PHOENIX — Just 20 minutes before receiving the WNBA All-Star Game MVP trophy, Arike Ogunbowale had zero points.
The team trailed by two and coach Cheryl Miller turned to her starting guard, urging her to take a deep breath and just focus on playing her game.
“Then, I guess you guys saw what happened,” Ogunbowale said with a smirk, sharing the postgame press conference table with teammate Nneka Ogwumike and her two-foot-tall star-shaped glass trophy.
On a scorching weekend in Phoenix, the only thing hotter than the weather was Ogunbowale’s second half. The Dallas Wings star dropped 21 points in the third quarter alone and finished with a record 34. She also led Team WNBA to a narrow, yet decisive, 117-109 victory on Saturday night in front of a sold-out crowd at Footprint Center in Phoenix.
“She’s the best one-on-one player in this league,” Team WNBA guard Caitlin Clark said. “She can get whatever shot whenever she wants it. That’s how good she is with the ball It was fun to watch.”
She had plenty of support too with four teammates finishing in double figures. Allisha Gray, who swept the 3-Point Contest and Skills Challenge a day prior, had 16 points. Then, Ogwumike had 14, Kelsey Mitchell scored 13 and Angle Reese recorded a double-double with 12 points and 11 rebounds.
“We kind of got wind that they were gonna come out hard so that’s exactly what we wanted to do as well,” Ogunbowale said.
It was Ogunbowale’s second All-Star MVP award and fourth appearance. The first of each came in 2021 when she scored 26.
While her Dallas Wings struggled in the first half of the season, this kind of dominant performance certainly isn’t out of place for Ogunbowale, who is averaging 22.3 points per game. That’s the second-highest mark of her career. She’s also averaging career-highs in rebounds, assists and steals with 4.8, 5.2 and 2.7, respectively.
“I think it is just a testimony to my hard work regardless, win, lose or draw,” Ogunbowale said. “I’m gonna play my game and that’s what I’ve been doing for Dallas. This is good to get a win even if it doesn’t count.”
And although she fielded a few questions about whether there was added personal incentive, playing against the U.S. women’s basketball team, Ogunbowale graciously side-stepped. After all, she was the one who removed herself from consideration months prior.
Her stat line told its own story though, and it’s one that we’ll surely hear again after the Olympic break.
“If I hear somebody’s trying to beat me, I’m going to try to beat them twice as hard.”
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