PHOENIX — The U.S. national women’s basketball team finds itself in a familiar situation.
Ahead of the Tokyo Olympics in 2021, a team made up of WNBA All-Stars handed Team USA an eight-point loss. Dallas Wings’ Arike Ogunbowale was named the 2021 MVP. Team WNBA again handed the national team an eight-point loss on Saturday, beating Team USA 117-109, ahead of the 2024 Paris Olympics. Ogunbowale again was named the All-Star game MVP after scoring a record 34 points.
“It was a little bit déjà vu feeling,” said Breanna Stewart, who finished with a team-high 31 points, 10 rebounds and three assists.
Team USA has seen how this story ends before. The players went on to win gold at the Tokyo Olympics, the seventh in a row, after their All-Star weekend exhibition loss. So they are not alarmed.
“We are not going to press the panic button right now,” said A’ja Wilson, who had 22 points and six rebounds. “We needed the test.”
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Team USA head coach Cheryl Reeve said Team WNBA’s success over the national team just highlights the level of talent in the U.S.
“The depth of talent that we have in the USA, there’s no one who has anything close to it,” Reeve said. “There are players on this team that are great players. Everybody knows that. There’s no suggestion whatsoever that there are players on (Team)…
