INDIANAPOLIS – (Staff and Wire Service Report) – Napheesa Collier scored a WNBA All-Star record 36 points to help Team Collier roll to an easy 151-131 victory over Team Clark on Saturday night at Indiana..
The Minnesota Lynx star was 13-of-16 shooting and collected nine rebounds while claiming MVP honors.
Allisha Gray of the Atlanta Dream added 18 points and Kelsey Plum of the Los Angeles Sparks and Nneka Ogwumike of the Seattle Storm added 16 for Team Collier, which led by as many as 27 points.
Skylar Diggins of the Storm registered an All-Star record 15 assists to go with 11 points and 11 rebounds for Team Collier.
Kelsey Mitchell of the Indiana Fever scored 20 points for Team Clark. Kiki Iriafen of Washington had 17 points and her Mystics teammate Brittney Sykes added 16. Gabby Williams of the Storm also had 16 points and Kayla Thornton of the Golden State Valkyries had 15 points and 11 rebounds.
Caitlin Clark of the Indiana Fever sat out the game due to a right groin injury.
The game featured a 4-point shot from circles located 28 or more feet from the hoop.
Team Collier made 12 of 28 4-point shots, while Team Clark was just 8 of 37. Collier made 4 of 5 4-point attempts.
The growing tension between the league and players hung heavy during the contest.
The players wore “Pay Us What You Owe Us” T-shirts during warm-ups and while sitting on the benches. A meeting between the two sides on Thursday led to many players being critical of the lack of progress toward a new Collective Bargaining Agreement.
Team Clark trailed by 22 points at the break, but Gray hit a 4-pointer and a trey within a 37-second span to give Team Collier a 97-70 advantage with 6:25 left in the third quarter.
Team Clark scored the next eight points before Collier buried a 4-pointer and Gray made a 3-pointer to give Team Collier a 104-78 lead with 4:50 left.
Team Collier led 119-95 entering the unsuspenseful final stanza.
But with 5:30 remaining, Collier buried a 4-pointer off a pass from Diggins, giving Collier the points record and Diggins the assists mark.
Arike Ogunbowale of the Dallas Wings set the points record of 34 last year.
Team Collier came out fast with Paige Bueckers of the Dallas Wings making a 4-pointer for the game’s first points. A 4-pointer by Kayla McBride of the Minnesota Lynx made it 45-32 later in the period before Team Collier led 49-36 entering the second quarter.
The margin was nine in the second quarter before Collier scored 10 straight points. She knocked down back-to-back 4-pointers and added a layup to give her squad a 63-44 lead with 5:57 left in the half.
Team Collier led 82-60 at the break. Collier had 18 points on 7-of-8 shooting.
–Field Level Media