Fever Support Hull in 3-Point Contest

Fever Support Hull in 3-Point Contest

Lexie Hull didn’t have any time to practice before taking the court in Friday evening’s 3-point contest; no time aside from the few minutes allotted to the participants on the court before the contest began.

All eyes were on Indianapolis as the WNBA descended on Indiana’s capital city, and the Fever needed a pick-me-up after Caitlin Clark was ruled inactive for the weekend. So Hull stepped up to the line.

The Fever guard entered the contest with the best percentage from beyond the arc by a good margin – her near 47% success rate from deep eclipses that of Sabrina Ionescu (38%) and Allisha Gray (38%), each former winners of the contest.

The WNBA only had one multi-time winner in the 3-point contest (Allie Quigley) until Ionescu repeated on Friday night. Ionescu holds the single-round record of 37 points in a 3-point contest, both NBA and WNBA. Her score of 30 in Friday’s final round clinched the win over defending champion Allisha Gray.

Despite her jam-packed schedule of appearances and activities around the Circle City, Hull took the floor because her team and her town needed a Fever player to root for. Armed with the 4th-best 3-point percentage in the league at 46.8%, and a will to represent her squad in their city, Hull walked up to the racks.

She entered the court by passing a cluster of her Fever teammates – Clark, Aliyah Boston, Kelsey Mitchell, Natasha Howard, Makayla Timpson, Sophie Cunningham and Aari McDonald to name a few – who made sure she heard their cheers and felt their support.

“I was disappointed because I wanted to make it to the finals for them,” Hull said. “Because they were there supporting me. I’m just so grateful for their support, that a lot of them came out tonight, and yeah, we had fun.”

Hull was third in the lineup, and needed to best Sonia Citron’s score of 19 to remain eligible for the final round. Kelsey Plum’s score of 22 was the top number when Hull’s turn came up.

Hull takes just less than three triples per game – the lowest rate of all five participants – but has attempted as many as four 3-point shots in multiple games this season. Her performance on Friday was a true test of her ability to maintain efficiency on a higher volume of shots.

She took some time to get into the rhythm of her shot – she missed all of her first rack but the money ball. She made the second shot of her second rack and drilled the deep Starry 3-point shot for another three points as she moved toward the top of the key.

She hit her groove on the final two racks – Hull knocked down eight of 10 shots, amassing eight of her 20 total points on those two racks alone. Her score kept her alive, but only until Ionescu put up a 25-point round. Hull was eliminated from the final round by the player that would eventually become the champion.

“I think it was exciting and I hope the crowd had fun,” Ionescu said of Indy’s All-Star Friday night. “…Skills all the way to 3-point, it was a great show.”

Hull joined her Indiana teammates sitting courtside following the contest, snapped a photo with the group, and the Fever smiles were frozen in time. The night belonged to the New York Liberty as Ionescu took the 3-point crown and Natasha Cloud won the Skills competition, but the love that Indianapolis has for basketball permeated the building as Indy lifted up the WNBA stars on an All-Star Friday night.