New York Liberty guard Sabrina Ionescu and Zoe Brooks from Philly Rise are the winners of the 2022 WNBA Skills Challenge.
Sabrina Ionescu and Zoe Brooks are the 2022 WNBA Skills Challenge champs ?#WNBAAllStar pic.twitter.com/ZOE7x8jAR6
— ESPN (@espn) July 9, 2022
For this year’s competition, each of the WNBA players selected was paired with one athlete from the Elite Youth Basketball League (EYBL) that participated in the 2022 Nike Nationals.
In the first round, Ionescu and Brooks faced Chicago Sky center Azurá Stevens and Arianna Jackson from All Iowa Attack. Stevens started with a small lead over Ionescu but the first-time All-Star make the three-point shot in her second attempt to advance to the next round. Later, they beat Kelsey Plum and Ari Long from Cal Stars to advance to the final round.
“I had a great partner which helped. I told myself I wasn’t going to get too competitive but I got really competitive so I’m happy we won”, said Ionescu after beating Atlanta Fever rookie NaLyssa Smith and Victoria Flores from ProSkills.
Ionescu now shifts her focus to play and win her first WNBA All-Star Game and with the way she has been playing lately, it isn’t crazy to think she can leave with the All-Star MVP award.
