MINNEAPOLIS — Last year, Allie Quigley stood at center court after accepting her third three-point championship trophy and promised the crowd at Michelob Ultra Arena that it would be her last.
“I told myself, ‘no more,’” Quigley said to the sound of boos.
When the Sun-Times reported in April that the All-Star Game would be held in Chicago for the first time in the league’s 26-year history, Quigley was still adamant that she would not participate. General manager/coach James Wade said he would do everything he could to convince her to go for a historic fourth title in front of her home crowd.
Last week Quigley changed her tune saying that if the WNBA asked her to compete in her fifth three-point contest, she would say yes. Wednesday ahead of the Sky’s 81-78 loss to the Minnesota Lynx, Quigley told the Sun-Times she had officially accepted an invitation from the league to participate.
Her third title last year put her among Larry Bird and Craig Hodges as the only players in NBA or WNBA history to win the shooting title three times. Saturday, Quigley could become the only player in WNBA or NBA history to win four three-point titles. She won the contest at the 2017 All-Star Game in Seattle and the 2018 game in Minneapolis and participated in 2019.
“I didn’t want to let the city down,” Quigley said. “Or my family and friends. It’ll be fun.”
Joining Quigley in the competition is three-point leader Las Vegas Aces guard Kelsey Plum along with Washington Mystics guard Ariel Atkins, Atlanta Dream rookie Rhyne Howard, Seattle Storm guard Jewell Loyd and Dallas Wings guard Arike Ogunbowale.
The order of the competition will be determined by the WNBA. Each player will have 70 seconds to shoot as many of the 27 balls as possible. The ball racks will be positioned at five shooting locations with four racks containing one money ball worth two points. The fifth rack will be an all money ball rack. Each competitor will decide the location of their money ball rack.
Quigley is the fourth Sky player competing during 2022 All-Star weekend joining her wife, four-time All-Star Courtney Vandersloot and teammates Candace Parker a seven-time All-Star and two-time All-Star Kahleah Copper. The league said that it does not have an exact timing established to announce the three-point contest and skills challenge participants.
In 18 games for the first place Sky, Quigley is averaging 10.3 points per game and is shooting 33.8% from deep.
