Ogunbowale takes MVP honors at Phoenix WNBA All-Star Game

PHOENIX — Dallas Wings guard Arike Ogunbowale completely took over in the second half of Saturday’s WNBA All-Star Game at Footprint Center to take home the event’s MVP award.

Ogunbowale, playing for the WNBA All-Stars against Team USA ahead of the Olympics, set a new single-game record for the event with 34 points.

And she did it with no points at halftime. She scored 21 in the third quarter alone, hitting five 3-pointers to pull the WNBA All-Stars ahead of Team USA in a 117-109 victory.

“They obviously don’t want to lose going into Paris, but we also don’t want to lose. We’re competitive too,” Ogunbowale said postgame.

MVP, MVP, MVP!

With 34 PTS, 3 REB, 6 AST Arike Ogunbowale is named the @ATT #WNBAAllstar Game MVP for the 2nd time in her career! 🏆 pic.twitter.com/SfJrdzECFB

— WNBA (@WNBA) July 21, 2024

Ogunbowale hit 10-of-20 shots from the floor, 8-for-13 from beyond the arc and added six assists. The next-highest scorer was the national team’s Breanna Stewart with 31 points.

All-Stars head coach and basketball icon Cheryl Miller singled Ogunbowale out at halftime, which took the guard by surprise.

“Coach actually called me out at halftime in front of everybody,” Ogunbowale said. “She was like, ‘Just take a deep breath and play your game.’ And then I guess you guys saw what happened.”

Ogunbowale came out very aggressive in the second half and had a particularly jaw-dropping sequence hitting back-to-back triples in a back-and-forth sequence with Kelsey Plum.

She scored 10 points in the final five minutes to keep the All-Star team comfortably ahead, and the Footprint Center crowd rang down “MVP” chants when she stepped to the free-throw line in the final minute.

“In my eyes, she’s the best one-on-one player in this league,” All-Star and rookie phenom Caitlin Clark said. “She just has that skill, she can get whatever shot whenever she wants it.”

Arike Ogunbowale hits a three and then Kelsey Plum replies and then Arike Ogunbowale hits *another* three. pic.twitter.com/G1cYf6HYMS

— Steve Jones Jr. (@stevejones20) July 21, 2024

Ogunbowale is now a two-time WNBA All-Star Game MVP having won in 2021, also against Team USA before the Tokyo Olympics.

“They’re getting ready to play, and they want to win, so we’re not going to get embarrassed,” Ogunbowale said. “They have plays they’ve been practicing. So we just wanted to come out hard. I love competition, if I hear somebody’s trying to beat me, I’m going to try to beat them twice as hard.”

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