Shoni Schimmel leads East over West in OT

They promised to put on a show, and they delivered.

In what likely was the most entertaining All-Star Game in WNBA history, the East pulled out a 125-124 overtime win over the West on Saturday in front of a raucous crowd of 14,685 at US Airways Center.

"Boy, what a basketball game," East coach Michael Cooper said. "This was so wonderful to be a part of. And if I was a spectator, just to see it from the outside looking in, this is what the WNBA is about — spectacular moments, spectacular games.

"It was fantastic. One of the things I told our team before the game was just to go out and wow the crowd and have fun, and boy, they did that."

Saturday's contest was the highest scoring All-Star Game, and the first to require overtime.

East guard Shoni Schimmel was named the game's MVP after scoring an All-Star record 29 points and dishing out eight assists. She became the first rookie to win the award.

As is the norm with All-Star Games, there were highlights aplenty, with 360 spins, no-look passes and alley-oop attempts throughout.

After throwing down several dunks in pregame warm-ups, Brittney Griner teased with a handful of near misses and close-proximity layups before finally jamming one home with 2:15 left in the second quarter off of a pass from Candace Parker.

Griner finished with 17 points and five rebounds for the West, and became the third player to dunk in an All-Star Game, though the first two were on clear-the-court setups deliberately allowed by the other team.

The Mercury's other two All-Star selections, guard Diana Taurasi and forward Candice Dupree, scored four and 12 points, respectively, with Dupree also grabbing eight rebounds.

Skylar Diggins led the West with 27 points, and Maya Moore had 24 points, five rebounds and eight assists.

The atmosphere gradually intensified Saturday, as neither team pulled away and the players' competitiveness shone through as the result still hung in the balance.

The East led 57-53 at halftime, but the West rallied to take an 86-85 advantage into the fourth quarter.

"The first half, you kind of get that loosey-goosey stuff — 'Hey, it's an All-Star Game.'" West coach Cheryl Reeve said. "The third quarter, toward the end it starts to get serious. Fourth quarter, they were trying to win the game."

Down 112-106 with just over a minute to play, the West scored six straight points to tie things up, punctuated by Diggins' steal and layup with 26 seconds left.

The West scored nine of the first 11 points of overtime, but the East came charging back with three 3-pointers in the final three minutes to cut the lead to one.

Tamika Catchings then grabbed a defensive rebound and drove the length of the court for a layup that gave the East a 125-124 lead with six seconds left. After a timeout, Diggins turned the ball over in traffic and the East was able to run out the clock, giving it its fourth victory in the past six All-Star Games.

But most agreed that despite the result, there were no losers Saturday.

"That was a show for the fans," Diggins said. "They got extra. I think everybody out there got their money's worth, and it was fun to be a part of it."