It was just an All-Star game … or was it? This WNBA All-Star Game was the exception among modern professional sports star gatherings. The MLB All-Star Game used to be a game both leagues desperately wanted to win. The NBA All-Star Game used to be played with cutthroat intensity. (If you don’t believe us, watch the 1987 game in Seattle on YouTube. Trust us.) The Pro Bowl used to be a bare-knuckle, knock-down, drag-out game in which AFC and NFC players went full tilt for 60 minutes and treated the game as another professional football competition worth winning. Today, these games lack vigor, but the WNBA All-Star Game was the exception. USC icon Cheryl Miller was the winning coach, leading Caitlin Clark and Angel Reese — and Arike Ogunbowale — to victory. The WNBA All-Stars outscored Team USA, 117-109, in a spirited contest in Phoenix which clearly meant a lot to everyone involved.
Reese — who finished with another double-double (12 points, 11 rebounds) and Clark — 10 assists — were the headliners going into the game, but Ogunbowale stole the show with a 34-point performance which offset Breanna Stewart’s 31 points for Team USA. The WNBA All-Stars, by winning this game, made a lot of people question whether Team USA and coach Cheryl Reeve picked the right players. That point aside, Cheryl Miller certainly gave her WNBA All-Star squad the right direction and enabled her players to feel comfortable. It’s a moment Miller will remember, part of a 2024 which continues to be special for USC women’s basketball in so many ways.
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