Liberty's Sabrina Ionescu breaks 3-point contest record for WNBA and NBA, surpassing Steph Curry

New York Liberty guard Sabrina Ionescu electrified the crowd Friday by hitting 20 straight shots and scoring a record 37 of a possible 40 points to win the three-point shooting contest during WNBA all-star weekend in a performance that will be incredibly difficult to match.

She made 25 of 27 shots in Las Vegas to break the event record for the WNBA and NBA — and nearly meeting her own high standards.

"Shouldn't have missed two," Ionescu said. "It was the final round. I had just lost in the skills. I wasn't going to lose again."

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The Las Vegas Aces' team of Chelsea Gray and Kelsey Plum won the skills competition with a time of 44.3 seconds in the final round, easily beating the 58.0 put up by the Ionescu and Liberty teammate Courtney Vandersloot.

In the three-point contest, Ionescu beat the Seattle Storm's Sami Whitcomb and the Dallas Wings' Arike Ogunbowale in the final. Whitcomb had 24 points and Ogunbowale 11.

Allie Quigley, who has won a record four three-point contests, including the past two, is not playing this season. Her absence cleared the way for someone else to step up.

Ionescu did more than just that, beating Quigley's mark of 30 points set just last year.

"UNBELIEVABLE!!! This record won't ever be broken," Quigley tweeted.

Ionescu also bested the Indiana Pacers' Tyrese Haliburton from earlier this year and Stephen Curry's NBA record of 31 points set in 2021, and the Golden State Warriors' star shooter noticed.

"RIDICULOUS!" Curry tweeted at Ionescu.

Ionescu posed for a photo imitating Curry's famous lights-out pose while holding her newly won trophy. She also