Ogunbowale, Caitlin Clark lead WNBA All-Stars to 117-109 win over US Olympic team

PHOENIX (AP) — Arike Ogunbowale was the dominant scorer on the floor. Caitlin Clark was the best passer. Angel Reese was her usual double-double machine.

The U.S. may still have the best team at the Olympics, but at the All-Star Game, they didn’t have all the best players on Saturday night.

Ogunbowale set the All-Star scoring record with 34 points and Clark fell just short of the assist mark in her All-Star debut as the WNBA team beat the U.S. Olympic team 117-109.

It was the second consecutive win for the WNBA All-Star team over the Olympians. The All-Stars also won in 2021 led by Ogunbowale, who was MVP of both that game and this one.

“This is going to help us tremendously. We don’t get that many game opportunities,” said Breanna Stewart who had 31 points to lead the U.S. ”We can go back and watch the film and focus on how we can continue to be better. It was like a little bit of deja vu feeling but just locking in.”

The loss didn’t slow down the Americans in 2021 as they went on to winning their seventh consecutive Olympic gold medal. The U.S. hopes for the same results in Paris later this month. No team in the world could match the depth or talent that the WNBA All-Stars had.

“Is Arike playing for any of these teams we are going to play?” U.S. coach Cheryl Reeve deadpanned.

Paris Olympics

Saturday’s loss came hours after the U.S. men’s Olympic team rallied to beat South Sudan by one point in an exhibition game in London.

The U.S. women’s team will next play Germany in London for an exhibition game Tuesday before going to France for the Olympics. The Americans are in a pool with Belgium, Japan and Germany.

“We have work to do and we know that,” Reeve said. “Sometimes it’s good, adversity, etc. I don’t think we needed a game like this to have our attention. We know how hard it is to do what we’re trying to do and we have work to do to get there.”

Ogunbowale once again was a thorn in the side of the U.S. team, scoring all of her points in the second half. The 2021 All-Star MVP took over the game in the third quarter scoring 21 points, hitting six of her 10 shots, including five 3-pointers. The U.S. team threw everything at the Dallas Wings star, but they