Arike Ogunbowale's Historic 34Point AllStar Game!

At halftime of Saturday's WNBA AllStar Game, Arike Ogunbowale was still scoreless and Team WNBA was down by two points. Coach Cheryl Miller made a bold decision, singling Ogunbowale out with a surprise message.

"I wasn't expecting her to call my name," Ogunbowale admitted. "She just told me to take a deep breath and play my game."

And that’s exactly what Ogunbowale did.

She went on to set a new WNBA AllStar Game record with 34 points, earning her second AllStar Game MVP award and leading Team WNBA to a 117109 victory over Team USA in front of 16,407 fans at Footprint Center.

"Guess you saw what happened," Ogunbowale said with a smile.

Miller's challenge had an immediate impact. Ogunbowale exploded for 21 points in the third quarter—the highest singlequarter total in WNBA AllStar Game history—setting the stage for a repeat performance reminiscent of three years ago when Team WNBA first defeated Team USA under the new WNBAUSA Basketball format. Ogunbowale had also been named MVP of the 2021 game after scoring 26 points.
The national team bounced back from that defeat to secure a gold medal in Tokyo.

"It felt a bit like déjà vu," said Team USA forward Breanna Stewart, who recorded a doubledouble with 31 points and 10 rebounds.

When a postgame question mistakenly referred to the NBA instead of the WNBA, Team USA coach Cheryl Reeve humorously responded about Ogunbowale, saying, "It felt like we were guarding someone from the NBA?"

Earlier this year, Ogunbowale removed her name from consideration for the U.S. women’s national team.

During Reeve’s postgame press conference, the coach added another humorous comment. "Is Arike playing for any of these teams we're about to face?" she asked, prompting laughter.