogunbowale and the Dallas Wings on Sunday afternoon.
Ionescu scored a career-high 37 points and set a franchise record with eight 3-pointers — another career best — as New York (5-2) routed the host Atlanta Dream 106-83 on Friday night.
Ionescu averaged 4.5 points on 3-of-16 shooting — including 1 of 9 from 3-point range — over the previous two games before breaking out big. She was 8 of 13 from behind the arc while falling one shy of Kelsey Mitchell’s WNBA single-game record of nine, set in 2019.
“My teammates got me the ball,” Ionescu said. “I was just thankful we won at the end of the day. I was just making the reads and shooting if I’m open.”
Ionescu, who is averaging 15.7 points per game, led the WNBA entering Saturday’s play with 24 3-pointers. Ogunbowale was second with 21.
Breanna Stewart leads New York in scoring (23.9) and rebounding (10.3). She had 25 points and nine rebounds against Atlanta.
Stewart ranks second in the WNBA in scoring and the Dallas duo of Ogunbowale (22.4) and Satou Sabally (21.8) rank third and fourth, respectively. Sabally leads the league in rebounding at 11.3 per game.
Ogunbowale put on her own show Friday with season bests of 35 points and five 3-pointers as Dallas (5-3) completed a two-game home sweep of the Phoenix Mercury with a 90-77 victory.
“This was her 13th 30-point game in her career,” first-year Wings coach Latricia Trammell said. “I mean, she just sets the tone. She can hit big shots when we need them like she did. She watches a lot of film. She wants to enhance her skillset and try to create more for her teammates as well.”
Sabally added 17 points and a season-high 16 rebounds for her fifth straight double-double and sixth of the season.
Sabally will face her younger sister, Nyara, for the first time in their WNBA careers. Nyara Sabally is averaging 4.6 points and 2.6 rebounds in five appearances off the bench for the Liberty.
–Field Level Media