WNBA ALL-STAR GAME

July 14, 2021

Arike Ogunbowale

Jonquel Jones

Satou Sabally

TEAM WNBA vs. USA NATIONAL TEAM

Postgame Media Conference

Team WNBA 93, USA Women's National Team 85

Q. Arike, you mentioned yesterday that you'd be happy if you scored like 10 points. Did you expect this performance out of yourself coming in?

ARIKE OGUNBOWALE: It was dope. Nobody is selfish on this team so they're going to feed whoever is hot. J.J. was knocking shots down; we're feeding her, we're feeding whoever is hot. It just turned out I scored a little more points, and she's a little MVP, too, so whatever.

Q. Arike, I'm curious, you were in the U.S. pool, I believe. Was there any sort of feeling like you know what, I should have been on this Olympic team, let me show them, so to speak?

ARIKE OGUNBOWALE: All those girls are deserving, so hopefully they go win a gold medal.

JONQUEL JONES: She's young. She's going to have her opportunity.

ARIKE OGUNBOWALE: Thanks, J.J..

Q. Jonquel, just from a defensive standpoint, and a lot of people talked about this beforehand, this was not going to be a regular All-Star Game. There was going to be real effort in this game, and I think it felt like a real game. Did it feel that way to you guys and did you talk about that as something you wanted to do in this All-Star Game?

JONQUEL JONES: Yeah, most definitely. We had a conversation about it kind of before our first team practice. Then when we came into practice, Tina and Lisa came over, like what's the plan, what do you want to do. Everybody said that we wanted to come in and give them a good game, get them prepared for their push in the Olympics, but also just compete and show that we're on that level as well. That was our plan going in and we executed very well. I'm proud that we were able to do that.

Q. Give me one word, Arike, to describe how you feel right now and why you chose that word. Same thing, Satou, with your first game, and same thing for you, Jonquel.

ARIKE OGUNBOWALE: I would say blessed. There's a lot of great players in this league, and for us to be chosen as All-Stars, that means we're at the top of the game. It's just a blessing to be here, so definitely blessed.

SATOU SABALLY: Yeah, I had so much fun. My teammate won the MVP award --

JONQUEL JONES: One word.

SATOU SABALLY: I was happy. Happy.

JONQUEL JONES: My word is definitely grateful. Grateful because, like I said, it's my third All-Star. Playing out there with a lot of great people, and I'm just happy with the product I put out for myself and just us being able to win against Team USA.

Q. J.J., how did you think the three-point contest went, finishing second to Quigley? But also, you said the other day if you guys won today, this would be a gold medal for you. I should ask, as a gold medalist now, how do you feel?

JONQUEL JONES: No, no, not yet, not yet. Okay, so the three-point contest, with it being my first three-point contest, I felt really good about it. I played with Allie every day and I see her shoot every day, so if I'm going to lose to somebody, that's the person I'm going to lose to. So hats off to her. She's a great shooter, and I'm happy to lose to her if I have to choose somebody.

The gold medal, I don't get a gold medal yet until Team USA wins their gold medal. If they win, I can say, technically I won a gold, so now they've got to go handle their business. They've got to go handle their business first and then I can brag about that. Y'all know who I'm pulling for. Y'all know who I'm pulling for.

Q. J.J., this feels like the first time you're sitting all night because you played that halftime three-point shootout and you put up like 50 threes in that time. But despite not having that break, you put up 18 and 14, and instead of looking tired in the fourth quarter, you and your old teammate Courtney Williams are up pressuring the ball and you got two straight steal-and-scores between the two of you that gave you a solid cushion. What was it like to run those fast breaks with Courtney again?

JONQUEL JONES: Listen, all the time I've been here, I've heard you're coming back to Connecticut. I heard you're coming home. I don't know if that's legal or not so I shouldn't be saying that. But whatever. But yeah, it's great. She's a scorer. She's somebody that has high energy, so I feed off of that energy, as well. It was awesome to be able to do that.

Coming out of the three-point contest and going into the second half, I think Tina was like, y'all, we can go warm up now. And I'm like, I don't need to warm up; I need to sit down, the way I felt. Like I said, happy with everything that's happened today.

Q. I saw some of your interactions with the fans as y'all were walking to the locker room after the game. Is that something that you do very often or was it just off the emotion of the moment? Arike, can you talk to me about does this award feel different than the scoring championship or does it kind of feel the same?

ARIKE OGUNBOWALE: To the fans thing, I think now that COVID is easing up a little bit and the rules, we've been wanting to do this throughout the season. Being able to get that opportunity, of course we would do that any time we can, interact with the fans, because that's the reason why we're here. They support us every day, every night. That's the least we can do.

I think it's different. That's a whole season; this is just a game. It's an honor to be able to experience both of them.

Q. Arike, once your shot started falling, what was going through your head?

ARIKE OGUNBOWALE: Keep shooting.

Q. The impact I feel like of this All-Star Team USA competition that you guys had tonight is huge. Can you guys speak on the impact that you feel like that has going forward for the sport itself?

JONQUEL JONES: I think it's great just that we had an All-Star Game during an Olympic year. Just looking back at a lot of the other players that have come through the league that have just produced really good basketball and then played at a high level, especially during Olympic seasons, they haven't had this opportunity. I think that's something that the league should definitely keep going and definitely something that grows as we go forward.