



Former Stanford star Kiki Iriafen, Gabby Williams and Sonia Citron will be making their All-Star debuts in Indianapolis later this month as they were all chosen on Sunday as reserves for the game.
Washington rookies Iriafen and Citron join Dallas’ Paige Bueckers as first-year players on the All-Star team. Bueckers was chosen as a starter. It’s the first time that three rookies will be playing in the game since 2011.
Ifiafen, who began her college career with Stanford before transferring to USC, is averaging 12.3 points, 8.3 rebounds and 1.3 assists per game for Washington.
Williams has been in the league for six seasons, although she’s missed time to play with France’s national team. She’s having a strong season for Seattle this year.
Other reserves chosen include another first-time All-Star in Golden State’s Kayla Thornton, a nine-year veteran.
The other All-Stars included Seattle’s Skylar Diggins, Phoenix’s Alyssa Thomas, Atlanta’s Rhyne Howard, Indiana’s Kelsey Mitchell, Los Angeles’ Kelsey Plum, Minnesota’s Courtney Williams, Las Vegas’ Jackie Young and Chicago’s Angel Reese.
“It means a lot to go with these other two,” said Diggins, who will be making her seventh All-Star appearance, of playing with teammates Nneka Ogwumike and Williams.
The reserves were selected by the WNBA’s 13 head coaches, who each voted for three guards, five frontcourt players and four players at either position regardless of conference. The coaches were not able to vote for their own players.
Captains Caitlin Clark and Napheesa Collier will draft their teams for the All-Star Game on July 19. First they’ll chose from the eight other starters: Breanna Stewart, A’ja Wilson, Bueckers, Ogwumike, Allisha Gray, Sabrina Ionescu, Satou Sabally and Aliyah Boston.
The All-Star teams will be revealed on Tuesday.
Some notable players left off the team were Washington’s Brittney Sykes, Atlanta’s Brionna Jones, New York’s Natasha Cloud and Los Angeles’ Dearica Hamby.
Storm 79, Liberty 70: Gabby Williams scored 16 points, Nneka Ogwumike added 15 to help the Seattle Storm (12-7) beat the New York Liberty (12-6) on the road.
The Storm trailed by three at the half before outscoring New York 22-6 in the third quarter.
Ex-Miramonte High star Sabrina Ionescu led New York with 22 points, with 20 of them coming in the second half.
Seattle’s Dominique Malonga, the No. 2 pick in the draft, had 11 points and eight rebounds in just 10 minutes.
Aces 86, Sun 68: A’ja Wilson scored 19 points and had four blocks, Hayward native Chelsea Gray moved into sixth on the WNBA’s career assist list and Las Vegas (9-9) beat Connecticut (2-16) on the road to extend the Sun’s franchise-record losing streak to 10 games.
Lynx 80, Sky 75: Courtney Williams tied her season high with 25 points, Napheesa Collier scored 21 and Minnesota (17-2) beat Chicago (5-12) to set a franchise record with 11 consecutive home wins to start a season.