A'ja Wilson scores 22 points for Team USA in 2024 WNBA All-Star Game
South Carolina women's basketball legend A'ja Wilson, who has had a dominant start to her seventh year with the Las Vegas Aces, dropped 22 points for Team USA in the 2024 WNBA All-Star Game before heading off to the Paris Olympics.
As Wilson made two free throws with 30 seconds left, the crowd started chanting "MVP! MVP! MVP!" on Saturday at Footprint Center in Phoenix. Team USA lost to Team WNBA 117-109, but she's the clear front-runner for her third league MVP award.
Wilson, who made her sixth All-Star appearance, shot 8-for-13 and had six rebounds, three assists and three steals. She went 2-for-3 from 3-point range and played 29 minutes.
She has established herself as a 3-point threat this season, shooting a career-best 39.5% on 1.6 attempts per game.
The two-time WNBA champion was on the gold-medal team at the 2020 Tokyo Games. She is leading the league in scoring (27.2 points), rebounding (12) and blocks (2.9). She's also fifth in the league in steals (1.9) and leads the WNBA in PER (35.7) and win shares (7).
Allisha Gray first WNBA player to win skills, 3-point contest in same year
Former South Carolina star Allisha Gray had a big payout and made history Friday when she became the first WNBA player to win both the skills challenge and the 3-point contest.
She won $115,150, thanks to a sponsorship from Aflac, which was writing $55,000 checks for the winner of each contests. Gray also got $5,150 from the league. For the Atlanta Dream guard, it combined to equal 62.2% of her WNBA salary of $185,000.
Allisha Gray scores double figures for Team WNBA
Gray wasn't picked as a starter for Team WNBA, but that didn't matter. She led the team in scoring off the bench in the first half with 12 points in 13 minutes. She went 7-for-7 from the free-throw line in the half, two of them thanks to a hard foul by Wilson, who sent Gray to the ground when she tried to block her layup.
Gray ended with 16 points, five steals, three assists and three rebounds in her second All-Star appearance of her career. She's averaging 15.5 points on 42.3% shooting, 4.1 rebounds and 2.5 assists in 32.4 minutes per game for the Dream.
Indiana Fever forward Aliyah Boston, the reigning Rookie of the Year, had four points on 2-for-3 shooting for Team WNBA, with two rebounds and an assist off the bench in her second All-Star appearance. She is averaging 14.2 points on 53.2% shooting, 8.7 rebounds, 2.7 assists and 1.5 blocks in 30.4 minutes per game.
This article originally appeared on Knoxville News Sentinel: A'ja Wilson scores 22 points for Team USA in 2024 WNBA All-Star Game
