Liberty's Sabrina Ionescu wins WNBA All-Star 3-point contest - ESPN

INDIANAPOLIS — Sabrina Ionescu won the 3-point contest and her New York Liberty teammate Natasha Cloud was the skills champion Friday night as part of the WNBA's All-Star Weekend.

Ionescu, who won the title in 2023 with a record performance, had a strong final round, scoring 30 points. It was less than her record-breaking effort of 37 two years ago when she made 25 of 27 shots, the most ever in either the WNBA or NBA. The total of 30 matched the second highest in the event.

Atlanta's Allisha Gray, who made her own history last year by winning the 3-point shootout and skills competition, fell short in both this time. She had 22 points in the 3-point contest.

Ionescu's 30 points was the second highest in a WNBA 3-point contest.

Gray went last in the opening round and needed to beat Kelsey Plum's 22 points to reach the final round. Gray hit her final four shots, including the money ball, to tie Ionescu and advance.

Plum, from the Los Angeles Sparks, was looking to become the first player in WNBA history to win an All-Star MVP (2022), skills challenge (2023) and 3-point contest.

Lexie Hull, who was a fill-in for Indiana teammate Caitlin Clark, who injured her right groin on Tuesday night, scored 20 points to finish fourth. Clark hyped up the crowd from the sideline before Hull's turn.

Washington rookie Sonia Citron scored 19 points in the opening round.

Cloud had the fastest time in the first round of the obstacle course that combines passing, dribbling and shooting. She needed to beat Seattle's Erica Wheeler's mark of 37.5 seconds in the finals. Cloud won despite missing all three of her shots from the corner over the windmill defender. She was able to get through the obstacle course in 36.4 seconds.

After beating Wheeler,